[Pauline Gray]

I agree to the terms of this confidentiality form, Pauline Gray

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by  Pauline Gray.

[Pauline Gray]

1. Pauline Gray

2. The words “I agree to the terms of this release form.”

[Pauline Gray]

LESSON #1

Mona’s Transformational Journey

What I learned in this assignment is that my character’s transformational journey has to me more intense and earth-shattering.

ROM COM Project: What Stays in Vegas

2) Character arc transformation

Mona — Hero —

Internal Journey — Deeply risk-averse, she finally learns in Vegas that love is the greatest gamble of all.

External Journey — Mona’s Bachelorette Party that takes an unexpected turn when she meets the true and dangerous love of her life.

3) Old Ways & New Ways

Mona is engaged to absolute safest man she could find. When her best friends “kidnap” her and take her to Vegas instead of the San Diego spa that was planned, she learns the new ways of gambling, taking risks, and starts to learn that she has a thing for danger.

[Pauline Gray]

LESSON #5:Depth of Emotions

LESSON #5

What I learned from this lesson is how much deeper I need to dig into my character for my pilot.

Mr. Robot

ELLIOT — Lead Character

A. Situational: Hope / Fear

Hope: Ruining Evil Corp to avenge his father.

Fear: Never being normal like other people.

B. Motivation: Want / Need

Want: To feel normal

Need: A real sense of social, interpersonal connection

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask

Base: Self-Hatred

Public Mask: Brilliant Hacker

D. Weaknesses

Morphine/ Ashley — regret over his father’s death

E. Triggers

Memories of his childhood, particularly abusive mother

F. Coping Mechanism

Morphine

My show — BLAXIT:

ALISON WEAVER — lead character

A: Situational Hope/Fear:

Hope: To find love’s secret recipe

Fear: There is love for everyone but her.

B. Motivation: Want / Need

Want: To be pursued by her soulmate

Need: A real sense of a soul connection by a partner

C. Mask: Base Negative Emotion / Public Mask

Base: Insecurity

Public Mask: Brilliant Professional

D. Weaknesses

Male attention

E. Triggers

Memories of her childhood and the mean popular girls that she was not one of.

F. Coping Mechanism

Her own intellect.

[Pauline Gray]

Lesson # 4

Example Show:

<b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>MR. ROBOT

What I learned from this exercise is that my show needs another layer of complexity.

Hidden Agendas

Competition:

Hacker Romero is very not so secretly competitive with Elliot

Conspiracy:

The entire show is about a conspiracy to bring down Evil Corp and erase the world’s credit history.

Secrets:

Elliot is secretly a Morphine Addict.

Deception:

Every one is lying to someone.

Wound:

Elliot is deeply wounded by his mother’s abuse and the circumstances surrounding his father’s death.

Secret Identity:

Elliot is secretly a Morphine Addict.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Pauline Gray.

[Pauline Gray]

Mr. Robot:

The Engaging Character Model

What I learned in this lesson is how many layers of depth are required to build engaging characters.

A: Role in the Show:

Elliot: Hero Hacker/ Vigilante / Hi-tech Robin Hood

Mr:Robot: Vigilante, Team Builder

B: Unique Purpose/Expertise

Elliot: Hacker only person who can complete most dangerous mission.

Mr. Robot: Team builder with psychological manipulation skills.

C. Intrigue: What secrets are beneath the surface?

Elliot: Need to comes to terms with impact of his father’s death.

Mr. Robot: He’s all secrets, not quite sure what his ultimate agenda is, and whose side he is on.

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Elliot: All moral boundaries, except for murder

Mr. Robot: No moral code whatsoever

E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

Elliot: He might or might seek revenge on Evil Corp.

Mr. Robot: We don’t know what ends he will go to to recruit Elliot

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

Elliot: is being forced to relive dark emotions.

Mr. Robot: We want to know what truly motivates him.

Assignment Part 2:

My Project:

BLAXIT — Half-Hour; Single Camera Serialized TV; Fish into Water Romantic Comedy for Cable

Engaging Character Model

A: Role in the Show:

Alison: Journalist Hero –Slammed with the ultimate trifecta of American racial injustice, infidelity and professional gaslighting. She decides to join the ranks of the 40k+ Black American women who BLAXIT abroad to find true love and societal respect.

B: Unique Purpose/Expertise

Alison is a Black Barbara Walters. She knows how to get to the tear-jerking heart of the matter.

C. Intrigue: What secrets are beneath the surface?

While learning about how others achieve and maintain true love, we learn and wonder what lengths Alison will go to, in order to achieve the same–

D. Moral Issue: What moral boundaries are they crossing?

Alison ends up having an illicit affair with her best friend’s father. While not immoral, per se, this is definitely a grey area, and a potential third rail for their friendship.

<b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>E. Unpredictable: What will they do next?

