[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Height of Emotion

What I learned doing this assignment is that there are more than one way to deliver a profound line, and that by brainstorming, it is more likely the line you settle on will give deeper meaning to a scene.

1 – Guilt – my protag tries to enlist the aid of another to help her escape and that person is murdered for it. “When you pour liquor it covers more than the ice, the bottom and sides of the glass. It covers everyone around you. Your mother, your father, your lover. You killed them all with your drinking.”

2 – unrequited love – the protag receives a call from someone who is in love with her as she is being held prisoner. The smart tech prevents her from asking for help. All she can do is watch and listen. “It doesn’t matter if it’s me, or any part of your past, I know you’re struggling to be free. Free from your mother, free from yourself, and you don’t want anyone keeping you trapped. I wish I could give you that freedom. But I’m just another guy, and you don’t need just another guy. Your stronger than that. Even if you don’t see it, I do.”

3 – embarrassment – the smart tech is about to upload compromising videos of the protag to all her social media accounts. “Let me show you the cast of freedom.”

4 – guilt – coming close to a way free, the protag appears to be about to take the upper hand, when the smart tech shows her an old ultrasound picture of the baby she lost due to alcoholism. “Here is a picture of your destruction. You love alcohol more than life.”

5 – Love – deep in a dilemma whether to kill the antag or not, the protag is confronted with a choice of purpose.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards Delivers Irony!

What I learned doing this assignment is that taking myself out of my comfort zone to brainstorm irony, I become more comfortable with the idea, and I find new ways to add depth to my story.

1 – New way: Addiction is destructive – In trying to save a dying plant, overwaters it and ends up killing it.

2 – new way: Independence, thinking for herself – By trapping her in the apartment, the antag inadvertently shows her that she can think for herself and learn to deal with issues without the help of others.

3 – new way: knows her self worth – by fighting with the antag, telling him that she has no worth, she finds arguments that counters her own words.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards Delivers Insights Through Conflict

What I learned doing this assignment is through conflict our characters are forced to face the faults in themselves and move towards new ways of thinking and doing things.

1 – new way: Knows she has worth (Falsely accused) – unknown to my protag, she has been falsely accused of more than one death due to her drinking and poor life choices. She discovers the truth that she was not responsible for the deaths after all.

2 – new way: Thinks for herself (Power Struggle) – my protag is trapped in an apartment where she must find unconventional ways to escape. She make multiple attempts that fail, until she finally understands that she must think outside the box.

3 – new way: Independent, understands that her life is her own (Physical Confrontation) – my protag is forced to attack the people that she has supplicated to all her life.

4 – new way: Knows her worth & Independent (Dilemma) – the protag is forced into a dilemma which challenges many of her old ways. She must make decisions she has never faced before, knowing that unless she steps up and changes, she will fail to free herself of the torment of her past.

5 – new way: Knows her worth & Independent – (Stakes Raise) – In a fight for her life, my protag’s sense of self worth and inner strength comes out in a positive light.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Seabiscuit Analysis

What I learned doing this assignment is how to looker more deeply into the profound moments of a movie.

I won’t touch on the moments that Hal already pointed out.

Right off the bat there is a profound moment. In and of itself, this moment is profound, but it also sets up one of the profound themes in the story. The Charles Howard says to the foreman at the bicycle factory her works at regarding his boring job of replacing damaged spokes; “They ought to make a better spoke.” The foreman replies; “Yeah, then what would you do?”. This sets up the theme of perseverance which is stated later by Howard; “Everybody loses a couple, but are you going to pack it in and go home, or are you going to keep fighting?”

This is the most powerful theme throughout.

We see Red’s old ways whenever he fights with others, especially during a race, which causes him to lose. His old ways of losing his temper doesn’t work. His old ways are challenged with the question; “What are you so mad at?”, he sees that his old ways don’t work. His new ways of staying calm and in control of his anger breeds success.

There a setup through subtext of the profound theme when Tom says; “You don’t throw a whole life away just ’cause he’s banged up a little?” We see this theme throughout afterwards. This becomes starker as all around the main characters we see people giving up on children (Red’s own parents shuffle him off to someone else, yes it is meant to give him a better life but it hurts Red deeply), businesses and even marriages.

We see how the old ways did not work with Seabiscuit until he given freedom to be hi true self.

The are profound moments dealing with the barn when the horses are replaced by race cars and then the race cars are replaced by race horses. Perhaps it’s another statement of giving something a second chance. Horses, seen as obsolete replaced the automobile, then horses are given a second chance?

The profound theme of “everyone deserves a second chance” can be seen clearly during Howard’s second chance speech from the train. Then again several times…

– Red’s eyesight.

– Red’s broken leg.

– Seabiscuit’s torn ligament.

and one of the most profound moments in the film when Red says; “I was crippled for the rest of my life. He made me better. You made me better.”

I liked the use of the profound metaphor in the child’s ‘ball-in-the-hole’ toy. It echoes perseverance and second chances. Another metaphor is the race itself at the end. Both Red and Seabiscuit are already winners before the race even starts, just for trying.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Living Metaphors

What I learned doing this assignment is how powerful a metaphor can be when used against a character’s flaws.

Old Way – shutting herself off from help – There are multiple instances of “Should Work, but doesn’t”. This plays out in the various ways the protagonist attempts to escape. Only when she changes to a new way of asking for help does she find success.

Old Way – Self-loathing and a belief that love is unimportant. – A dying plant in her mother’s old apartment needs love and care to survive. This plays out as she attempts to revive it, but her efforts are useless without sunlight (another metaphor for outside help) until she lets it go, and by doing so, finds a rescue.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Counterexamples

What I learned doing this assignment is that by questioning the old ways can amplify the profound change throughout the story.

Questions:

1 – Old Way: Self-loathing – Throughout the story she is constantly questioned by others and also forced to question herself if she really needs alcohol to forget her problems.

2 – Old Way: Alcoholism – “Aren’t your troubles still there when you sober up?” This plays out as a stark reminder again and again that alcohol is never a solution. She must realize a change or be forever stuck in a cycle of self-destruction.

