[shira marin]

SHIRA MARIN: [PRO RE-WRITE]––L1. LOGLINE AND SYNOPSIS
ASSIGNMENT 1.
TITLE: HEKATE RISING
MY LOGLINE:
Hekate (Heh-KAH-tay), an ancient, Titan-Greek, triple-powered goddess, controller of good and evil, blasts into modern life, entrances and inhabits Kara, an unsuspecting, driven graduate student, and enlists her help to transform a chaotic world racked by virulent fear, greed, and treachery before it’s too late to save humankind and Mother Earth from ultimate self-destruction.

SYNOPSIS: I have to edit further and will post as soon as I complete it.

• This reply was modified 10 months ago by  shira marin.
• This reply was modified 10 months ago by  shira marin. Reason: Format mistakes

[shira marin]

Shira Marin’s 4 Act Structure
PRO RE-WRITE LESSON 2
What I learned doing this assignment is how it behooves me to start as quickly as I can because, once I’ve dived into the material, I probably go deeper than is useful for the assignment. I’m working to temper that .

ASSIGNMENT
List the beats of your 4 Act Transformational Structure.
1. Give us the following:
• Title: Hekate Rising
• Genre: Drama with Romantic and Speculative aspects
• Concept: Hekate heh-KAH-tay), an ancient, Titan-Greek, triple-powered goddess, controller of good and evil, blasts into modern life, entrances and inhabits Kara, an unsuspecting, driven graduate student, and enlists her help to transform a chaotic world racked by virulent fear, greed, and treachery before it’s too late to save humankind and Mother Earth from ultimate self-destruction.

OR SIMPLY:

An ancient goddess wants to save humankind and planet Earth from self-destruction by inhabiting a female doctoral student who does her bidding.
• Main Conflict: Kara must grapple with her past trauma to restore self-worth by completing her dissertation, while fulfilling the demands of Hekate, a goddess intent on saving Earth and humankind from self-destruction.
2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.
Act 1:
• Opening:
o In bed sleeping, Kara dreams and learns she is the daughter of the goddess Hekate and that she is the one who is destined to help Hekate save the world.
o In the car, by phone, Kara argues with her mother about mom’s opinion that Kara’s self-esteem issues are keeping Kara from completing her dissertation.
o Kara goes to a local bookstore to do research. Unbeknownst to Kara, Hekate takes the shape of a lightning bolt, strikes The Book of Witches in a bookstack in front of Kara, which sends Kara careening in to a bookshelf and straight home to call her Jungian Analyst.

• Inciting Incident:
o Kara goes to her analyst’s office to talk about the dream and what happened in the bookstore.
o Kara’s analyst tells Kara to allow Hekate to guide her and that she is being called to her destiny. Kara who considers herself a scientist doesn’t cotton to what her analyst says. The analyst poses the question to : Will you say, “Yes,” to Hekate or not?
o Kara returns home heavy-hearted.
• Turning Point:
o Kara decides to follow Hekate’s lead and dives deeper into her research, overtime embodying Hekate’s energy little by little.
Act 2:
• New plan:
o Kara resolves to let go of her previous research methodology and takes up the project according Hekate’s Feminine Harmonic.
o Kara is companioned by both Hekate and Calum in designing the research.
• Plan in action
o Kara opens herself to weird encounters and ideas with Hekate; Calum and Jenn reinforces her standing for help her on her dissertation and personal journey.
o Grayson Benoit, the department dean calls Kara in to account for her progress and to severely berate her for writing in the school newspaper about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, drawing unwanted attention to the department and to other sahadowy aspects of Grayson’s life.

• Midpoint Turning Point:
o While Kara is immerses herself in her project, she and her beloved, Oliver, fall into an abyss of pain due to the complications of Kara’s past family traumas. Kara breaks off their relationship, and Oliver is devastated.
o Oliver cajoles Kara to go to dinner with him. He tries to win Kara back: she rebuffs him.
o Kara begins to feel more confident in her work as Hekate’s energy fills her.
Act 3:
• Rethink everything:
• New plan:
• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift
Act 4:
• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict
o Grayson refuses to sign off on Kara’s dissertation unless she presents her work publicly
o Unbeknownst to Kara, Calum has arranged for her to give a TEDx talk. Kara’s petrified. She grapples with the terrifying challenge of crossing
• Resolution: Kara gives the talk, which goes viral. This leads to much bigger and more prestigious

[shira marin]

Hello Everyone. My name is Shira Marin.
I’ve written 1 screenplay and, though I’m halfway through my first revision, I decided to jump into this class to see if I can up-level again from what I’ve already done.
I’d like to write a really excellent revision that could be ready for a table read.
I wrote this screenplay because a dream I had clearly directed me to do so. I started out in the Writing Incredible Movies course, and just as I was turning up the heat on my writing, my heart started failing. I noticed this pretty quickly, had major surgery, and wasn’t able to finish my course! (Cheryl and Hal, I didn’t just flake out on you! LOL). The screenplay is now complete; I began revising it, and then, I learned of the Rewrite …. class and thought it would deepen my process. Oddly, I see a true path forward. With each step, a little fog lifts, which allows me to keep on keepin' on, like the tortoise––slow and steady as she goes😉. I look forward to hearing about and reading everyone’s work, to creating a mutually supportive community, and to honing my skills and understanding in the process.

• This reply was modified 10 months ago by  shira marin.
• This reply was modified 10 months ago by  shira marin.

[shira marin]

Shira Marin
I agree to the terms of this release form written below:
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.
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.

.

[shira marin]

SHIRA MARIN’S DEEPER LAYER

WIM-MOD 4-L 2-––DEEPER LAYER!

MY VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then, revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON IS: again, that this granular unpacking of what’s needed containers and guides my High Concept unfolding of the story.

Surface Layer: A grad student, Kara, stalled in completing her dissertation is further interrupted by a goddess, Hekate, whose agenda is to use Kara to save humankind and Earth from self-destruction.Deeper Layer: Kara learns that Hekate is actually with her to create Kara’s academic success that in turn promotes Hekate’s mission to redirect humankind’s nature and to save the world from self-destruction and, ultimately, to heal Kara’s traumatic past.Major Reveal: Kara was abused by her father in childhood. Mother colluded with him. Influences Surface Story: Kara’s abuse has influenced her life, orienting her in over-masculine life-style, very buttoned down, but especially her meeting her career goals and relationships with men since then.

· Hints: Kara’s self-effacing demeaner, cerebral and challenging attitudes, her tailored dress, impatience, and battle between certainty and uncertainty in her efforts to finish her dissertation.

· There are moments when the deeper layer peaks through the curtain to reveal itself. We don’t see it because we have fully bought into the surface story.

· Changes Reality: As soon as Hekate enters the story, Kara’s reality shifts from plain jane struggling student to a complex revelation about who Kara really is and who she can/is about to become.

· When the deeper layer is revealed, we see the story in a completely different way. The real story is finally clear to us.

3. Add the rest of the structure to the characters to the script.

I was unclear about whether we were to add the rest of the structure to the assignment. For lack if time, I did not complete this part.

[shira marin]

SHIRAMARIN’S Character Structure

WIM-MOD 4-L 1-––Character Journey Structure

MY VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON is that the intersection of arcs/journeys at its best creates emotional, sub-textual, and atmospheric complexity, interest, and successful writing. I’m considering doing this exercise for each of my feature/supporting characters.

