[Richard Whiteside]

Rich Whiteside’s Transformational Journey

What I learned doing this assignment is the value in the process of structuring a profound story is working from the outside in. Define your beginning “failing in life” state and the end “on the path to a better future”.

1. Logline for the transformational journey: Chris, a high school push who desperately needs money fast, makes a drug run through the precarious Canadian–Montana wilderness in the dead of winter with a street-tough drug mule he can’t trust.

2. Chris’s old ways: Chris is unemployed, depressed, and feeling ignored and left out of life. He blames his father who bailed on him and his mother when he was young. Chris lets himself get pushed around. His mother has surrendered to the lung cancer and depends on Medicaid and her meager Social Security to scrape by. Without opportunity, guidance or mentorship, Chris’s life revolves around smoking weed and skateboarding while looking for part-time work. He has no idea what he wants to do with his life. He marvels at an Army poster about flying drones, but he doesn’t have the guts to sign up because he’s afraid of boot camp. The only thing he cares about is his dying mother—who’d rather die than fight her cancer—because he has no family outside of her. He’s petrified of being alone in life.

3. Chris’s ways: He realizes he’s stronger and more resilient than he thought. He finds his voice and stands his ground with the street-tough travel mate and builds a bond between them. He lets go of his fear of boot camp and enlists.

[Richard Whiteside]

Rich Whiteside’s Transformational Journey

What I learned doing this assignment is the value in the process of structuring a profound story is working from the outside in. Define your beginning “failing in life” state and the end “on the path to a better future”.

1. Logline for the transformational journey: Chris, a high school push who desperately needs money fast, makes a drug run through the precarious Canadian–Montana wilderness in the dead of winter with a street-tough drug mule he can’t trust.

2. Chris’s old ways: Chris is unemployed, depressed, and feeling ignored and left out of life. He blames his father who bailed on him and his mother when he was young. Chris lets himself get pushed around. His mother has surrendered to the lung cancer and depends on Medicaid and her meager Social Security to scrape by. Without opportunity, guidance or mentorship, Chris’s life revolves around smoking weed and skateboarding while looking for part-time work. He has no idea what he wants to do with his life. He marvels at an Army poster about flying drones, but he doesn’t have the guts to sign up because he’s afraid of bootcamp. The only thing he cares about is his dying mother—who’d rather die than fight her cancer—because he has no family outside of her. He’s petrified of being alone in life.

3. Chris’s ways: He realizes he’s stronger and more resilient than he thought. He finds his voice and stands his ground with the street-tough travel mate and builds a bond between them. He lets go of his fear of bootcamp and enlists.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.

[Richard Whiteside]

Rich Whiteside’s transformational journey:

4. What I learned doing this assignment: I learned the importance of at least beginning story development with the exploration of a central premise, old ways that must be shed to change, and new ways to adopt to replace failing old ways.

1. Logline: Chris, a high school push who needs money fast for his dying mother, makes a drug run through the precarious Canadian–Montana wilderness in the dead of winter with a street-tough drug mule he can’t trust.

2. Define the old ways: Chris believes he has no opportunities and does not have a passion for anything other than smoking weed. He feels lost, lonely, and discarded by life. He has reached a point of not caring about anything but his dying mother—who’d rather die than fight her cancer.

3. New ways: He learns that life will push him around if he doesn’t have a goal to pursue and act definitively in pursuit. Having barely survived the ordeal, he has a new perspective on life and takes proactive steps towards a brighter new future.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.

[Richard Whiteside]

Rich Whiteside’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment is…

1. What is my profound truth?

You must fight to create opportunity for yourself.

2. What is the change my movie will cause with an audience?

It will encourage them to take risk in pursuit of a worthwhile dream.

3. What is my Entertainment Vehicle that I will tell this story through?

Two young kids forced to make a drug run through the Canadian/Montana wilderness in the dead of winter.

[Richard Whiteside]

Rich Whiteside’s analysis of Groundhog Day

1. What is the CHANGE this movie is about? What is the Transformational
Journey of this movie?

Phil Conners goes from living a self-serving, narcissistic life to one who goes out of his way to help and serve others. In his journey, he learns what it means to find true love.

2. Lead characters:

Who is the transformational character: Phil Conners

Who is the Change Agent (the one causing the change) and what makes this the right character to cause the change: Rita. She is the unmovable moral wall between Phil and the rest of his life. To win her, he must give up his old selfish ways and become a full-developed, caring person.

What is the oppression: Being stuck in a life rut and unable to move forward—all his desires for his future blocked.

3. How are we lured into the profound journey? What causes us to connect with this story?

Primarily, I wondered how I would handle waking up to the same day every day. I also wanted to see narcissistic Phil get his comeuppance for being a jerk.

Secondarily, I was really interested to see how the writer came up with new inventive days—even if I wasn’t a writer myself.

4. Looking at the character(s), who are changed the most, what is the profound journey? From “old ways” to “new way of being.” Identify their old way: Identify their new way at the conclusion.