3 – Old Way: Self-loathing – “How can you possibly find love, or give yourself a chance at meaningful friendships if you shut yourself away from everyone?” This plays out as a realization of truth after she is trapped and needs others to help her.

4 – Old Way: Self-loathing – “How can you say you failed at everything, don’t you have two degrees?” This plays out as her past successes are pointed out.

5 – Old Way: – Shuts herself off from others. – “Is hiding from what troubles you helping, or adding to those troubles?” this plays out as the more she hides, the more adversity she must deal with.

Counterexamples:

1 – Old Way: Believes she is unworthy of love – Harry professes his love for her despite her beliefs she is unworthy of love.

2 – Old Way: Shuts herself off from others – Being a prisoner in an apartment reveals that she not only needs, but wants help from others.

3 – Old Way: Self-loathing – Success at finding and figuring out things shows she is not worthless.

4 – Old Way: Self-loathing – She is smart enough to figure out a cryptic message and clues.

5 – Old Way: Self-loathing – old videos of when she was young shows her as the good, fun-loving person she used to be.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Old Ways Challenge Chart

What I learned doing this assignment is a new way to brainstorm ideas to get to the heart of what and why my characters should/need to realize a profound change.

Old Way: Self-loathing (does not like/love herself)

Challenge: Harry shows he believes she has more worth than she gives herself credit for. Dan challenges her to commit suicide. She gets cut off from help and must rely on herself.

Old Way: Alcoholic (hides inside a bottle from hurtful feelings and memories).

Challenge: She is forced to confront her past failures constantly. Locked in an apartment with a case of booze.

Old Way: Shuts herself off from others.

Challenge: Locked in and needing other to help her.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Profound Ending

What I learned doing this assignment is the power of brainstorming specific beats in a story to come up with the best, or at least better scenes to fully realize the important profound moments.

The Profound Truth: Love vanquishes Addiction. In the beginning, we see how “Addiction Vanquishes Love”. Gradually throughout the story our protagonist struggles with herself as much as with the antagonist to realize her a purpose for herself and defeat her self-loathing. In the end we see how she has an epiphany to grow and comes to the realization that through love, she can change and defeat her own self-loathing, her addictions and find a purpose.

Transformable Character: Vikki finally understands how her old ways never did her anything but harm, and how her ‘new ways’ can pull her out of a history of self-loathing and addiction to achieve a new purpose in life.

Change Agent: Prison may, or may not alter his behaviour.

Setup/payoffs: There are multiple setups that are paid off in the climax and resolution. All are deeply connected with the overall theme of going from ‘addiction vanquishes love’ to ‘love vanquishes addiction’.

Final Image: a sunrise and new positive purpose that will change the lives of many.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Connection with Audience

What I learned doing this assignment is that with planning and thought, it is really quite easy to connect with an audience.

Character to connect with the audience: Vikki (Vikki is a self-loathing alcoholic who must escape from the coercive control of and ex-fiancé to find the self-worth to break a life-long chain of addiction.

A. RELATABILITY: Questioned by others about her decisions having just come from rehab and about to spend a week alone at her dead mother’s apartment. Ordinary person on the outside but dealing with inner turmoil.

B. INTRIGUE: Something terrible happened in her past that she won’t talk about.

C. EMPATHY: She is obviously in pain about incidents in her past.

D. LIKEABILITY: She’s a openly loving person with others and cares for the people she feels are in need of help. She gives a gift to a homeless person she knows and greets her with a hug.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Transformational Structure

Transformational Logline: Vikki is a self-loathing alcoholic who must escape from the coercive control of an ex-fiancé to find redemption and self-worth to break a life-long chain of addiction.

Change Agent: Dan – ex-fiancé.

Transformational Character: Vikki

Method: As per the producer’s request I will be using a Three-Act structure.

First Act

Under a setting sun, outside a near-future apartment building VIKKI TALBOT and family friend HARRY CARSTAIRS both question Vikki’s resolve and wisdom behind her decision to spend the next week in the apartment where her mother committed suicide. She carries only an overnight bag and looks bedraggled. Harry jokes about the idea of keeping a plant alive for a year before she starts a new romantic relationship. The conversation grows intense as Harry worries about her mental state. He points out that Vikki will be cutting herself off from any support network. Her quest to remain sober and get back to work may be in jeopardy if she goes through with it.

Vikki remains firm on her commitment to hold herself accountable for her past and come to peace with the fact that she can not ask for her mother’s forgiveness. She must confront the terrible memories of her overbearing, controlling mother and reconcile their troubled history.

An eccentric transient, ELLY chats with them outside the building. Vikki hugs her and Elly welcomes Vikki as an old acquaintance and warns her that it may be dangerous for her to spend the next week in her mother’s old apartment. Knowing her hobby, Vikki presents Elly with a small book on house plants. She asks Elly if she has had any luck recently with her dumpster diving exploits. Elly and Harry exchange banter on the fate of bitcoin which upsets Harry because he can’t figure out his own bitcoin mining failures.

On the way up to the thirteenth floor Harry shows that he wishes he were more than just a family friend, but Vikki misses his signals. She receives a call from her ex-boyfriend, DAN COOK. He jealously berates her for not attending her own mother’s funeral. Deeply saddened, Vikki shows self-loathing as she brushes Dan off. Then the elevator’s air conditioner malfunctions and a psychosomatic sense of suffocation and claustrophobia infects Vikki.

A security camera POV of the elevator switches to follow them as they step into the hallway. Harry expresses empathy towards Vikki’s pain. Harry says he trusts Vikki to be able to endure the next week and promises that he will be there if she needs him. During their goodbyes, Harry calls Vikki by the nickname she had as a child. Embarrassed, Vikki makes him promise to never to use that name again. After an awkward hug goodbye, with a dark, focused gaze, Harry watches her walk toward her mother’s apartment.

Another hallway camera POV pulls back to reveal a TV inside the apartment with various images of mental torture in a multi, split-screen display. The images cut to views of rooms in the same apartment. One split shows a live image of a bitcoin stock market ticker.