KARA CAVALLI-Protag.

Beginning: Kara starts as an irritable doc student stalled in her dissertation process and at odds with her departmental Dean and mother.<div>

Inciting incident: A visitation from the goddess Hekate prompts Kara to visit her analyst for an emergency visit, where she tells the dream she had and the story of her terrifying experience at a local bookstore.

<div>

Turning Point 1: The conversation with her psychoanalyst convinces Kara to trust her experience and that she needs to heed the goddess Hekate’s call to follow her and do her will.

<div>

Act 2: Resistant, irritable but slowly developing willingness to Hekate’s bidding. Simultaneously, she breaks up with her boyfriend, Oliver.

<div>

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: University Dean Grayson B. is so demanding and oppressive that Kara becomes almost paralyzed about completing her writing.

<div>

Act 3: Kara pleads with Hekate to let her go, but Hekate promises if Kara accepts her challenge, Hekate will be sure that Kara completes her dissertation with flying colors and will address all Kara’s anxiety over the wrong-headed society will be addressed. Kara agrees.

Turning Point 3: Grayson tells Kara he will not approve her dissertation unless she presents it at a public conference at which he will be in attendance. Calum Ross, her dissertation advisor, secretly arranges for Kara to present at an upcoming TEDx event. Everyone who knows Kara, including her estranged boyfriend Oliver and her mother, attends the event.

4th Act/Climax: Unnerved by the prospect of presenting, Kara dreads Grayson’s proposal but knows there is no way out. Hekate reassures Kara, letting her know she will accompany Kara on every step of her journey. This is little comfort to Kara.

Resolution: Kara’s talk goes viral, and she is invited to present on the international TED stage. Grayson is profoundly affected and passes her through to doctoral status. She and Oliver reunite. Her mother witnesses a Kara she never realized existed and praised Kara. Kara becomes a global Influencer, sought-after consultant, and change agent.

GRAYSON BENWAH––Antag.

Beginning: Grayson lords over his students, secretary, is pseudo-chummy with his colleagues

Inciting Incident: Grayson discovers that Kara is not toeing the line as he expects her to do. His stress about winning the promotion to Chancellor eats at him and revs his demanding nature to lord over anyone obstructing his path to Chancellorhood.

Turning Point 1: He believes his promotion is undermined by Kara’s seeming activist effort toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Act 2: ???

Turning Point 2 / Midpoint: Kara’s Dissertation Advisor, Calum Ross, challenged Grayson to allow Kara to complete her dissertation writing. Grayson gets drunk with Calum, and when Calum takes him home, unbeknownst to Grayson, Calum discovers one of Grayson’s deepest secrets.

Act 3: Grayson makes his apologies to Calum and is reluctantly convinced to stay open to Kara’s work, even though he still harbors contempt for Kara

Turning Point 3: Grayson challenges Kara’s work by telling her he will approve her dissertation only if she can successfully present it to a public audience and the ideas are well-received.

Act 4 Climax: Grayson, stony and arrogant, attends the TEDx event (pre-arranged by Calum), where Kara will present invisibly, accompanied by Hekate. The audience is astonished, gives Kara a standing ovation, and the presentation goes viral. Overcome by the immensity of Kara’s impact, Grayson begins to reflect on his life and how disingenuous he has lived about his gay gender and racial identity. He reveals his racial identity to his partner, David, who compassionately embraces him.

Resolution: Grayson approves Kara, comes out publicly, and is promoted to Chancellor.

</div></div></div></div></div>

[shira marin]

SHIRAMARIN’S Character Profiles 2

WIM-MOD 3––L7 Part 2

MY VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON IS: How to enflesh my characters’ selves with important information and subtext. To create more immediacy and interest in the story and in the character arcs.

Kara Cavalli, Protagonist

A. The High Concept: Kara, a grad student/teaching assistant at a conservative university, is overtaken by an ancient goddess who wants Kara to help her save humankind and planet Earth from self-destructing.

B. This Character’s Journey: Kara moves from self-doubting trauma victim to healed, empowered global change influencer and change agent

C. The Actor Attractors for this Character: Kara has a very complex emotional range. She is driven, sometimes overwrought, sometimes subtle and quiet. Her interactions with other characters are interesting, dynamic, and unexpected.

Grayson Benoit, Antagonist

A. The High Concept: Grayson, Academic Dean, beleaguered by family secrets, bucks for the university Chancellor, and there’s hell to pay for anyone who gets in his way.<div>

B. This Character’s Journey: Grayson transforms from a stuffy, ruthless, and cunning academician to a self-reflective, forgiving, and authentic human who also achieves his desired goal.

C. The Actor Attractors for this Character: Grayswon has a strong villain mindset and is more than willing to betray his commitment to students for the sake of obtaining his coveting position.

Hekate, an Ancient Goddess (Kara’s alter ego)

A. The High Concept: Hekate is bent on saving humankind and the planet from self-destruction</div><div>

B. This Character’s Journey: Coming to Earth and embodying herself in a human female doc student to accomplish her mission

C. The Actor Attractors for this Character: It’s hard to imagine anyone not wanting to inhabit an ancient triple-powered goddess in the modern world to affect such a monumental feat. It’s a role of enormous magnitude and depth. Hekate is at once a mythological giant, a magical conjuring presence, and fierce in her actions to reintegrate the Feminine Harmonic into the human psyche.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Brainstorm these profile components for each character.

Kara Cavalli

• Character Subtext: trying to overcome her past through overachievement
• Character Intrigue: has a secret relationship with an ancient goddess
• Flaw: unconscious about her past abuse trauma; mistrust of men, impatience
• Values: high intelligence, reverence for feminine solutions in her research
• Character Dilemma: While constantly distracted by a relentless goddess on a mission, how is she ever going to complete her dissertation?

Grayson Benoit (Ben-wah)

• Character Subtext: lives in dread of being found out
• Character Intrigue: hiding his true identity to pave the way to power.
• Flaw: massive fear and insecurity that leads to
• Values: tradition, hierarchical power, authoritarian
• Character Dilemma: How can he possibly live in the world as he truly is

Hekate:

• Character Subtext: humiliation because she has been forgotten and wants to take her rightful place in the human psyche, which would lead to humankind’s and the planet’s salvation.
• Character Intrigue: How Hekate accomplishes her goal: inhabiting a human being to accomplish her goals
• Flaw: ??? She will not use the power of the masculine to engage with and ultimately embody herself in Kara’s psyche and body.
• Values: Her divine authority, compassion, kindness, and humor.
• Character Dilemma: How will Hekate use her feminine power to convince a student in a toxic masculine situation to grasp her authentic personal power, which is imperative to accomplishing her mission?

</div>

[shira marin]

SHIRA MARIN’S SUPPORTING CHARACTERS––CON’T.

BACKGROUND CHARACTERS

• Students for Kara’s class
• Audience for Kara’s TEDX TALK
• Bookstore clerk

[shira marin]

SHIRAMARIN’S Supporting Characters

WIM-MOD 3-L8

MY VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then, revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON IS: that I can illuminate quickly the characters’ core functioning in the story. Another great exercise.

Supporting Characters: Oliver Ashe, Calum Ross, Jenn Loon Jamison, Mom/Stella,
Dad/Aldo, Amuna Khan.

