[Teri Moore]

Type of role for Protagonist: Uncle Dave is the mother’s brother (steadfast, concrete, dependable, self-made wealthy, solid)

Type of role for Antagonist: Mother (intelligent, ‘caught’ in this household, barely able to handle the stress but won’t let it show)

Supporting characters: Father, Son, Daughter

Father (meek, quiet, any stress or excitement causes occasional seizures)

Son (constantly unsatisfied, seeks mother’s approval, overachiever, perfectionist and demands perfection from others around him, is disappointed at his own few failings)

Genre: Drama

Timeframe: Present day

Location: Any Midwest city

I’m having a tough time with this course. Should I be receiving daily emails describing the assignment? Please let me know where the assignment description is and if there are learning materials to read.

Thank you for anyone’s assistance.

[Teri Moore]

Two siblings are in their 40’s and were born and raised in the same households. He’s two years older than her. Their occupations are such where one has an overflow of money, social status, and resources, and the other is borderline homeless. What was it that created such economic and influential disparity in a single household? What were the societal, parental, and other past generational influences that molded who they are?

Impossible journeys:

At his junior high school age, their mother enrolls him in a private school and expects him to take all accelerated courses. When he asks his mother if he can be on the baseball team of the high school, even though he obviously is not yet able to drive, one condition is that he find his own transportation to practices and games. He also is given consequences if he doesn’t score all A’s every semester.

At her high school age, their mother makes her continue with public school. The girl is given very little guidance relating to occupational choices.

Both parents are too busy with their individual jobs to have time for the two children.

Major conflicts in their early teens:

He sees that there are very little demands on his little sister. Jealousy sets in. He loves playing baseball but he’s only 5’ 3” so there are physical limitations, and he has to find transportation home from practice sessions and games.

She sees that he gets all the attention. She wonders whether the parents wanted her since most of the family resources is spent on him. Jealousy sets in.

Major conflicts change as they grow older.

Characters in opposition:

The two siblings.

The two parents.

The siblings, both individually and separately, have conflicts with both the children individually and separately.

No one outside the family is to know the stresses within the walls of this household.

Hero/protagonist is the mother’s brother, who grows as an influential member of the family as the story progresses.

Villain/antagonist is the mother, who blatantly exercises favoritism and almost impossible standards for the children, having to be family’s foundation with a weak, epileptic husband.

Logline: Members of a family struggle for position and power, both amongst themselves and in public, find they cannot survive without each member’s release of themselves.

By the end of the story the uncle has a large role in these transformations through the death of the grown children’s father:

The uncle convinces the son to re-examine the societal demands his mother faced years earlier, to recognize the basis for his sister’s stubbornness as parallel to their mother’s, and to seek forgiveness for his past attitudes and actions.

As the uncle’s sister, as her nearly homeless daughter’s mother, and as a result of her husband’s death, she comes to the realization that her concentration on her son had formed her daughter’s defiance.

The daughter comes to realize that the ways of her uncle is a release from herself as she strives for personal freedom and self-satisfaction.

As this story progresses, I’ll be learning some psychology, which will be a challenge for me, the accountant. And, yes, I’m learning how to be organized when starting to write about a story. Foundation first…so the story stays on track throughout the entire writing experience. I will definitely use these 30 steps whenever writing anything from now on.

[Teri Moore]

Hello. My name is Teri Moore.

I’ve written only one screenplay, but, with the help of this class, I plan on not only writing three more stories, but also a total rewrite of my first by the end of this year.

When I can finally decide on a specific project, I become very focused and invest 100% in it. By the time I was 19, I had constructed a chain made from chewing gum wrappers that was 364′ long. It was like an obsession! Now I focus my ambitions on more productive projects.

[Teri Moore]

1. Teri Moore

2.I agree to the terms of this release form.

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 3 years, 4 months ago by  Teri Moore.

[Teri Moore]

Hi, Tim,

I’m brand new at writing screenplays. I wrote one, but I need to rewrite it.

I have no idea what a rom-com is. What is it?

T

[Teri Moore]

Hi, Tim,

I, too, am an accountant…and an artist. My joke about myself is: I’m an accountant and an artist, and next I’ll work on the B’s…basket weaving, beekeeping, biology, botany…

But with this class I’ve decided to skip the B’s through the V’s and go straight to the W’s.

LOL at myself!

So are any of the stories you’ve written about some of your experiences as an accountant?