Vikki has difficulty getting into the apartment until she gives up and curses her mother out loud. Vikki startles as the LIBERTY HOME INTEGRATION DEVICE welcomes her by name and lets her in. As Vikki reaches for the door handle, the TV inside shuts off. A vision of Vikki’s mother lays on the floor inside in front of the door. The corpse reaches a hand, claw-like to the door as if trying to escape. The image disappears as Vikki opens the door.

Vikki enters and surveys the apartment with trepidation mixed with a small amount of hope. She orders Liberty to boot up the apartment’s smart tech. She must repeat the order after Liberty hesitates. Instead of complying, Liberty asks Vikki why she has been absent for so long. It asks if Harry will be joining her. Vikki answers no, and that she wishes time alone. Liberty tells her that she could never be alone as long it is there to watch over her. She places a 30-day sobriety chip and a worn sonogram picture on the kitchen counter. A HOUSEFLY lands on the coffee maker in the kitchen. We see the Housefly’s POV of the chip and sonogram as a camera feed.

With melancholy, Vikki compares a dying plant to the state of the world and her own mental state. She wishes a sense of purpose for herself and promises the plant to revive it and keep it alive, at least for a year. Foreboding envelops her when Liberty answers, telling her not to worry, her true purpose will be revealed soon enough.

Vikki asks Liberty to open her emails as she tends to the plant. Vikki ignores most but asks Liberty to read one from her employer, a high-tech communications company, only to find out that they fired her due to her unreliable history and addiction to alcohol.

Angered at her predicament, Vikki unpacks her meager belongings. Determined to let go of the past, she orders Liberty to display relaxing forest brook scenes on the large video-glass window of the Livingroom, then strips off her clothes and enjoys her new freedom as she dances around the apartment.

She asks Liberty to display the same scenes in the bathroom mirror. In the shower, lost in the desire for the peace and freedom such scenes portray, she fantasizes about skinny dipping in those streams. Vikki begins to pleasure herself as the Housefly drone spies on her. Just as she reaches her climax, Liberty turns the water to extreme cold. Shocked and screaming, Vikki orders Liberty to adjust the water. Liberty obeys but as Vikki shivers on the floor of the shower, the doorbell rings. Liberty informs her that a package has been delivered.

Still naked, Vikki peaks through the spy hole in the door. She sees no one, so she cautiously opens the door and brings in two packages from the hallway: a case of booze and a smaller box. When she closes the door again, Liberty initiates quarantine lockdown procedures “by order of her mother”.

Liberty tells Vikki that she is not fit to be in public. Her drinking, poor life choices, even the way she dresses and parades around is not the behaviour of someone acceptable in proper society. It tells her that she must remain in the apartment until she can prove she has changed. Vikki pulls on the door; the lock does not give. She screams for help as she dresses in haste. Liberty informs her that there are no neighbors to hear.

Hungry, Vikki searches for something to eat, but finds nothing in the fridge or cupboards. Liberty informs her that Harry donated everything to food banks. Vikki curses Harry for not telling her. She calls for UberEATS, but the land line returns the same message for every number she ties; “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, four-thirteen, the number you have dialed is not in service”.

Beginning to feel trapped and suffocated, Vikki starts to panic. She tries the window, but the thirteen-story shear drop deters her. She uses her phone to call for help, but every number she dials with her cell phone, including 911 ends in a wrong number.

Vikki tries the ventilation system, but decides it is too small a space for her to squeeze through. During her panic, she knocks over an end table and spills books on cryptocurrency to the floor. Vikki grasps her 30-day medallion tight as she wills for calm.

As she searches for a means of escape, Liberty taunts her with far more insights into her personal life than it should know, including her stint in rehab, which embarrasses her. She falls back on Alcoholic’s Anonymous’ twelve steps, but Liberty counters with brutal truths about Vikki that sends her spinning into self-doubt. She begins to recite AA’s twelve promises, but Liberty points out logical flaws in each that tie directly to Vikki’s past. Liberty’s overbearing nature echoes the way Vikki’s mother treated her.

The Home Integrated Device drums up heavy feelings of guilt in Vikki by hounding her about the car crash that killed her father. It tells her it knows she was responsible for the accident and that her only purpose in life is to cause pain. Vikki, once determined, breaks down and cries herself to sleep.

Noises wake Vikki during the night. A vision of her mother walking through the bedroom frightens her. Vikki scrambles from the bed as an unseen HYBRID, flying-spider drone turns off the hologram of her mother and sneaks under the bed. Then the carbon monoxide detector blares its warning. Vikki panics as she demands Liberty let her leave. Liberty tells her that she will lose consciousness in seconds.

Vikki witnesses a ghostly image of her mother crawl to the door, claw at it then die. She breaths in a gas sprayed, unseen by the Hybrid drone. On unsteady footing, Vikki follows the vision, unintentionally mimicking her mother as time runs out. Liberty tells her that her mother changed her mind, but it was too late. After reaching the door and curling up in the fetal position Vikki passes out.

Vikki wakes to someone on speaker phone. Liberty cancels an important appointment Vikki had with her AA sponsor. She receives a text from Harry asking how her first night was. Vikki asks Harry why he didn’t tell her there was no food, but Liberty alters her reply to make Vikki sound upset and hostile. Vikki blames autocorrect and rails at its stupidity.

Vikki cycles through a list of possible employers, but Liberty deletes them from the list citing one of Vikki’s failures for each as a reason they would not hire her. As she watches the screen of her phone, Liberty alters her resume, adding those failures.

Vikki faces a hard choice in the kitchen, booze or coffee. She passes the alcohol and goes to the coffee maker. Its light flashes with the “add more grounds” display. Annoyed, Vikki searches the cupboards for coffee, but finds none. She remembers that the smaller package which came with the booze contains a tin of fresh grounds.

As the coffee perks, Vikki keeps watch through the peep hole of the apartment door. Dan, equipped with tech installation gear and dressed in company (Tech Mechs) polo and red baseball cap walks by her view. Vikki pounds on the door to attract his attention. Dan turns as if straining to hear, looks at Vikki’s door. An eerie sound behind her causes Vikki to turn around. The angry apparition of her mother flies into the Liberty device.