Old Phil is self-centered, insulting (calls his news anchor “hairdo”; refers to Rita as, “She’s fun, but not my kind of fun”; he makes fun of her facial tics in the van; asks the B&B owner trying to be polite, “Do you want to talk about the weather or just chit chat?”; When the trio stop at the hotel, Phil says, “Rita, I can’t stay here.” He works hard day after day after day to manipulate Rita into sleep with him—which she rejects every tac with a slap to his face.

New Phil: engages the B&B host who greets him each morning outside his bedroom door with wonderful prose and a hug. He hugs and kisses the B&B owner. He does an inspired TV report from gobbler’s knob then runs around town helping people. He has the perfect day with Rita—respecting her, showing true love having gone the long way to get to know her without the lure of sex being a driver.

What is the gradient of change? [How is this question different from the next question?]

5. What steps did the Transformational
Character go through as they were changing?

Phil goes through these steps of change:

>Day One: Self-centered, demeaning, insulting, manipulates others to meet his needs and desires. Life strikes back with: he’s forced to do Groundhog Day remote, steps in puddle, snowed in, no help on phone, gets bopped on the head with a snow shovel, cold shower.

>Day Two: Wakes to same day as the day before, confusion, frustration—a sense of urgency to figure out what is going on and fix it.

>Day Three: more anxious, pushes Ned, steps in puddle again, insulting still, meets drunks in bowling alley. Realizes that there are no consequences to his actions when the day resets. Excites him to think of the possibilities. He drives through a mailbox and trash cans on the street, runs through a tall groundhog sign, ends up arrested.

>Day Four+: Wakes in his bed with, “Yes!” He’s excited, animated… it’s playtime! Once he accepts that he can’t get to the next day, he sees the joy in greeting each replay of the day—he realizes he has immunity of consequences to bad or selfish actions and goes about serving his every selfish desire: he embraces the Bed & Breakfast owner, he punches Ned; steps over the puddle, eats all that pastries at the diner and smokes; he manipulates women to have sex. Robs a bank truck just because he can.

>Day after day, all is great for him until he tries to bed Rita. He makes progress, gets all the way to his B&B room, but her morality stops him every time; and he wakes up alone and unsatisfied. He becomes obsessed with getting her. In one sincere conversation, she gives him her list of the requirements for her perfect “guy” (“Well, first of all, he’s too humble to know he’s perfect… He’s intelligent, supportive, funny… He’s romantic and courageous… He’s got a good body, but he doesn’t have to look in the mirror every two minutes… He’s kind, sensitive, and gentle. He’s not afraid to cry in front of me… He likes animals and children. And he’ll change poopy diapers… oh, and he plays an instrument, and he loves his mother.”).

>He tries harder and harder to manipulate her without any success. In the process, he gets to know her, but his lack of progress leads him to depression. The more he spends time with her, the more he falls in love with her—and the more frustrated he gets that he can’t have her.

>Depression. Bored. Bitter. He drinks excessively. Becomes nasty to people. Delivers a horrendous TV spot. Gives up on living and goes through a series of inventive ways to kill himself. But he wakes up every day. This sequence of the movie basically death and resurrection sequence as he finally reaches…

>Acceptance. He accepts that even death can’t stop him from waking up in each morning to the same Groundhog Day. He accepts his fate and find joy in exploring new ventures. He gets to know the town’s people—especially Rita—learns new skills like ice sculpting, piano, poetry.

>Caring. He develops a love for the town and the people. He’s changed and over a long time…

> Arrives at true love. His sincere love for Rita releases him from his life lesson, and they wake up to a new day.

6. How is the “old way” challenged? What beliefs are challenged that cause a main character to shift their perspective…and make the change?

Old way: He views people as shallow, lacking true grit. He doesn’t care for others and manipulates others to meet his needs and desires. The more he holds onto his old views, the more miserable his life becomes. His fight to bend life to his desires is the force that leads to change.

New way: He’s sincere. Cares for others. Looks out for others. He’s developed and mastered many talents: skilled ice sculpturer, gifted piano player, learned poetry, delivers inspired remote TV spot. Loves Rita enough that he accepts and respects her morality, even though day after day she forgets how he’s changed.

7. What are the most profound moments of the movie?

After getting stranded in town, he awakes in the morning to the beginning of the previous day—Groundhog Day. Hello.

The series of cold showers.

He pulls the van’s distributor cap to prevent the van from starting so he can have coffee with Rita.

The manipulation sequence where he patiently learns (day after day after day) what Rita likes in order to match her choices and, in his mind, endear her to him so he can sleep with her. But her moral center stops each time—mostly with a slap to the face.

The sequence of death attempts. Phil having given up on getting past this day in this dreadful town chooses to end things but, surprise, he wake up each time to the same Groundhog Day.

The day he reveals to Rita that he can’t die and knows everyone and everyone’s story. Therefor, he must be a god.