Background Characters: Nikki Fitz, university/in class students, audience

Support 1:

Name: Oliver AsheRole: BoyfriendMain purpose: Essential role to accomplish a story purpose (Brings out a side of the theme that is missing) To show that there are good men in the worldValue: To love and support Kara. Subtext: to help her heal her traumatic past, though both are unconscious about the actual trauma.

Support 2:

Name: Calum RossRole: Dissertation Advisor; Professor who sponsors Kara’s TA position; he’ also in the running for the Chancellorship. Main purpose: To be an mentor/ally to Kara and support her research/writingValue: He’s a man with a good feeling function. He’s able to relate to Kara’s challenges. He’s a bit of the good father Kara never had. He intervenes on her behalf with Grayson Benoit/Academic Dean/Antagonist. He is essential to Kara’s completing her dissertation/doctoral degree.

Support 3:

Name: Jenn Loon JamisonRole: Kara’s Jungian AnalystMain purpose: helps Kara to heal her distrust of men due to her traumatic past and grow less anxious about being with Oliver. She shows us that Kara is bright, multi-dimensional, worthy of caring about.Value: She is a kindly, wise, and true supporter of Kara’s; she helps her gain perspective and take herself seriously. She’s essential to Kara’s transformation.

Support4:

Name: Stella Cavalli/MomRole: MomMain purpose: Reveals influence on Kara’s emotional state and challenges to action; unconsciously colludes with dad in abuse; ostensibly supports Kara, but in fact, she undermines Kara’s fledgling self-esteem and self-worth through her narcissistic behavior.Value: She clarifies that there is a real reason for Kara to feel anxious, depressed, and mistrusting of men and women, which is essential to seeing how women fall under the spell of men’s authority, especially in marriage. This is a key point in Kara’s course syllabus.<div>

Support 5:

Name: Aldo Cavalli/FatherRole: Father/deceased. He comes up in a traumatic memory. Main purpose: He physically abuses Kara in her childhood.Value: Shows the most rank depiction of male aggression, essential to the storyline.

Support 6:

Name: Amuna Khan.Role: School doc student friend </div><div>

Main purpose: who Kara commiserates with about the trials of completing her degree and her love life. She’s functions as an encouraging other. She helps to move the story along through their conversation and connection to others in the storyValue: She is a kind, smart, funny presence who lifts Kara’s spirits and anchors her. This shows that Kara is not alone in her plight as a woman and that Kara isn’t so solitary and is worthy of friendship.

Support 7:

· NAME: Nikki Fitzgerald

· Role: Executive Assistant to the Dean. Grayson Benoit

· Main purpose: She runs interference between Kara and Grayson. She’s emotionally astute and shows the contrast between Grayson/boss/antagonist, plagued by his inner world, and a more balanced, even-keeled, compassionate person.

· Value: The story requires Nikki to offset the damage that Grayson does to Kara and others in the story.

</div>

[shira marin]

SHIRAMARIN’S Character Profiles

WIM-MOD 3-L6 Part 1

MY VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then, revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON IS: that it is truly worth the time and effort to put these elements of the main characters’ personalities and their inner realities in place as a compass to keep them on track and consistent, as a way of filling out their subtext, resulting in creating someone who is fully alive and vibrant, and who moves the audience profoundly.

Role in the Story: Kara Cavalli-Protagonist<div>

Age range and Description: 30-ish; Mixed Race—African-American, Greek

· Core Traits: Brainy-straight, well-bred, emotional and self-effacing: self-doubting, anxious, irritable, humorous; also creative.

· Motivation; Want/Need: to complete her dissertation so she’ll be somebody/succeed and to become a PhD/Dr. and a professor and researcher.

Wound: What they can’t face: her challenges to trust and have an enduring and meaningful relationship with a man, which has eluded her due to childhood abuse (father) that is presently repressed (painful but out of memory).<div>

Likability, Relatability, Empathy:

Likability: She’s bright, cultured, and a little edgy and humorous. Sometimes snarky.
|Relatability: The above traits make her human. She has a sensuous, supportive relationship with her manfriend Oliver. She also has legitimate mother issues <div>

. Empathy: She struggles, has anxiety about her challenging dissertation work, and has problems with her mother.

<div>

· Role in the Story: Grayson Benoit (Ben-wah)–Antagonist/Stands for all Men/Society- as one man, he’s more of an obstacle than a true villain.

· Age range and Description: early sixties, straight-laced, mustachioed, overly manicured, apparently Anglo appearance, gay

· Core Traits: pedantic, imperious, impatient, bombastic.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>.Motivation; Want/Need: deeply covetous of belonging through achieving of the university Chancellor position. If he can’t belong, he’ll lord over everyone he can.

<div>

.Wound: poor self-image feels and perceives himself to be an outcast, unacceptable and unlovable.

· What they can’t face: He can’t face and accept who he is as acceptable and worthy of what he desires.

· Likability, Relatability, Empathy:
Likability: He looks cultured. At first, he’s neutral. He only becomes likable when his struggles are revealed fairly early on. (needs more development).
Relatability: Anyone in his position, feeling subjugated, subverted, experiencing himself as not really belonging, especially these days, can probably identify with his feelings.
Empathy: It’s pathetic that a person feels threatened enough by the truth of his history that he has to hide so much of himself.

· Role in the Story: Hekate, a Titan-Greek, triple-powered goddess

· Age range and Description: Eternal, dark-skinned––Black and/Middle Eastern/North African, Ageless looking but substantial as a woman in her 50s

· <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Core Traits: Exudes divine wisdom, kindness, and compassion, but she creates a ruckus when people do not heed her call. Her divine authority supports them; she demands in her way that they heed her call

· Motivation; Want/Need: She is determined to restore herself in the modern human psyche and society to save humankind and the planet from self-destruction.

· Wound: being discarded and forgotten

· Likability, Relatability, Empathy:

Likability: Hekate is fierce, warm, and commands attention. She can be humorous but is dead serious about her mission.

Relatability: She’s spunky, kind, and has a strong authority that appeals to men and women alike.

Empathy: Hekate grasps deeply what’s in the human heart and sees into everyone she encounters, whether she’s visible or invisible, with a compassionate eye and heart. Folks sense they’re being held even when Hekate is invisible to them. When Hekate becomes real through Kara, people feel in themselves the beauty and vulnerability of the Feminine Harmonic and begin to empathize with their own plight and Hekate’s.

</div></div></div></div></div>

[shira marin]

Shira Marin’s Character Likeability/Relatability/Empathy

WIM- MOD. 3 ––L 5

VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then, revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

What I learned from this assignment is responsiveness of the audience on these three factors is essential for the movie to catch fire. I loved working on these elements because of the ways they create so much dimensionality and a bridge between the characters’ and the viewers’ experiences.

Protagonist: KARA CAVALLI

· Likability: She’s bright, cultured but a little edgy and humorous.

· Relatability: The above traits make her human. She has Mother issues

· Empathy: She struggles, has anxiety about her challenging dissertation work, and problems with her mother.

Antagonist: Grayson Benoit (Ben-wah) He actually also represents society’s attitudes so that society is also an antagonist.

.Likability: He looks cultured. At first, he’s neutral. He becomes likable when his struggles are revealed fairly early on. (needs more development).<div>
<div><div>

.Relatability: Anyone in his position, feeling subjugated, subverted, and experiencing himself as not really belonging, especially these days, can probably identify with his feelings.