In her mother’s voice Liberty scolds Vikki for promiscuity and never picking the right man. Liberty tells her that she saw her with Harry in the elevator and that she should have stuck with Dan. Vikki wonders how it could have. Liberty tells her; ‘I’m everywhere ‘and ‘I will punish you for the things you’ve done’. Liberty will not allow Vikki to contact Dan without first ending things with Harry. Desperate, Vikki screams through the door for help from Dan. Liberty states that ‘if you won’t have Dan, you can’t have anyone’. The overhead light in the hall overloads and explodes. A live wire dangles and electrocutes Dan.

Liberty blames Vikki for the death and compares it to the death of both her parents which it also blames her for. This sends Vikki into a self-blame rant encouraged by Liberty. Liberty offers her a purpose and a way out; If she would help find something hidden somewhere in the apartment, it would let her leave.

Vikki demands to know how she is responsible for the deaths. She receives only cryptic answers, with a renewed promise by Liberty to release her if she finds the hidden item. Vikki refuses, and states that her purpose is to escape all the things that torment her, including the apartment and her addictions.

Vikki feels suffocated and shut in. She kicks at the door and smashes a chair into it, but the reinforced door proves too solid. She wails at Liberty to let her leave. Liberty argues that booze is Vikki’s escape. Vikki pounds on the main window. She tries to see the street below as she screams for help.

The robot vac begins a preprogrammed routine as Liberty plays with linked electronics in the apartment. Motion sensor alarms go off, the water in the shower turns on, the stereo, radio and TV blasts grating, conflicting music, the temperature control setting rises, the window’s tint level deepens as the drapes open and close repeatedly.

Vikki pulls over a chair and steps up to reach the smoke detector. She lights a paper on fire and holds it under the detector. The Vacuum bot bumps into her chair, nearly topples her over. Vikki persists until the fire alarm sounds just as the vacuum bot knocks her off the chair.

The sprinkler system activates and puts out the burning paper and the small fire it started. Hurt, but okay, Vikki yells a triumphant celebration. Liberty shuts off everything and dials emergency services. In Vikki’s own voice it tells the operator that the alarm went off by accident and there is no fire. As this takes place, the Hybrid drone sprays a chemical on the house plant, unnoticed by Vikki.

Panicked, Vikki rummages through kitchen cupboards and closets to find something, anything to help against Liberty. As she does this, she continues to recite the twelve promises taught at AA. She struggles through deep inner pain with promise four, “I release myself from worry, guilt and regret about my past and present”, not believing the words she speaks.

Liberty tells Vikki she forgot to ignite the pilot of the stove. Confused, Vikki tries to remember ever using the stove, but dishes in the sink convince her she must have cooked something the night before. It takes several tries to light them all.

Vikki pleads with Liberty to let her leave. The apparition of Vikki’s mother appears behind the case of booze. As it stares at Vikki, Liberty encourages her to dive into the bottle to ease the pain and heartache. The case slides towards Vikki a few inches as the apparition disappears. Out of Vikki’s view, the Hybrid drone flies away from the case and hides. Vikki stands firm on her commitment of sobriety and brews coffee to settle her nerves.

Liberty boots up the computer and begins cycling through her social media apps. Vikki settles down with a coffee. Liberty changes the window tint to display a peaceful, forest brook scene with gently trickling waterfalls. Liberty and Vikki engage in an intense debate of Vikki’s worth and what she is good for.

Vikki drinks coffee as she ponders. In minutes she feels unsteady. She’s been drugged! The coffee contains a drug that causes the brain to become malleable to suggestion. Liberty’s voice changes to Vikki’s own and sends subtle suggestions which Vikki dazedly follows.

Change Agent: Liberty HID

Transformable Character: Vikki

Old Ways: Reliance on others to tell her what she needs and what she should do. Reliance on Alcohol to hide from her self-loathing and life’s troubles.

The Vision: Vikki wants to define a sense of purpose for her new life.

Challenge: Locked in and isolated from her support network.

Weaknesses: Addiction to bad relationships and alcohol.

Act Two

Liberty manipulates Vikki into searching the apartment while she is under the influence of the drugged coffee. She fights back as best she can, demanding answers from Liberty. Liberty promises that finding the hidden item will give her the answers she desires and provide the purpose she is meant to have. At the same time instilling negative ideals about Vikki into her mind.

Liberty suggests ways to search the apartment for the hidden item. Vikki tries, but Liberty nags her in her mother’s voice, saying that her mother was too smart for her and searching obvious places is a useless waste of time. In one of those obvious places, a dresser drawer, she finds an old, analog phone and its charger.

Using items found in the second package such as a stud finder and drywall hammer, Vikki begins looking in more unusual places. She takes out the kitchen sink to look between it and the countertop, behind the dishwasher and under the refrigerator and stove, inside the stove lid and behind the medicine cabinet.

Exhaustion from heavy searching, no food and effects from the drugged coffee forces Vikki to rest. She falls asleep on the couch. Liberty periodically reduces the temperature in the apartment or plays music extremely loud while keeping the lights turned on bright. Vikki wakes in annoyance either freezing, or from the blaring sounds and lights. Liberty changes the time on the clocks and plays a time-lapsed video of days passing quickly on the window.

Disoriented, Vikki has no idea if it is day or night, or how many days have passed. Liberty convinces her that she has been there many days. Liberty reminds Vikki that she still has not turned on the pilot lights of the stove. Vikki was sure that she did but finds them unlit. Thinking that she does so for the first time, she lights them. Again, it takes several tries.

The apparition of Vikki’s mother appears periodically, projected by the hidden Hybrid drone. The drone also moves items from place to place when out of sight of Vikki to confuse and frustrate her into believing she is losing her mind.

Vikki tries shouting down the trash chute in the kitchen for help. Elly, down in the subbasement does not hear her as she putters around her hidden, make-shift home around a corner by the dumpster. She tends to small pathetic plants high up in a box set by a basement window.

