[Veialu]

Veialu’s Lead Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is to think more deeply about how my lead characters will either help or try to stop my protagonist’s transformational journey.

1. Tell us your transformational journey logline.

A middle-aged woman must find the baby she adopted out as a teenager so she can start living her life authentically.

2. The Change Agent might be the mother of a long-lost friend from her past and would fit the role as the mother saw her daughter go through something similar.

– Their vision: Let go of the shame or it will kill you; you deserve happiness

– Their past experience that fits that vision: The mother had a daughter who gave up her baby for adoption and later killed herself; she lost her only daughter and never knew her only grandchild.

3. The Transformable Character is the middle-aged woman.

She is a good fit because her marriage is broken, she is deeply unhappy and afraid to change her life even though she hates it. She needs to change to live a fulfilling life.

4. The Oppressor might be two things: 1) Society’s attitude in the 1960s and 2) the woman’s shame.

They force her to hide her trauma, hide her vulnerability, and falsely believe that to be accepted in society she must play a role (as opposed to living authentically).

5. The Betraying Characters might be the woman’s sister and mother.

– The woman’s sister fits the role because she feels her life was negatively impacted by the pregnancy and is resentful; she wants her sister, the woman, to be miserable because she is unhappy and blames it on her.

– The mother fits the role because she is more concerned with image and reputation than her daughter’s happiness.

[Veialu]

Veialu’s Transformational Journey

What I learned doing this assignment is a great way to define my protagonist’s transformational journey which helps me focus on how she changes without getting bogged down with plot details – love it!

1. A middle-aged woman must find the baby she adopted out as a teenager so she can start living her life authentically.

2. Old Ways – She is passive-aggressive, needy, revels in other people’s misery, her relationships are superficial

3. New Ways – She lets down her guard, is vulnerable, compassionate, builds healthier relationships, and begins the journey of self-love.

[Veialu]

Veialu’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment is to think about the audience change plus these questions helped me to get clarity around why I’d like to write this story.

1. What is your profound truth?

It’s never too late to forgive yourself.

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

It will empower us to believe that we can face our fears and still find freedom from our darkest moments no matter how many years have passed.

3. What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?

Embellished true story.

[Veialu]

Subject: Veialu’s Analysis of Groundhog Day

What I learned doing this assignment is that the transformational journey can be made up of a series of failures and small lessons the character experiences. And that it’s particularly satisfying to see a character fail badly over and over, and then learn from their mistakes and be transformed by these failures.

1. What is the Transformational Journey of this movie?

– Phil goes from being mean and selfish to being caring of others and living in the present moment.

2. Lead characters:

– Rita is the Change Agent. She’s the right character to cause the change because she is empathetic and has all the qualities Phil would like to have – fun, easy-going, kind, and caring.

– Phil is the Transformable Character. He’s the best person to deliver this profound journey because he’s so unlikeable and selfish at the start so seeing him change is extra satisfying.

– What is the Oppression? Time. Immortality. Phil’s own ego.

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

– It’s satisfying to see this rude man be “punished” for his obnoxious behavior at first, but as he fails, he grows, and there’s something meaningful to this. We see his ego fall away and as he gradually becomes kind to everyone around him, it’s satisfying, and we’re rooting for him by the end.

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: Mean, selfish, arrogant, rude, condescending, egocentric

– Identify their new way at the conclusion: selfless, caring, kind, fun, present, grateful

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

– At the start, he’s rude, acts superior to everyone, and is obnoxious

– As the day keeps repeating, at first he freaks out but then he realizes he can do anything and get away with it

– He acts like he’s on a joyride, is more fearless, takes more risks

– He realizes love is important but fails to make a meaningful connection with Rita as he’s still trying to impress her rather than being genuine with her and caring

– He fails to win over Rita, he fails to die, he fails to makes friends, he fails to find happiness in the way he always thought you’re ‘supposed’ to find happiness

– He’s trapped, nothing going to change unless he changes himself

– He realizes he has to change his approach

– He realizes he can at least help others with the knowledge he’s gained

– As he focuses more on helping others, he gets stronger and kinder, Rita notices this

– As he finds more meaning, he begins to enjoy life, enjoy learning new things and connecting with more and more people in the community he once hated

– He completed changes his attitude and approach to life, seeing beauty and value in things he never did before

– So when he talks to Rita, he’s genuine and caring and she begins to trust him and care for him back

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

– The old way is challenged because Phil is unable to survive in this new reality using his “old way,” it simply doesn’t work anymore. He needs to find a way to accept and survive in this reality and in doing so he finds a “new way” which brings him fulfillment and happiness.

– Eg. He believes that he is better than small-town people – but he learns that they are just like him, facing their own challenges and losses, and he begins to see them as 3-dimensional humans, not stereotypes

– Eg. He believes that love is about sex and winning over another person – but he learns that love is ego-less and kind

– Eg. He believes that life is boring in a small town – but then he learns it’s about the meaningful connections you make and by the end he wants to stay

– Eg. He believes he doesn’t need help – but he learns that he does need help and he gets it by giving back, and that the support is two-way

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

– Realising that if he only has one day to live he can take more risks and live more fearlessly

– When he realises that he has no idea what love really is

– He hits rock bottom when he realizes he can’t escape, not even by killing himself

– He realizes he’s a jerk

– When he discovers that when he stops thinking about himself all the time and is helpful and kind to others, it’s fulfilling and meaningful

– He speaks from his heart to Rita while she sleeps – it feels genuine

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

– “If you only had one day to live, what would you do?”

– “Whatever happens tomorrow, or for the rest of my life, I’m happy now… because I love you.”

– “Today is tomorrow. It happened.”

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

– By the end of the movie, Phil’s behavior has changed. All the scenes we saw him be rude and mean, he repeats the same scenes being caring, thoughtful, and genuinely interested in the other person.

– By the end of the movie, he likes the small town he once hated – he even tries new things like piano and ice sculpting

– By the end, instead of avoiding locals, he finds meaning in helping the locals like the homeless man, the kid in the tree, the old ladies, the engaged couple, the choking man etc.

– He learns about life, death, love, helping others, building a community – all the things he was superficial and egotistical about at the start

– He realizes that even though he’s reliving the same day over and over, he can make every day count

10. What is the Profound Truth of this movie?

– Happiness comes from supporting others in your community and having meaningful connections

[Veialu]

I, Veialu Aila-Unsworth, 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.

[Veialu]

Hi Everyone!

1. My name is Veialu Aila-Unsworth.

2. I’ve written 6 features, 1 pilot.

3. I hope to learn new ways to make my writing more emotionally powerful.

4. My first name, Veialu, is from my father’s tribe in Papua New Guinea. It’s the name of a tree of imagination that only some people can see.