.Empathy: It’s pathetic that a person feels threatened enough by the truth of his history he hides so much of himself.

<div></div></div></div></div>

[shira marin]

SHIRA MARIN’S CHARACTER INTRIGUE

WIM-MOD 3, L4

MY VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then, revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

What I learned from this assignment is how to look at the structure of my characters to give them the most rounded, full development they can have through setting the stage for intrigue and then watching how it manifests in the subtext and the action of the story.

Character Name: KARA CAVALLI (mixed race)Role: Doctoral Student/Instructor turns Global Change AgentHidden agendas: To turn the tables on the traditional masculine doctoral degree conventionsCompetition: With herself to rise up to complete her dissertationConspiracies: Conspires with Hekate to turn the tide on the prevailing toxic masculine aspects of humankind worldwide.Secrets: Nagging self-doubt. She’s not completely sure that she is up to completing her doctorate. She e distrust of men is deep and serious.Deception: To wheedle her way through the system without revealing her intention to upend the university system and the world orderUnspoken Wound: Abuse by fatherSecret Identity: Ultra progressive in a rigidly patriarchal university system.

Give us an idea of how that character’s subtext might show up in your movie.

Kara comes from money and appears to have her life together and under control, but small things give her away. In anxious states, she rakes her fingers through her hair. When she feels insecure she shifts in her seat, makes jokes, gets humorous, silly and at times snarky. She often catches herself cursing, and she catches herself, self-correcting as if her mother were present. Her relationship with her mother is trained at best due to Kara’s feeling undermined by her. Kara has a sensuous side, but isn’t sure how far to let herself go with her boyfriend Oliver.

Character name: Grayson Benoit (mixed race)

Role: Department Dean Hidden agendas: Maintain persona identity at all costs to cover for his secret identities Maintain tradition and the status quo of the university at all costs to ensure he’s a “shoe-in” for his desired promotion to Chancellor.Competition: He’s competing particularly with Kara’s Academic Advisor Calum Ross.Conspiracies: None so farSecrets: Nagging insecurity about his identity and anything that competes with his coveted promotion. She’s not completely sure that she is up to completing her doctorate. He distrusts virtually everyone.Deception: To wheedle her way through the system without revealing her intention to upend the university system and the world orderUnspoken Wound: acceptance of his identity Secret Identity: He passes as a traditional Anglo-White but is a cross-dressing, gay, Black man.

Grayson is curmudgeonly even though he’s in this middle-age. He is vain and fusses about his appearance. He looks cool until he opens his mouth, which is often self-important and imperious, expressed in his carriage and tone of voice. Under this demeanor, he is an explosive sort, full of bombast.

Character Name: Oliver Ashe

· Role: Kara’s boyfriend-Mixed Race

· Hidden agendas: People assume he’s White. He wants the acceptance and privilege this affords him.

· Competition: His own community of journalists to will the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative reporting

· Secrets & Deception: He’s Black and can’t reveal the truth for fear of what impact it will have.

· Unspoken Wound: His inauthenticity: being split between his inner truth and outer presentation. He’s plagued by this reality for various reasons.

His relationship with Kara is solid then becomes unstrung as she discovers her hidden past. He doesn’t get it and their strife between them; He deals with it by being understanding to a point. Then, they break up but the tension of attraction is still between them.

Character Name: Calum Ross

· Role: Tenured Professor ad Kara’s Academic-Dissertation Advisor

Hidden agendas: He’s in the running for the Chancellorship, but he’s 70 and is only vaguely interested in the promotion to Chancellor.Competition:Conspiracies: He’s a fond mentor for Kara and just as much a friend which blurs boundaries in their relationship by innuendo.Deception: To play straight enough to convince Grayson he’s working through the system. In fact,he wants t bring the stodgy university into the 21^st Century with the help of Kara’s unorthodox dissertation and its impact

[shira marin]

Shira Marin’s Subtext Characters

WIM–MOD 3 LESSON 3

WIM Module 3 Lesson 3: Character Subtext

MY VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then, revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

What I learned from this assignment is how subtext comes naturally to me as a viewer and seems like it infuses itself into my characters’ roles just as naturally. I love watching the underbelly make itself visible. It’s the real meat of the visual experience. All of this may relate to my psychology background and my acting work. It’s been great to see a different angle to reflect on and work with it.

MY SUBMISSION:

EXAMPLE: Movie Title: Mona Lisa Smile

Character Name: Katherine Watson

Subtext Identity: A newly minted, highly intelligent college professor at an ultra-conservative women’s college in the early 50s

Subtext Trait: Yearning for the status that working at such a college offers. She plays the part to fit in.

Subtext Logline: A wildly progressive new professor pushes the stultifying conventions of students at an elite college and transforms the students, the faculty, and herself.

Possible Areas of Subtext: She hides her vulnerability, uncertainty, and idealistic nature. She’s defiant towards the traditions, values, and mores of the young women and faculty. Sexual energy is subverted. Her desire for a partner is subjugated due to her beliefs.

Subtext for my two leads in HEKATE RISING:

Character Name: Kara Cavalli

Subtext Identity: the competitor, withholding, snarky, humorous, proper

Subtext Logline: An promising doctoral student, stalled on her dissertation, becomes the unwilling proxy for a goddess who is bent on saving the humankind and the planet from self-destruction

Possible Areas of Subtext: She hides her vulnerability, uncertainty, and idealistic nature. Sexual energy is subverted. Her desire for her partner is subjugated to her traumatic past. Kara lives in denial, self-doubting, anxious, angry, clumsy.

Subtext Trait: Secretive/she plays the part to fit in; snarky/she is impatient and intolerant; distrusting…

Character 2-Name: Grayson Benoit

Subtext Identity: The Boss

Subtext Trait: authoritarian, self-important, bombastic

Subtext Logline: A secretive department Academic Dean, climbing his way to the Chancellor’s position, has it in for a brainy doc student who rocks established research methods, and the Dean’s plans.

Possible Areas of Subtext: insecure and vulnerable because of his secrets and forced way of presenting his professional self.; underhanded to appear on the right side of norms..

[shira marin]

Shira Marin’s Actor Attracters for HEKATE RISING

WIM-Mod .3 –– L. 1

Movie Title: Hekate Rising (Genre-Drama +… I couldn’t find an appropriate one particular film for practice, so I did not do this part of the assignment. The screenplay is a drama without all the sci-fi, so maybe Wonder Woman (only for real) meets The Matrix (only for real) meets Possession meets Mona Lisa Smile (a drama)

Lead Character/Protagonist–KARA CAVALLI-mixed race (Zendaya or Tati Gabrielle)

1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role?

The character is fresh, original, and complicated. She has some very powerful experiences to respond to. It could be a wonderful breakout role for a 30-ish mixed race female.

This role is an opportunity to show emotional and behavioral complexity and range, sometimes in your face, sometimes very subtle, in relation to the other characters as well as to herself. The character’s arc moves from brilliant, quirky, yet self-doubting, introverted doctoral student to full-tilt global change-maker.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie?

Her transformational cycle is astonishing. It’s great to watch Kara move from her beleaguered student self to an ultimately independent, confident, completely empowered and integrated feminine/masculine self, and all because she came to trust Hekate and embody her wisdom.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?