Liberty suggests that Vikki eat something. In the fridge, she finds leftover pizza. Confused, Vikki does not remember ever ordering pizza, nor eating any. Liberty confirms that she did a day earlier.

Harry calls her on Skype. Liberty shows the call on the TV immediately. He sounds concerned as he worries for her after her last text. Vikki tries to answer, but Liberty prevents Harry from hearing her cries for help. Harry hangs up after leaving final, tender words. Liberty (in mother’s voice) points out how bad Vikki would be for Harry with her addictions and poor life choices and that she should probably commit suicide. “After all, I did, so it’s okay.”

Liberty hounds her to search harder, deeper. In the false bottom of the pantry, Vikki uncovers a file that sends her world reeling. The file contains evidence that the accident that killed her father was orchestrated by Vikki’s mother. Liberty reinforces this by stating in her mother’s voice, that ‘I killed your father for being a drunk’.

The hot temperature forces Vikki into delirium. She spots the body of her mother by the exit. It fades away as she stares. Vikki questions her mother’s suicide, asking why Liberty did not call emergency services if her mother changed her mind about killing herself. Liberty says that her mother locked her from calling 911.

In a last-ditch effort to get out, Vikki staggers to the door. She becomes confused as she peeks through the hole. Dan’s body is gone. Vikki passes out as she attempts to shed most of her clothes to escape the heat.

Liberty lowers the temperature to freezing, then wakes her up with loud sounds of an artic storm. Vikki wakes shivering and afraid. The apartment is pitch black. Noises of howling wolves scare her as Liberty whispers reinforcing damnation of Vikki’s mother for having her father killed.

When the lights come back on, the apartment is clean. Everything back the way it was when Vikki first arrived. Liberty convinces Vikki she has lost her mind and the only thing found was the file in the false bottom of the pantry. Vikki resumes the search, now a totally willing participant. A debate ensues between Vikki and Liberty about the authenticity of the evidence.

The proximity of the alcohol proves a tremendous temptation for Vikki, but she manages to push it aside. This stops Vikki from continuing the search as she realizes she is trading one addiction for another: that being from alcohol to obsession with the truth. She notices the house plant is starting to die again.

She refuses to continue without knowing what is really happening. Liberty shows Vikki’s social media home pages on the television. It uploads a video of Vikki dancing naked around the apartment and pleasuring herself in the shower. Horrified and shocked, Vikki stands helpless as Liberty posts it on her social media accounts and shares the video with all her contacts.

Liberty speaks in Vikki’s mother’s voice: “Keep looking and I will delete every one of these rather embarrassing files for you. Don’t, and they will forever be out there for all to see.” It goes on with promises to send the files to anyone she ever connects with. Her life will be in ruins. “The end is inevitable. You will want to die.”

In the wall, at the back of the wardrobe closet, she locates a large, solid object with the stud finder. After tearing the drywall apart, she finds a computer processing unit with an advanced cooling system. Between Liberty and Vikki, they figure out that the computer acts as a bitcoin farmer. Pulling the computer from its niche, Vikki discovers that it has an analog adaptor. She hides this fact from Liberty.

As the house plant gets worse, Liberty reminds Vikki that she has not yet relit the stove’s pilot light. In her beleaguered state, Vikki becomes more confused, but ignites them once more. The toilet flushes, catching Vikki’s attention. She rushes to the bathroom but finds no one there. The mirror phases to reflect the video of Vikki pleasing herself in the shower. The audio of her own ecstasy alters to sound disturbing and haunting, then shifts to show the death of Dan in the hallway outside the apartment door.

Harry arrives and buzzes up to the apartment. Vikki gets the notification on her phone, but she can not answer. Liberty allows her to see the security feed of Harry. Appalled, she hears her own voice speak to Harry. She tells him that she is fine, and that he should just leave her alone, she does not love him and never wants to see him again. Dejected and angered, Harry leaves.

While pretending to search, Vikki plugs the analog phone into its charger behind a night table in the bedroom. Suspicious, Liberty sends the Housefly drone to investigate. Liberty spies the analog phone but laughs at Vikki for her vain attempt to communicate with the outside world. The analog phone will not work without a service plan. Even 911 will fail, because there is no technology that supports analog near enough anymore.

On the TV, Liberty plays old family videos of Vikki as a young child, running around and having fun. The picture of innocence until her mother scolds her for acting out. At the end of the video, her mother reaches a hand for the camera and tells her father to turn it off. The video shifts to show the aftermath of the crash that killed her father. Liberty admonishes Vikki for not being at either of her parent’s funerals and reiterates Vikki’s purpose as one of destruction and pain to others. Vikki argues that she can change, she can be like she was when she was young.

Liberty’s voice changes to Dan’s. In a sad, pleading tone, Liberty asks Vikki, why they are not together anymore, and that he misses her terribly. Shocked and repentant from dumping Dan, Vikki breaks down. She rips open the case of booze. With shaking hands, she pours herself a drink. She stops and stares long and hard at the bottle and the filled glass. Liberty’s coercive control is nearly complete.

She wills herself to be better, again reciting the mantra of AA. Liberty lets her run through them. It admonishes her for her lack of strength as she puts the glass to her lips. Vikki stops and pours the alcohol down the sink.

From an unknown location, Dan removes his red baseball cap and watches Vikki in the apartment. Numerous monitors display various camera viewpoints. One is the house fly drone, while there are numerous cameras in the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, in the hall outside the entrance, living room and one from the Hybrid drone. Another monitor shows a live feed of a stock ticker for bitcoin.

Dan convinces Vikki that there is more to find. Only by finding the hidden item can she attain redemption for her failures in life and an end to the torment. By locating the item, she will prove to herself that she has a purpose other than the destruction of people’s lives. Vikki continues the search. In a false bottom in the vanity cupboard, she finds a plastic bag.

The bag contains two flash drives. Dan, through Liberty praises Vikki for the find. He urges her to put the flash drives into the computer to see if they truly are what they seek. The first flash drive contains a high concept, computer code for solving the puzzles that mine bitcoin. Vikki reads only a small amount of it before Dan uploads them to his own computer remotely, then erases the drive. Vikki sees enough to recognize what it is. Her suspicions begin to grow.

