Lisa Sepp-Wilson
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Day 2 Assignment
What I learned doing this assignment: I learned what the point of my story is: after a major life-altering event, my protagonist finally breaks free of societal norms and allows herself to do what she decides and to live how and where she chooses, and inspires her children to live their lives in the same way.
1. What is your profound truth?
Survival and tenacity through self-awareness. That even a woman in the early 1900’s could make a life for herself and her children without a man.
2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
To trust your intuition and live as you choose.
What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
An embellished true story.
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The transformational journey of Groundhog Day is the main character Phil Connors changing from a self-centered, cynical, shallow on-air persona, to a broad-minded, cultured, talented, romantic humanitarian.
The Change Agent Rita – she has power over Phil to make a change when he sees how she behaves as a well-rounded, cultured, sensitive, caring person (all the traits he does not initially possess).
The Transformable Character is Phil Connors, and he is rife for the change as he has no depth nor compassion/lacks humanity and empathy at the beginning of the movie.What is the Oppression? The Oppression is the timeloop – the prospect of having to live the same day over and over.
We are lured in by the prospect of time travel – the timeloop that inadvertently happens to Phil. We connect with the story as we are intrigued by Phil’s daily timeloop, reliving the same day over and watching what he does with his time (to allow the change to happen).
Phil is changed most – his profound journey is one of self-exploration, becoming open-minded, willing to tackle new outlets and embrace culture in order to find love (to woo a woman indifferent to his shallow character at the beginning of the film).
The gradient change is how Phil changes as a man – he becomes sensitive, caring, interested in others (empathy), and ultimately learns how to become a true human in all senses.
The old way is challenged as Phil must come to terms that he is living in a timeloop and finally realizes that he can either go through the same motions day after day, or use his time to evolve and become the man Rita would want to fall in love with.
I believe the profound moments of the film are when Phil first begins to learn about Rita and how he can use the timeloop to dupe her into falling for him (presumably for sex/conquest), but then realizes after some time that his evolution is far more important than just wooing Rita to conquer her romantically. Also, when Phil realizes he can help people in need (as he is already aware they require help before they know).
RITA: “When you figure out what you want, would you just let me know?” – I think Phil hears her say that and realizes he doesn’t really want what he thought – he wants Rita to truly fall in love with HIM, and that he is not yet worthy of her love.
The ending pays off as Phil emerges as a truly whole person, and has the rest of his life (after the timeloop has stopped) to actually BE the man he never thought he could be (or wanted to be). His self- enlightenment is complete.
The profound truth of this movie is that we can always make small changes in our daily lives to enrich ourselves and others – we can always DECIDE to be better.
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Hi All! My name is Lisa Sepp-Wilson, and I have been writing and rewriting the same screenplay for about 5 years – an adaptation of a well-loved West Coast novel, written by a relatively unknown Canadian heroine. I have begun to write 3 other screenplays but have not had the confidence to push them forward – I seem to have several cool ideas for scripts, but have been too busy in my day job/life to pursue writing as an occupation. In my other life, I am a visual effects producer/on-set supervisor in the film/tv industry, which has afforded me the ability to read thousands of screenplays throughout my career. I have always been a writer as a hobby, but have found myself wanting to just write more and more. I have a great friend who has taken Hal’s courses over the years, and now it’s my turn. Looking forward to this class immensely!
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My name is Lisa Sepp-Wilson, and I agree to the terms of this Confidentiality Agreement: As a member of this group, I agree to the following:
1. That I will keep the processes, strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential, and that I will NOT share any of this program either privately, with a group, posting online, writing articles, through video or computer programming, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class available to anyone who is not a member of this class.
2. That each writer’s work here is copyrighted and that writer is the sole owner of that work. That includes this program which is copyrighted by Hal Croasmun. I acknowledge that submission of an idea to this group constitutes a claim of and the recognition of ownership of that idea.
I will keep the other writer’s ideas and writing confidential and will not share this information with anyone without the express written permission of the writer/owner. I will not market or even discuss this information with anyone outside this group.
3. I also understand that many stories and ideas are similar and/or have common themes and from time to time, two or more people can independently and simultaneously generate the same concept or movie idea.
4. If I have an idea that is the same as or very similar to another group member’s idea, I’ll immediately contact Hal and present proof that I had this idea prior to the beginning of the class. If Hal deems them to be the same idea or close enough to cause harm to either party, he’ll request both parties to present another concept for the class.
5. If you don’t present proof to Hal that you have the same idea as another person, you agree that all ideas presented to this group are the sole ownership of the person who presented them and you will not write or market another group member’s ideas.
6. Finally, I agree not to bring suit against anyone in this group for any reason, unless they use a substantial portion of my copyrighted work in a manner that is public and/or that prevents me from marketing my script by shopping it to production companies, agents, managers, actors, networks, studios or any other entertainment industry organizations or people.
Lisa Sepp-Wilson