Kara is alternately self-effacing and bold, intense, with veiled power. In scene 3, when Kara wakes up from a mysterious, mystical dream where she unknowingly meets Hekate, the goddess, she’s very consternated and edgy. When Hekate, disguised as a lightning bolt, visits her the first few times, Kara’s literally blown away. When Kara visits with her Jungian analyst, Jenn, on the heels of this scene, she has an uppity, ornery but also desperate conversation. Other times, she’s brilliant but intimidated, then turns soft, sweet, sensual, and compassionately supportive. She stands for what she believes in and isn’t afraid to color outside the lines.

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?

Kara is introduced through a dream in which she is led to the underworld to meet Hekate. Kara learns that she is Hekate’s Daughter, The Feminine Harmonic, The One.

5. What is this character’s emotional range?

Kara’s range is wide and deep, from brilliant but self-doubting doc student slogger to energetic, confident rising global change agent.. As I noted above, an actor would need to have that 5-octave emotional range to make this role sing.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

There is tremendous sub-textual level in this story. It’s deeply psychological in relation to Kara’s early life trauma that causes her self-effacing, mostly loving attitude and alternately conflictual behavior with her boyfriend Oliver. Kara’s subtext is very complicated, visible, and testy in relation to her mother. Kara’s relationship to Hekate also goes through its paces, especially in relation to trust with both Hekate and her analyst Jenn Le. Kara’s relationship to the department Dean is primarily stressful, intimidating, and stunts Kara’s energy and capacity to move forwards with her doctoral project. Only with Calum, her dissertation advisor, is her feeling, attitude, and behavior clear.

7. What’s the most interesting relationship this character has?

Definitely with Hekate and next with Oliver.

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?

Articulate, sometimes humorous and sassy but with undertones of reticence. Forceful, but fatalistic. Conviction without having the answers. Passionate about the need for global change based on her grasp of Social Psychology rather than driven by our human psychological inner world, i.e., relating to the outer world through our soulful inner world and using that guidance to make outer change.

9. What makes this character special and unique?

With all that’s happened to her, Kara’s still openhearted and, even though faltering, she keeps her shoulder to the wheel. She’s got a paradoxical nature that, at times, struggles due to her past and how it’s activated in the present.

10. (Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.)

I’m unclear about what you’re asking for here. Let me know?

Second Lead/Protagonist’s Companion/Alter-ego: Protagonist––HEKATE, a Titan-Greek goddess, more ancient and far more powerful than the Olympians (

1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role?

This may well be the role of a lifetime for a middle-to-late middle-aged woman of mixed racial and ethnic descent. Hekate is a formidable, triple-powered goddess who actually does know and can set the world on a healing, generative course versus the self-destructive one it’s on presently.

Hekate is divinely magical, a conjurer, who can use her powers to rally nature, both the physical environment and human. Her desire to restore herself to the human psyche drives her to become embodied consciously in Kara, who will then transmit her intentions to save humankind and the planet through global influencing and change-making. She can show up in unexpected, for-goddesses-only ways.

2. What makes this character the most interesting character in the movie?

First and foremost, as a goddess, Hekate has an extraordinary range of expression. She is divinely wise, compassionate, and humorous, full of energy to move the entirety of humankind towards revelation that will turn the tide of planetary destruction.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?

Hekate’s able to literally move the scapes of the sky, sea, land, and air. Her dark side is both mysterious and apparently negative. She can send messages through storms, tornados, and fires. These are expressed at various points in the story when Hekate uses these powers as well as appearing out of nowhere. She will restore herself to the human psyche in divinely inspiring ways.

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?

Hekate first appears in a dark cave, illuminated by torches, surrounded by her animal familiars and other attributions of her triple-powered nature. Shortly afterward, in a bookstore, she surreptitiously appears to us but as a bolt of lightning to Kara,

5. What is this character’s emotional range?

Hekate is furious and funny, frightening and feral. She’s dogged about her intention to transform the human psyche to save the planet from self-destruction.

6. What subtext can the actor play?

Hekate’s sly and knows the underbelly and shadow of everything that all characters intend. Through Kara, she is finally revealed as palpable inspiration.

7. What’s the most interesting relationships this character has?

Hekate has an extraordinary relationship with Kara that runs the gamut from mysterious goddess who stirs physical nature and everything she touches. She pops out of thin air to divinely inspired advisor whose every word has gravitas and points to the future unfolding of her intentions.

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?

Hekate’s voice has gravitas and is low and rich, engaging. She knows the power of authority and what it can produce. Hekate’s ultimately commanding, even over the Olympians. She’s also is clever, capable of warm and wonderful offhanded humor, compassion and warmth. She’s unique in the way she mixes the ancient with modern forms of expression. Her will must be done.

9. What makes this character special and unique?

Hekate’s nature is ubiquitous and illuminated, she means business and shows it throughout the story. She overtakes Kara but without violating her in any way. Her becomes embodied in Kara by her absorption of the vibrating energy of Hekate’s Feminine Harmonic. This experience proves the rare value of Hekate’s solution to humankind’s self-destructive nature.

OBSTRUCTOR-ANTAGONIST: Grayson Benoit (Wentworth Miller)

1. Why would an actor WANT to be known for this role?

An actor who can play deep, complex, narcissistic emotional subtext of insecurity while outwardly blustering with either brash arrogance or veiled contempt, covered with a veneer of academic professionalism would covet this opportunity.

2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in the movie?

Grayson is a contrast to all of the other characters in the movie. He’s standout that you have to deal with because he has power and is hungry for more.

3. What are the most interesting actions the Lead takes in the movie?

Grayson’s self-defeating attitudes coupled with his bombast make for intrigue and also his cross-dressing and how he hides so much of himself.

4. How is this character introduced that could sell it to an actor?

Grayson is first seen primping in front of a bathroom mirror. He is an overly-groomed man who expresses an unwarranted air of elitism. He’s convinced himself that his charade is mandatory. His behavior with others belies his apparent pedigree. His first interaction attempting to intimidate Kara shows this. He takes no prisoners.

5. What is the range of emotions the actor can play?

Grayson burns with self-importance and arrogance at the beginning and ends with a transformation that changes his life, in fact saves him from himself.

6. What is the subtext the actor can play?

There’s an ever-present sense of something in Grayson that’s not quite what it appears to be. He’s an enigma due to his living two hidden lives that are major aspects of his psychology.

7. What’re the most interesting relationships this character has?

Grayson’s interactions with Kara and Calum, Kara’s Dissertation Chair, are most interesting so far.

8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?

His voice is singular in standing for the privileged Old White Man/Senex viewpoint. It also stands for the conservatism he thinks the university stands for.

9. What makes this character special and unique?

Grayson’s so dug into his story, that his completely unexpected capacity to grow, even to transform, makes him amazing at the end of the story.

[shira marin]

SHIRA MARIN’S GENRE CONVENTIONS

[WIM] Mod 2 –– L6

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MY VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then, revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSION: WOW! I believe I’ve been struck by creative lightning! I’m musing as I usually do before I get started and suddenly I see how Hekate views what created the human self-destructive tendency and how women fell in line with it ultimately, until….Hekate, with Kara in tow, begin the change!!!! Thanks so much, Hal and Cheryl, for these truly magical lessons.

Title: HEKATE RISING

Concept: A discarded, forgotten goddess bent on saving humankind and planet Earth from self-destruction seeks out a grad student to do her bidding.