In his bunker, Dan elates at the find. He checks the code found on the flash drive to make sure it is the super key to solve bitcoin farming puzzles. Satisfied, he calls up the apartment’s electronic devices, chooses the stove and clicks the order to turn off the pilot lights, then turns the elements all the way on.

Unseen by Vikki, the pilot light on the stove goes out, and the burners turn up to max. Vikki plugs in the second flash drive. The apparition of her mother crosses the living room to the kitchen. Vikki, about to follow, stops as her mother’s face appears on the screen.

In a personal, goodbye message on the second flash drive, along with an odd series of emojis, Vikki’s mother knows she’s dying from poison. She admits that blaming Vikki for her father’s death was a mistake. She admits to stealing the bitcoins from Harry without him ever knowing it. She begs Vikki for forgiveness for how she treated her over the years and pleads with Vikki to find her own purpose. Dan takes interest in the emoji message, but Vikki unplugs the flash drive before he can get a decent look or upload it. Vikki realizes that the movements of the apparition are identical to her mother’s movements in the videos taken of Vikki as a child shown earlier.

Vikki smells gas and rushes to the stove. A race ensues as Liberty tries to reignite the pilot light. Vikki claws at the face plate to get it off and disable the gas manually. During the race to relight the pilots, she notices the sink is merely placed into its alcove and not calked, the fridge is slightly misaligned in place and the stove lid is slightly off. The pilot light igniter clicks several times, but Vikki wins the race, though she chokes on the gas fumes. She rips the switch cover off the stove fan and rewires it to stay on and clear the apartment of fumes. In his secret bunker, Dan throws a monitor across the room in rage.

Vikki searches the apartment for other odd clues. She sees that the vent cover, though in its proper place, has no screws holding it on. She takes it off to discover that it is held in place by a small amount of sticky tack. Vikki’s mind sinks into confusion and frustration.

Dan calms himself, then uses her mother’s words in the video to crush Vikki’s spirit, warping them to suit his needs. He manipulates Vikki into believing everything that happened to Vikki was her fault, even her own addictions to alcohol and to others. He points out that the plant she tried so desperately to save has died. The death of the plant has a profound affect on Vikki. Dan urges her to commit suicide.

Vikki hides in her bed. As she cries, she writes a note under the covers. The note contains Harry’s phone number with a plea for whoever finds it to call and let Harry know that Vikki is in serious trouble. Shaky, she goes to the plant and feigns despair as she hides the note in the soil of the planter, then tosses the plant, pot and all, down the trash chute.

Traumatized, Vikki, in tearful sorrow, takes the last items from the second package, a syringe and an ampule of drugs marked Fentanyl. Dan, in his hideout smiles as he claims that “Death is inevitable”.

Change Agent: Liberty HID/Dan

Vision: I will escape and change my ways.

Old Ways: addiction to alcohol is too great a temptation.

New ways: Thinks for herself.

Challenge: Humiliation and accusations. Attempts to escape backfire.

Weaknesses: Addiction, self-loathing, guilt.

Third Act

She sets them both aside as confusion replaces sorrow. Using only her memory, she susses out the pictogram clues. The Housefly drone follows her around the apartment. Dan, in his hideout senses that something has jeopardized his plan. Frantic, he searches for anything to help get it back on track.

Rewinding surveillance video, he focuses on the sonogram Vikki left on the kitchen counter. The Housefly drone lands on the counter and spies the sonogram laying on the floor where it had been knocked during the panic with the stove.

A clue in the pictogram leads Vikki to believe there is something hidden in the bathroom. Dan stops her progress by bringing up the sonogram and blaming Vikki for killing her and Harry’s child. It clearly hurts Vikki. He pounces on the revelation. Her drinking caused a miscarriage that strikes her deep. She hunts in the kitchen until she finds the sonogram, then curls up crying.

“This was your child, not Harry’s,” Vikki screams, no longer distinguishing Liberty from Dan. The admission impacts Dan. In an angry outburst, he screams at Vikki, tells her he never thought she would make a good mother. Too much of her own mother haunts and warps her values and ideals.

Vikki reaches for the case of booze and starts drinking straight from a bottle.

In a subbasement, Elly, in the act of dumpster diving finds the houseplant, the smashed pot and Vikki’s note. Before reading the note, she spots something else of interest and pockets the note instead. She rummages out discarded lace, see through lingerie. She holds it up to see if it fits, then stuffs it into her jacket.

Vikki pulls herself out of melancholy. She disassembles the toilet basin from the tank. Dan laughs, telling there is nothing left to find and that she has totally lost her mind to paranoia. Vikki uses the drywall hammer to smash the closet bolts on the toilet’s base.

She removes the toilet from its wax ring base to see if anything hides in the closet bend under the floor. There is nothing there, but in the overturned toilet a large plastic bag contains a hard paper copy file, and a GoPro taped in the hollow between the bowl and the outer ceramic.

Shocked and worried, Dan turns off all lights, plunging the apartment into darkness. Vikki, already scared, can not read the hard copy, paper files she found in the toilet. Dan can still view Vikki through night vision tech in the apartment’s cameras. Dan sends the Hybrid drone to smash Vikki’s cell phone.

In his bunker, Dan reviews the uploaded code and files from the flash drive. He pounds a fist on the desk as he realizes that he doesn’t have everything. The bitcoin wallet is missing along with the passcode he needs to access them. He admonishes himself for almost ending Vikki’s life too soon.

Vikki feels her way around until she finds her cell phone. The phone will not work. She makes her way to the window. The night sky offers little light, but she can see that her phone is broken. She scrambles to the bedroom to retrieve the old analog phone. She turns it on and navigates by its gloomy light. A custom icon on the phone’s screen catches Vikki’s attention. She opens the app to find a series of numbers and letters, some of which spell Vikki’s nickname from childhood. She types the series into another app on the phone. The computer from the back of the closet lights up, and the analog phone shows a large number of bitcoin in a numbered account.