At the opening of the pilot, it is unclear whether Alison will stay in Paris or only complete the one assignment then go back to Los Angeles.

F. Empathetic: Why do we care?

Alison, represents the Millennial woman of color, who has all her ducks in a row, yet can’t seem to find an appropriate partner for all her comedic attempts.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Pauline Gray.

[Pauline Gray]

Pauline Gray — My Project BLAXIT — Three Circles of Characters:

What I learned from this assignment is that I need to dig deeper into creating a more solid world of characters.

A: Main Characters Circle:

ALISON WEAVER:

Triple Threat — Beautiful, Successful, and Intelligent. It’s too bad Alison can’t pick men like she picks stocks.

ROXY JONES:

Litigious international lawyer & Certified Man Collector.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>CHINARA UDEH:

Nigerian oil money trust fund baby who thinks that money should be spent at the rate it gushes up from the Earth.

FAIZAH AHMAD:

Devout Muslim fashion designer, determined to find love and live life on her own terms, one deconstructed hijab at a time.

B: Connected Circle

Pierre Salnave — Alison’s mysterious French lover

Ifeanyi Udeh– Chinara’s Dad and Alison’s illicit lover.

The best friends’ various other love interests.

C: Environment Circle:

The couples that Alison interviews in her research.

[Pauline Gray]

Subject line: Pauline Gray’s Three Circles of Characters

What I learned from this assignment was how much the connected circle and the environment circle serve to help build the world of the show.

Mr. Robot:

A: Main Characters Circle

Elliot

Mr. Robot

Tyrell Wellick

Angela

B: Connected Circle

Therapist

Ollie

Gideon

Darlene – Hacker

Shayla — drug dealer

C: Environment Circle

Mr. X

Men in Black suits/ Lawyers

F Society Hackers

Various Drug Users/ Shayla’s drug dealing boyfriend

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Pauline Gray.

[Pauline Gray]

<div>Mr. Robot 5 Star Model</div>

What I learned from this assignment is how far removed from binge-worthy my pilot is currently. I learned how much each character has to be individually intriguing with an element of mystery. It should be as though they could each have their own show.

1. Big Picture Hooks.

What if a potentially schizophrenic hacker were tasked with taking down the most powerful and corrupt global corporation?

2. Amazing and Intriguing Character:

The main character, Elliot is brilliant, extremely drug-addicted and potentially delusional. On top of this, he is truly pure-hearted and well-intentioned.

3. Empathy / Distress:

Elliot is lonely and isolated, yet means well in his own boundary violating way. He wants to protect those he cared deeply about. He even steals a relative stranger’s dog that he knows is being mistreated. He is probably in some sort of danger, so we feel distress.

4. Layers/Open Loops:

Is Elliot even in reality?

Is he in withdrawal?

Are we in linear time?

Who is Mr. Robot?

Will the credit hack be a success?

Will he end up with Angela?

What is the role of Tyrell — the Linux E-corp guy?

How do you define stealing?

What will scratch a part of Elliot’s mind next?

5. Inviting Obsession.

We want to know if Elliot is living in a fantasy or reality.

We want to know if the credit-wiping hack will be a success/

We want to know who the real good guys and bad guys are –right now it’s unclear and morally ambiguous.

Who will/ Will Elliot survive all this deceit?

[Pauline Gray]

Hi Everyone,

Pauline Gray here.

I estimate that I’ve written about 20+scripts??

I hope to get an amazing pilot and to meet some wonderful writers, as well.

A little something about me, I love learning languages.

[Pauline Gray]

Confidentiality Agreement

Hi everyone,

As we go forward with the class, we need everyone here to acknowledge their agreement to the Group Confidentiality form. The purpose here is to protect yourself, each other and to make this a safe environment where you’ll be able to work on the most marketable concept you have without worry.

The release form does all of those things and it also makes whatever we work on in this class confidential. Once everyone has acknowledged their agreement on the forums, we’ll have a safe environment where we can all focus on our writing, instead of worrying about protection.

This Group Confidentiality Agreement covers the entire class.

I highly recommend that you agree to this confidentiality agreement so you can participate in all the group feedback.

Remember, the more you interact with this group, the stronger your relationships will be after the class is concluded. Those relationships can translate into career success, so they are valuable to cultivate.

See you then,

Hal

Below is the release form. You have one of two choices here:

AGREE, in which case, you Reply to this topic and include three things at the top of the page:

1. Your name.

2. The words “I agree to the terms of this release form.”

3. Please leave the entire text below to confirm what you agree to.

If you agree to the terms of the release form, then you can post your assignments into the group and your cohort can give feedback on them.

Also, if you don’t agree to this group confidentiality agreement, you’ll still need to sign an agreement that says you will keep the strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential.

GROUP RELEASE FORM

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.

This completes the Group Release Form for the class.