Main Conflict: The goddess Hekate sees humankind, out of ignorance, fear, and greed, is actively destroying itself and the planet. Hekate convinces Kara, a struggling grad student, to be her proxy in transforming the world with the promise to give Kara the life of her dreams.

Genre: Drama

3. CONVENTIONS OF DRAMA

PURPOSE:

A goddess and a grad student, each with a life-saving agenda, tangle in their efforts to succeed and are jeopardized by a university Dean with dark secrets and an agenda bent on destroying the grad student’s life. He’ll have to tangle with a trip-powered goddess to accomplish his goal.

CHARACTER-DRIVEN JOURNEY:

<i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Through Hekate, Kara/a grad student reawakens the world to the value and usefulness of the Feminine Harmonic, thus, re-membering her as a richly endowed, critical, and essential of human consciousness that will save humankind and the planet. In yielding to Hekate, Kara heals herself.

HIGH STAKES COME FROM WITHIN:

The self-destructive nature of humankind, due to a mutation in the human male psyche at the dawn of human ego consciousness, ignites men’s psyches in a Shira Marin’s 4-Act Transformational StructureWIM MOD 2 – L5: THE 4-ACT TRANSFORMATIONAL STRUCTURE

<hr size=”0″ width=”100%” noshade=”” align=”center”>

MY VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then, revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON IS: What I learned from this activity is that the course is a gift that keeps on giving. These high-yield, valuable methods for clarifying and honing my ideas are gems.

Again, it’s a fascinating and ultimately satisfying process, and I am grateful for my persistence to complete every assignment as I catch-up satisfactorily enough for the moment. I can see and feel the 4-act structure clarifying, and I will work to create an increasingly more powerful story as I progress.

Again, I’m appreciating the steps that work through each element, most of which I have known in a more general way over my previous studies into writing screenplays.

What is so different and fabulous about our course is that every single one of the processes is thoroughly unpacked, which I can now see is clearly critical to completing a successful screenplay! Foundationally, I feel stronger with each lesson.

Nothing has surpassed what I’ve learned this time around …YAY!

Concept: A discarded, forgotten goddess bent on saving humankind and planet Earth from self-destruction seeks out a grad student to do her bidding.

Main Conflict: The goddess Hekate sees humankind, out of ignorance, fear, and greed, is actively destroying itself and the planet. Hekate convinces Kara, a struggling grad student, to be her proxy in transforming the world with the promise to give Kara the life of her dreams.

Old Ways:
Overly invested in mannish ways and patriarchal society Accepts and trusts others’ authority over hers
Retiring, hesitant, and humble
Lacks self-confidence/belief in herself
Makes herself shyly inconspicuous
Doesn’t take her intellectual and creative gifts seriously enough

Can’t maintain an intimate relationship with a man; always jumps ship.

New Ways:

She, connected with her Divine Feminine Harmonic (Hekate), embodies
the “One.”

Completes her doctorate and brings the beauty of Feminine the natural balance from the union of Feminine and Masculine energies to the world

Effective in male-dominated world; men begin to experience the value of feminine energy in themselves and respect, appreciate and embrace it.

Kara is released from her childhood wound.

Kara and Oliver reunite in the end.

Hekate is restored to human consciousness as a guide: a vital, compassionate, and empathic thrust in both women and men.

Act 1:

Opening: The goddess Hekate standing on a Malibu bluff, looking out to sea, her brow deeply furrowed with a blaze lighting her eyes.Inciting Incident: In a bookstore doing research, Kara is stunned, catapulted into a bookcase by a bolt of lightning that strikes a book related to Witches/Hekate. Kara shares this experience and a dream with her psychoanalyst who confirms that Kara must include Hekate’s imperative to actively support in her dissertation Hekate’s agenda to save humankind from itself. Oliver, Kara’s boyfriend and Jenn, Kara’s Jungian Analyst, become companions on the journey.Turning Point: Kara researches Hekate’s identity and discovers she is a triple goddess, 3 times more powerful that all of the other gods and goddesses, and she needs Kara to be her proxy. Kara needs to complete her doctorate or lose her academic position and her struggling sense of self. Grayson Benoit, the dept. Dean rails against Kara’s upstart attitude, her lagging behind, and her seeming lack of commitment. Calum Ross, Kara’s dissertation advisor affirms Kara’s experience, though contrary to Grayson’s, and that her destiny is tied to Hekate.

Act 2:

New plan: Kara finally agrees. Kara will change course and follow Hekate’s lead to develop her dissertation according to the Harmonic Feminine Principle. Oliver and Kara become estranged and split up.Plan in action: Kara presents the proposal to the Dean/Grayson who vehemently declares, “No,” and Calum, who says “yes.”Midpoint/Turning Point 2: Calum, works on changing Grayson’s mind about Kara’s dissertation proposal and discovers dark secrets that will cost Grayson his potential promotion and ultimately his academic career.

ACT 3:

· Rethink Everything: Grayson continues to keep Kara waiting about his acceptance of her proposal. Kara agrees to go Hekate’s way. Hekate supports Kara’s academic work.

· New plan: Dean accepts Kara’s proposal. With Hekate’s inspiration, Kara executes the dissertation and turns it in. Hekate encourages Kara to trust herself about her dissertation, to keep working on herself and her childhood trauma that cause issues with both Kara’s mom and Oliver, her boyfriend. Hekate reassures Kara that the plan to stop human self-destruction and the planet is unfolding as she planned.

Turning Point/Huge failure/Major Shift: Kara submits her dissertation, and Grayson keeps her on tenterhooks about the approval. Dealing with Hekate and struggling with her dissertation and her personal life, Kara’s stressed to the max.

Act 4:

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: After all of Kara’s dissertation work with Hekate at her side, Grayson, bent on felling Kara’s accomplishment, will only sign off if Kara first presents her work at a public venue where the world can decide it’s worth. Kara is beside herself.Resolution: Unbeknownst to Kara, Calum arranges for Kara to present her work at a TEDx gathering. Kara, who has slowly been embodying Hekate and the way of the Feminine Harmonic, finally, is joined by Hekate, presents her work, which goes viral and launches a newly minted PhD, activist, international TED speaker, and global change agent who spawns a worldwide shift that sets a course of balancing masculine and feminine energies in men and women, creating a new paradigm for relationship at every level of society, setting Hekate’s agenda in full swing, resolving Kara’s relationship with her mother and reconciliation with Oliver.

unfolding, in modern times called the Patriarchy.

EMOTIONALLY RESONATES: ​Drama audiences want to feel and be moved by the characters’ emotions and how they experience the events.

A goddess, through her superpowers, and a woman, through her research, feel a dire need to save the world from itself. An insecure university Dean desperate for personal elevation due to his past does all he can to keep his environment and his life from changing.

CHALLENGING, EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED SITUATIONS: ​Characters get challenged

Hekate, irate over the dire emergency of human self-destruction and planetary demise, must affect a foundational/fundamental change in the human psyche in order to transform human behavior, and Kara, struggles with severe self-doubt while gradually internalizing Hekate’s intention for her and to launch a world transformation to save folks from self-destructing.

REAL-LIFE to their core by the emotional situations and struggles that they run into.

Hekate, feeling fondly thoward hiumankind and the planet, must affect a foundational change in the human psyche in order to transform human behavior. Hekate must make the connection through a live person who can carry uher message and be the Shero Hekate needs to affect the change. Kara, who becomes Hekate’s chosen ONE struggles with severe self-doubt and anxiety while gradually internalizing Hekate’s intention for her: to both cure her and to launch a world transformation to save folks from self-destructing.