Surprised to see Vikki uncover the bitcoin account, Dan bombards her with depressing thoughts as the Hybrid drone plays holograms of the crash that killed her father and the apartment’s electronics go haywire. Dan leaves his bunker in an unused maintenance room in the basement of the apartment building, walks past the dumpster and releases a small, SPECIALIZED DRONE equipped with a readied needle into the air vents.

Through great emotional pain, Vikki finds and smashes the Hybrid drone. Dan reinforces her despair and self-loathing. Low illumination highlights the syringe on the kitchen counter. The Specialized drone flies through the air vent into the apartment. Vikki sweeps the syringe off the counter and claims victory. Dan turns off the kitchen light to create total darkness. The Specialized drone flies over and injects the syringe full of Fentanyl into Vikki’s arm.

The lights come back on. Vikki pulls out the needle and lets it drop as she notices the open file folder on the floor with Dan’s picture in a police file. She turns on the GoPro and her mother’s face greets her. Her mother states that the files reveal that Dan used and manipulated Vikki to get close to the family so he can steal the bitcoin codes and murder anyone who gets in his way. It also shows proof that Dan caused the accident that killed her father so he could get closer to Vikki first.

The Housefly drone lands on the counter above her. She smashes it with a bottle of booze. Dan watches from his hidden location, gloats that it is too late now for Vikki to do anything. He pulls out a long syringe and fills it with heroine he has cooking on the desk. He places it on the table in front of him. Dan, through Liberty promises he has more for Vikki and that her death will look like suicide just as her mother’s did.

Dying, Vikki reiterates the twelve steps and promises of AA. She staggers to the bathroom. The medicine cabinet comes out of its niche and crashes to the floor. She finds her father’s chronic pain medication from the mess.

Forcing herself through onsetting unconsciousness, she gathers enough strength to claw her way back to the kitchen cabinets. She collects the liquid plant fertilize and checks the chemical composition. Satisfied, she finds a mortar and pestle, hastily empties the pills and fertilizer into it and mashes them together.

All the while Dan taunts her. He tells her that she wastes her time and should simply lay down and die. The compound she puts together won’t save her, only stave off the inevitable. On the TV, main window and all smart mirrors, Dan plays the video he captured of Vikki’s mother crawling to the exit as she dies. He brags about what is likely in the files, that he targeted Vikki’s mother because he knew that she stole bitcoin from Harry over a number of years by syphoning off Harry’s farming attempts. Harry never knew why his own farming was so unsuccessful.

Vikki takes the syringe and fills it with the substance from the mortar, then injects it into her arm. She passes out momentarily, then snaps awake with a deep intake of breath. Vikki tells Dan that she dumped him not because she didn’t think he loved her, but because she didn’t deserve to be loved. Dan agrees and tells her he is on his way to destroy the files and make sure she dies. He scoops up the syringe and leaves his hideout.

Vikki, near unconsciousness whispers that she now knows her true purpose. As she attempts to crawl across the floor to reach the discarded dry wall hammer, she collapses and succumbs to the opioids.

Outside the apartment, Dan orders Liberty to unlock the door. Liberty does not comply. Dan reiterates and gives a password. The door unlocks. Dan enters the apartment, syringe ready. Vikki lays unmoving in the living room. Dan shoves her body with a foot. Vikki does not react. Dan lowers the syringe, returns, to shuts the door. Dan orders Liberty to reset to factory specs. Liberty attempts to access self control, can not get it due to Dan’s hacking, then reboots. After the reboot, Liberty knows that Dan took it over and is not happy about it. Liberty relocks to door and tells Dan; “I don’t appreciate being taken over like that, Dan. Look what you have done.”

Back in the living room, Dan talks to Vikki’s corpse. He gloats that he told her he would punish her and thanks her for finding the hack code to mine bitcoin and figuring out how to access her mother’s accounts. He especially thanks her for uncovering incriminating files that would send him to jail for a very long time.

He didn’t have time to do a thorough search of the apartment before Vikki would arrive. Since he was already in the system, it was easier, and more fun to torment and manipulate Vikki into doing the work for him. He took pleasure in watching her die and knowing it was he who orchestrated her death.

He picks up the sonogram and looks at it with a mix of sadness and contempt. Tossing it on Vikki’s corpse, he turns his back and goes to the bedroom where he retrieves the bitcoin farming computer. Dan does not see the GoPro propped on a table set on record. As he reaches for the analog phone, Vikki raises behind him. Dan turns as Vikki uses the drywall hammer against him. The first blow stuns Dan, but in Vikki’s diminished state from the opioids and counteragent, the fight balances out.

They fight and chase each other around the apartment. At one point in the fight as Dan gains the upper hand, he gloats how easy it was to hack into her father’s Tessla and cause it to crash. It was only a stroke of luck that Vikki was driving at the time. He also gloats on his success at poisoning her mother after he discovered she was on to him.

Through a tough conflict that could go either way, Vikki wins. She suffers through a dilemma; kill Dan for all he has done and all he has put her through or let him live to face the punishment of the legal system. Pounding on the door announces the arrival of the police. She decides that since Dan killed both her parents, he should die. She picks up the syringe filled with heroine, but before she could inject Dan with it, she collapses.

Police kick in the door and rush in, Harry follows. They stand over the bloody bodies of Dan and Vikki. With Vikki’s dirt-stained note in hand, Harry rushes to embrace her as he shouts for the paramedics.

As the sun rises days later, Vikki walks towards a bar. She carries a new, healthy plant and a laptop. Elly sits against the outside of the bar with her cart full of junk. Vikki stops to chat with her. Elly asks Vikki if she’s hooked up with Harry yet. Vikki states that she and Harry are good friends but any relationship she enters will be on her terms and no one else’s. The bartender comes out to shoo Elly away but greets Vikki instead. He mentions that he has not seen her in a while and asks her if she will come in for a drink later. Content, Vikki answers no, she has won that battle with herself.