He plays out the perfect, platonically-sincere day with Rita. He shows deep caring and if ever there was a day where he earned to awake to his life moving forward to a new day, this was the perfect day. At the end of the day, they end up in his Bed & Breakfast room talking and playing games. She stays up all night intending to see him disappear. Sleep overcomes her in the early hours, and over her slumber, Phil confesses his love and wish to spend the rest of his life with her. But life, a cruel mistress, is not done with him. He falls asleep as well and wakes up alone once again to Groundhog Day.

He’s finally master poetry, ice sculpting, piano, learning to care more for others than himself and lives an even more perfect day. He displays his talents at a dance where the numerous subplots all resolve and the dance ends with a bachelor auction. Rita, amazed by this side of Phil she never imagined existed, wins him by offering every penny in her checking account. They play out the night and, after likely a thousand years of days, Phil wakes up to the next day with Rita lying next to him.

8. What are the most profound lines of the movie?

There are way too many excellent lines in this movie.

“What if there is no tomorrow. There wasn’t one today.”

“What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was the same and nothing you did mattered?”

“No tomorrow? That would mean there’d be no consequences. There would be no hangovers. We could do whatever we wanted!”

“I’m not going to live by their rules anymore.”

Phil, “Do you like the way this day is turning out?” Rita, “I like it very much. You couldn’t have planned a day like this.” Phil, “Well, you can. It just takes a awful lot of work.”

After Phil demonstrates he knows everyone at the diner intimately, Rita tentatively asks, “What about me, Phil. Do you know me, too?” Phil responds with my favorite series of lines, “I know all about you. You like producing, but you hope for more than channel 9 Pittsburg… You like boats but not the ocean. You go to a lake in the summer with your family up in the mountains. There’s a long wooden dock and a boathouse with boards missing from the roof and a place you used to crawl underneath to be alone. You’re a sucker for French poetry and rhinestones. You’re kind to strangers and children, and when you stand in the show you look like an angel.”

Phil’s final TV spot, “When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the circle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney, and basking in their hearths and hearts, I couldn’t imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.”

9. How does the ending payoff the setups of this movie?

It shows the complete resurrection of Phil. The old self-centered, self-serving Phil has died and the complete Phil has emerged from the ashes—confident, accomplished, serving, sincere, caring.

10. What is the Profound Truth of this movie?

True love requires sacrifice. Live every day like there is no tomorrow.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.

[Richard Whiteside]

1. Name: Rich Whiteside

2. How many scripts you’ve written?: Over two dozen.

3. What you hope to get out of the class?: A roadmap for finding the profound elements in an otherwise simple entertaining story.

4. Something unique, special, strange or unusual about you?: I never know how to properly answer this question. So many things are “unique, special, STRANGE or UNUSUAL. I graduated from the Naval Academy, lead SEAL platoons, have written for many government agencies, including The White House (OK, a small program summary, but it was cool that it went directly to TWH). Got to attend a Presidential Ball–had a tux made for that event. I once was a tournament level tennis player. I worked at Paramount Picture and CBS for 11 years in TV Business Affairs. During that time, I worked with all the top TV agents and attorneys in town, met a ton of TV stars auditioning for our pilots. Written two books that deal with the world of screenwriting. Was a part of helping with some story development on Quantum Leap and JAG.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.

[Richard Whiteside]

Rich Whiteside’s First Three Decisions

My Profound Truth: You have to fight to achieve a worthwhile dream or goal. And finding your true desire requires facing and overcoming your fears.

Audience Shift: I want the audience to shift from waiting for things to happen for them in their lives and believe that focus, hard work and mentors can get them where they want to go.

Entertainment Vehicle: Two young kids (down on luck and without real options in life) are forced to make a drug run through the dangerous Canadian and Montana wilderness in the dead of winter.

What I learned from this lesson: I learned to appreciate taking time to consider the shift I want an audience to experience as a part of taking a script from being entertaining and moving it to profound.

BTW, Cheryl, for weeks I have tried every available means to get help without a response. Why? I’ve called and left multiple messages. I’ve email via every available email route.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.

[Richard Whiteside]

1. Rich Whiteside

2. I’ve written (mostly co-written) over two dozen feature scripts and a couple TV sample scripts.

3. I’m very interested in learning the module about defining the series rules. I hope it’s nuanced and not just superficial.

4. Not sure about unusual, probably because everything about me is just off by a degree or three. I’m highly competitive. Graduated from the Naval Academy and was selected into the SEAL Teams. I’ve done a ton of technical writing for various government agencies, including a small piece for The White House. I’ve interviewed over 200 industry screenwriters, producers, agents, and studio executives for articles–a dozen or so for Script magazine in the 2000 timeframe.

[Richard Whiteside]

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

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 reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Richard Whiteside.

[Richard Whiteside]

Wonderful experience! Fun reading about it.

[Richard Whiteside]

Love that your a rocket scientist. My first professional writing gig was a two-year NASA study to help save NASA in the early 80s. The focus was on materials processing in space. Fun.