Drama stories are grounded in reality.

Kara wrestles with her department dean in the outer world while her inner world/psyche is relentlessly engaged with Hekate.

An added convention below for this story because it is the key element, the message for the viewer, which is outlined in the comments above:

SOCIAL COMMENTARY: ​Because we are in a different time, place, and experience, it is possible to explore current-day social issues, sometimes going as far as making moral statements. It often contains idealistic hope or dire warnings.

_­

[shira marin]

Shira Marin’s 4-Act Transformational Structure

WIM MOD 2 – L5: THE 4-ACT TRANSFORMATIONAL STRUCTURE

<hr size=”0″ width=”100%” noshade=”” align=”center”>

MY VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to learn the course material as thoroughly as possible, then, revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON: What I learned from this activity is that the course is a gift that keeps on giving. These are high-yield, valuable methods for clarifying and honing my ideas.

Again, it’s a fascinating and ultimately satisfying process, and I am grateful for my persistence to complete every assignment as I catch up satisfactorily enough. I can see and feel the 4-act structure clarifying, and I will work to create an increasingly more powerful story as I progress.

Again, I’m appreciating the steps that work through each element, most of which I have known in a more general way over my previous studies in writing screenplays.

What is so different and fabulous about our course is that each of the processes is thoroughly unpacked, which I can now see is clearly critical to completing a successful screenplay! Foundationally, I feel stronger with each lesson.…YAY!

Concept: A discarded, forgotten goddess bent on saving humankind and planet Earth from self-destruction seeks out a grad student to do her bidding.

Main Conflict: The goddess Hekate sees humankind, out of ignorance, fear, and greed, is actively destroying itself and the planet. Hekate convinces Kara, a struggling grad student, to be her proxy in transforming the world with the promise to give Kara the life of her dreams.

Old Ways:
Overly invested in mannish ways and patriarchal society Accepts and trusts others’ authority over hers
Retiring, hesitant, and humble
Lacks self-confidence/belief in herself
Makes herself shyly inconspicuous
Doesn’t take her intellectual and creative gifts seriously enough

Can’t maintain an intimate relationship with a man; always jumps ship.

New Ways:

She, connected with her Divine Feminine Harmonic (Hekate), embodies
the “One.”

Completes her doctorate and brings the beauty of Feminine the natural balance from the union of Feminine and Masculine energies to the world

Effective in a male-dominated world; men begin to experience the value of feminine energy in themselves and respect, appreciate, and embrace it.

Kara is released from her childhood wound.

Kara and Oliver reunite in the end.

Hekate is restored to human consciousness as a guide: a vital, compassionate, and empathic thrust in both women and men.

Act 1:

Opening: The goddess Hekate standing on a Malibu bluff, looking out to sea, her brow deeply furrowed with a blaze lighting her eyes.<div>

. Inciting Incident: In a bookstore doing research, Kara is stunned, catapulted into a bookcase by a bolt of lightning that strikes a book related to Witches/Hekate. Kara shares this experience and a dream with her psychoanalyst, who confirms that Kara must include Hekate’s imperative to actively support in her dissertation Hekate’s agenda to save humankind from itself. Oliver, Kara’s boyfriend, and Jenn, Kara’s Jungian Analyst, become companions on the journey.

. Turning Point: Kara researches Hekate’s identity and discovers she is a triple goddess, 3 times more powerful than all of the other gods and goddesses, and she needs Kara to be her proxy. Kara needs to complete her doctorate or lose her academic position and her struggling sense of self. Grayson Benoit, the dept. Dean rails against Kara’s upstart attitude, her lagging behind, and her seeming lack of commitment. Calum Ross, Kara’s dissertation advisor, affirms Kara’s experience, though contrary to Grayson’s, and that her destiny is tied to Hekate.

Act 2:

. New plan: Kara finally agrees. Kara will change course and follow Hekate’s lead to develop her dissertation according to the Harmonic Feminine Principle. Oliver and Kara become estranged and split up.</div>

. Plan in action: Kara presents the proposal to the Dean/Grayson who vehemently declares, “No,” and Calum, who says “yes.”

<div>

. Midpoint/Turning Point 2: Calum, works on changing Grayson’s mind about Kara’s dissertation proposal and discovers dark secrets that will cost Grayson his potential promotion and, ultimately, his academic career.

ACT 3:

· Rethink Everything: Grayson continues to keep Kara waiting for his acceptance of her proposal. Kara agrees to go Hekate’s way.

· New plan: Dean accepts Kara’s proposal. With Hekate’s inspiration, Kara executes the dissertation and turns it in. Hekate encourages Kara to trust herself about her dissertation, to keep working on herself and her childhood trauma that cause issues with both Kara’s mom and Oliver, her boyfriend. Hekate reassures Kara that the plan to stop human self-destruction and the planet is unfolding as she planned.

. Turning Point/Huge failure/Major Shift: Kara submits her dissertation, and Grayson keeps her on tenterhooks about the approval.

Act 4:

. Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: After all of Kara’s dissertation work with Hekate at her side, Grayson, bent on feeling Kara’s accomplishment, will only sign off if Kara first presents her work at a public venue where the world can decide it’s worth. Kara is beside herself</div>

.Resolution: Unbeknownst to Kara, Calum arranges for Kara to present her work at a TEDx gathering. Kara, who has slowly been embodying Hekate and the way of the Feminine Harmonic, finally, is joined by Hekate and presents her work, which goes viral. The talk launches a newly minted Ph.D., activist, international TED speaker, and global change agent who spawns a worldwide shift that sets a course of balancing masculine and feminine energies in men and women, creating a new paradigm for relationships at every level of society, setting Hekate’s agenda in full swing, resolving Kara’s relationship with her mother and reconciliation with Oliver. Grayson, who attended the event is transformed and claims his secret self, gets promoted to Chancellor, and Calum becomes the new department Dean.

[shira marin]

Shira Marin’s Subtext Plot

WIM-M2-L4––What’s beneath the surface

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VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere, can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON IS: What I learned from this activity is that the class is a gift that keeps on giving. These are high-yield, valuable methods for clarifying and honing my ideas. Again, it’s a fascinating and ultimately satisfying process, and I am grateful for my persistence to complete every assignment as I catch up completely. I can see and feel the subtext in my work, yet, I’m not certain about conveying it powerfully enough. I’m really appreciating these steps that unpack each element, most of which I have been introduced to during my research into writing. What is so different and fabulous about our course is that every single one of the elements is thoroughly unpacked, which I can now see is clearly critical to completing a successful screenplay! Foundationally, I feel stronger with each lesson.

Beyond that, I luurrrvve what lurks beneath. For me, the human inner world, or psyche, is the most reliable creative sense we have. As Hal has noted so often, it never fails if we stay with it.

CONCEPT:

A discarded, forgotten goddess bent on saving humankind and planet Earth from self-destruction seeks out a grad student to do her bidding.

1. Scheme and Investigation

IN HEKATE RISING:

The goddess Hekate promotes her divine agenda by slyly angling to take over the consciousness of Kara Cavalli, a graduate student who is laser-focused on completing her doctoral dissertation. She suffers no end of push-back from both Hekate and her obstructionist department Dean. The more Hekate insists Kara allow her in, cajoling her with promises of academic success, the more Kara pushes her away as unreal and intrusive. When Kara finally realizes that she’s been going about her research all wrong and opens to Hekate’s guidance that, in the end, not only stimulates a global shift in consciousness but, in the process, rebalances Kara’s needs and desires completely and transforms both her internal and outer worlds.