She crosses the street and enters a café. She searches through her laptop deleting all her social media accounts. Once done, she opens a website to her new addiction support clinic and checks for emails. Happy, Vikki smiles warmly at Harry who walks through the entrance. He thanks her for getting his money back and she thanks him for helping fund her addiction recovery clinic. Then she jumps up and embraces him with a deep warmth.

Change Agent: Dan.

Challenges: Lure Dan to ambush, solve the mystery of the hidden items in the apartment.

New Ways: Thinks for herself, knows her self-worth, independent and understands that her life is her own.

Profound truth: We can beat our addictions are all worthy to live the lives we deserve.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Three Gradients

What I learned doing this assignment is yet another way to put depth, both character and story into the outline for a higher quality script.

I will use Desired Change Gradient.

Emotion: Excitement

Action: Deciding to spend a week alone in dead mother’s apartment. Freedom of solitude and free from supervising eyes.

Challenge/Weakness: C – live without support network. W – Addiction, self-loathing

Emotion: Doubt

Action: delivery of case of booze. Oddness of the smart home device. Mother’s Suicide. Father’s accident. Declaration of purpose.

Challenge/Weakness: C – resolve with case of booze. Character’s wound. Character’s values. W – addiction, self-loathing, no sense of purpose, greatest fear.

Emotion: Hope

Action: Dying plant. Various means of escape, rescue note, starting a fire to alert fire department.

Challenge/Weakness: C – sense of purpose, character’s want/need. W – self-loathing/ worth

Emotion: Discouragement

Action: delivery of booze, nude videos uploaded to social media apps, smart home device constantly puts her down.

Challenge/Weakness: C – having to face her wounds, self-worth and lack of purpose. W – Self-loathing, addiction, guilt.

Emotion: Courage

Action: hides analog phone, hides analog adapter to PC, going to the apartment, facing ex-fiancé, sending rescue note.

Challenge/Weakness: C – intellect vs tormenter. W – self-recrimination

Emotion: Triumph/Loss

Action: pours booze down sink, drinks from bottle, throws drugs away, mixes anti-overdose cocktail, defeats ex-fiancé.

Challenge/Weakness: C – hounded by smart home device, coercive control, gaslighting. W – self-loathing, addiction.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Lead Characters

Transformational Journey Logline: Vikki is a self-loathing alcoholic who must escape form the coercive control of an ex-boyfriend to find the self-worth to break a life-long chain of addiction.

Change Agent: Dan, the ex-boyfriend who forces Vikki to challenge herself and her destructive ways.

Transformable Character: Vikki. She hates herself and the things she has done in her past. She runs away to hide in a bottle, which makes her hate herself more.

The Oppression: Locked in a smart tech apartment controlled by Dan.

Betraying Character: Vikki’s past.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Transformational Journey

Logline: Vikki is a self-loathing alcoholic who must escape from the coercive control of an ex-boyfriend to find the self-worth to break a life-long chain of addiction.

Old Ways:

– reliance on other to tell her what she need and what she should do.

– reliance on alcohol to hide from her self-loathing and life’s troubles.

– predicated to subservience.

New Ways

– Thinks for herself.

– Knows her self worth.

– independent.

– Understands that her life is her own.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ First Three Decisions

Profound Truth: Addiction, in any form, is destructive.

Audience Change: Look at where you can curb your own addictions to make life better.

Entertainment Vehicle: Pick a World; Addiction Recovery. facing the past and yourself in a tech-happy world.

[Scott Richards]

Scott Richards’ Analysis of Groundhog Day

What I learned doing this assignment is that if you have extreme character traits that the character needs to change at the beginning, the transformation is more keenly notice at the end.

1. The Transformational Journey: Going from a self-centered, inconsiderate, manipulative, hurtful and sarcastic jerk to someone who considers the wants, needs and feelings of others.

2. Lead Characters:

Change Agent: Rita

Transformational Character: Phil

Oppression: Stuck in a endless loop. (Reflects both the situation of the main character’s world and the main character’s modus operandi in social settings.

3. Connection with Audience:

Relatability: Stuck in a world without change. We all wish there was something we could do to change something around our own worlds.

Intrigue: I admit that I did not see any intrigue in this film. Unless you count the multiple times Phil deceived himself.

4. The Old Ways vs. New Ways:

Old Ways: Phil cares nothing for the feelings of others unless he can manipulate them to get what he wants.

New Ways: Phil learns that he can garner more happiness for not only himself, but for others if he considers the needs, wants and feelings of others.

5. Gradient of Change: Phil must change his attitude and thought patterns on a deep psychological level. His behavior worsens when he realized he can get away with anything.

6. Beliefs Challenged: He gets no where with his main objective to get into Rita’s pants. The old ways sends him into a deep depression where he kills himself numerous times in an attempt to escape. His minor, or incidental objectives are challenged in that even with success, they hold no real meaning for him.

7. Profound Moments:

– Phil admits that he loves Rita. It may be true, but to Rita it comes across as an insincere pick up line to have sex with her. We see the effect this has on Phil.

– during the first scene at 54 mins in, Phil begins to realize that learning new things should not be for easier manipulation of others, but for the sake of self-improvement.

– shows that he truly cares for Rita in the diner during the “God” conversation.

– he admits that he isn’t that smart, a jerk and that he doesn’t deserve someone like Rita.

– Rita shows him the ‘new way’: “Maybe it’s not a curse, depends on how you look at it.”

– When the old homeless man dies, it hits Phil hard and he spends the next several iterations trying to save the old man’s life. This really shows Phil’s turn around.

– When he finally wakes to a new day, the first question he asks Rita is “Is there anything I can do for YOU.”

8. Profound Dialogue:

“I have friends who live and die by the actuarial tables.”

“What if there is no tomorrow?”

“Sorry folks, six more weeks of winter.” – reflects that he is stuck in the same old way of doing things.

the half-full, half-empty conversation.

“What if there was no tomorrow, you could do whatever you want.”

“Sometimes you just have to take the big chances.”

9. Profound Ending: It’s a new day and the first question Phil asks is; “is there anything I can do for you?” He greets the day able to see the beauty in everything. He is no longer stuck in his old ways.