2. Layering

Hekate blows Kara’s mind and then dogs her until Kara succumbs to Hekate’s feminine logic about Kara’s dissertation methods, her inner world, and stepping into a life Kara couldn’t have begun to imagine for herself. Interactions with all of the other characters complicate the scenarios of her journey and resolve in unexpected and surprising ways.

[shira marin]

Hello Classmates…I accidentally posted this in the wrong module. Will repost in Module 2.

[shira marin]

Shira Marin’s Subtext Plot

WIM-M2-L4––What’s Beneath the Surface

<hr size=”0″ width=”100%” noshade=”” align=”center”>

VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best, most creative selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON IS: What I learned from this activity is that the class is a gift that keeps on giving. These high-yield, valuable methods for clarifying and honing my ideas. Again, it’s a fascinating and ultimately satisfying process, and I am grateful for my persistence to complete every assignment as I catch-up completely. I can see and feel the subtext in my work, yet, I’m not certain about conveying it powerfully enough. I’m really appreciating these steps that unpack each element, most of which I have been introduced to over my research into writing. What is so different and fabulous aobut our course is that every single one of the elements is thoroughly unpacked, which I can now see is clearly critical to completing a successful screenplay! Foundationally, I feel stronger with each lesson.

Beyond that, I luurrrvve what lurks beneath. For me, the human inner world, or psyche, is the most reliable creative sense we have. As Hal has noted so often, it never fails if we stay with it.

CONCEPT:

A discarded, forgotten goddess bent on saving humankind and planet Earth from self-destruction seeks out a grad student to do her bidding.

1. Scheme and Investigation

IN HEKATE RISING:

The goddess Hekate promotes her divine agenda by slyly angling to take over the consciousness of Kara Cavalli, a graduate student who is laser-focused on completing her doctoral dissertation. She suffers no end of push-back by both Hekate and her obstructionist department Dean. The more Hekate insists Kara allow her in, cajoling her with promises of academic success, the more Kara pushes her away as unreal and intrusive. When Kara finally realizes that she’s been going about her research all wrong and opens to Hekate’s guidance that, in the end, not only stimulates a global shift in consciousness and in the process rebalances Kara’s needs and desires completely and transforms both her internal and outer worlds.

2. Layering

Hekate blows Kara’s mind then dogs her until Kara succumbs to Hekate’s feminine logic about Kara’s dissertation methods, her inner world, and stepping into a life Kara couldn’t have begun to imagine for herself. Interactions with all of the other characters complicate the scenarios of her journey and resolve in unexpected and surprising ways.

[shira marin]

WIM-M2-L3––Shira Marin’s Transformational Journey

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VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere, can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best selves.

· WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON IS: What I learned from this activity is that the class is a gift that keeps on giving. These are high-yield, valuable processes for clarifying and honing my ideas. Again, it’s a fascinating and ultimately satisfying process, and I am grateful for my persistence to complete every assignment as I catch up completely.

Transformational Journey:

*Arc Beginning: meek, reticent, vulnerable, hidden brilliance<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Arc Ending: Becomes Hekate’s “One” and lives this fully worldwide

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>*Internal Journey: Self-doubting, lost, distractible, existential yearning, anxious

<div>

*External Journey: Is on a deadline and struggling to complete her dissertation, which she does under the influence of the Triple- powered, Creative Mega-force of the goddess Hekate

*Old Ways:
–Overly invested in mannish ways and patriarchal society Accepts and trusts others’ authority over hers
–Retiring, hesitant, and humble
–Lacks self-confidence/belief in herself
–Makes herself shyly inconspicuous
–Doesn’t take her intellectual and creative gifts seriously enough

*New Ways:

–She, connected with her Divine Feminine Harmonic (Hekate), embodies
the “One.”

–Completes her doctorate and brings the beauty of Feminine the natural balance from the union of Feminine and Masculine energies to the world

–Effective in a male-dominated world; men begin to experience the value of feminine energy in themselves and respect, appreciate, and embrace it.

–Kara is released from her childhood wound.

–Hekate is restored to human consciousness as a guide: a vital, compassionate, empathic thrust in both women and men.

</div>

[shira marin]

WIM-MOD 2 – LESSON 2––Shira Marin’s Intentional Lead Characters

Shira Marin’s Hekate Rising

VISION: I commit to doing everything from my strongest, most creative writer self to revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere, can’t wait to see, be inspired by, and fulfill their best selves.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON: What I learned from this activity is that keeping my nose to the grindstone is a high-yield, valuable method for clarifying and honing my ideas. Again, it’s a fascinating and ultimately satisfying process, and I am grateful for my persistence to complete every assignment as I catch up completely.

Character: Kara Cavalli/Protagonist<div>

Logline: Kara is a vulnerable doctoral student, struggling to complete her degree, and is befriended by a goddess who changes everything.

Unique: She’s brilliant, self-doubting, quirky, and mixed-race.

Character: Grayson Benoit (ben-wah)/Antagonist

Logline: A middle-aged graduate school Dean, bucking for University Chancellor, tries to prevent a quirky female grad student from achieving her dream of obtaining a doctoral degree.

Unique: He has dark secrets which, if revealed, would end his academic career.

Character: Hekate/(hey-KA-tay)/Triangle Character

Logline: discarded, forgotten goddess bent on saving humankind and planet Earth from self-destruction seeks out a grad student to do her bidding.

Unique: She’s a Titan-Greek, triple-powered goddess, more ancient than the Olympians, who doesn’t suffer fools, even if they are also gods and goddesses.

</div>

[shira marin]

Shira Marin’s Title, Concept & Character Structure

VISION: I commit to doing everything from my best self to revise and sell my screenplay to a producer who can’t wait to make it into an unforgettable film that everyone, everywhere, can’t wait to see and be inspired by.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS LESSON IS: that this activity, like the others, is keeping my nose to the grindstone and is a high-yield, valuable method for discovering new, unexpected ideas, even if they aren’t stellar. 😉 As usual, it’s a fascinating and ultimately satisfying process

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>TITLE: Hekate Rising

GENRE: Drama (+something…in fiction it’s called Speculative Fiction)

CONCEPT: A discarded, forgotten goddess, bound and determined to save humankind and planet Earth from self-destruction, inhabits a female grad student who does her bidding.

CHARACTER STRUCTURE: Protagonist vs. Antagonist.

[shira marin]

I, Shira Marin, agree to the terms of this agreement.

[shira marin]

Hello Everyone. My name is Shira Marin.

I’m revising my first script.

In our class, I aim to up-level my script to “incredible” status. I happily anticipate a lively and creative group engagement.

Unique? I worked as an actor, singer-songwriter, a Ph.D. in Psychology, and for many years, a licensed clinician trained in Jungian analysis and Archetypal Psychology. (I’m still in practice as a Creative Process Mentor and Inner Life Coach).

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  shira marin. Reason: I left out a word!

[shira marin]

Hi Shilpa. Welcome! I love dogs, too. I have a moyenne party poodle, and oh, can she party! I look forward to sharing the class with you. ~~Shira