4/29-5/1/14 – Inciting incident

Tuesday, 4/29/14

HW: Finish up through “Into the Wide Unknown” for Thursday

Aim: Understanding and outlining the inciting incident and consequential actions.

Daily Spark: Describe a BIG decision you had to make. What was it? What were your options? What did you decide and why? Describe the moment you made your decision.

Ex: In the summer of 2009, I was ready to leave New York. I wanted to be in a smaller city, and started interviewing for jobs in other places. One place I particularly liked was Burlington, VT. I interviewed for a film teacher position at the school.  When I got back to NY from my first interview, I had received an interview invitation for a similar position at FSSA.  I decided it wouldn’t hurt to at least interview, so I did.

I ended up getting both job offers and had to decide what to do.  On the one hand, Burlington was a lovely city, a change of pace from NYC, a big school with a well established media arts program and a strong faculty. The administration and staff seemed welcoming and nice and the city on a whole seemed very livable with a lake and affordable, big apartments and it was near lots of places to go skiing. But I didn’t know anyone in Burlington, was far away from friends and family, didn’t know much about the school system there and it gets extremely cold for half the year.

On the other hand, was FSSA.  FSSA was offering me a position where I could create the curriculum for their new film department. I knew the NYC school system and had built up my personal reputation in NYC, I have lots of friends and family here and the school was very prestigious. Like Burlington, I didn’t know the faculty or administration yet, but the people I had met seemed nice.   I wouldn’t have to find a new home, move, make all new friends…

Obviously, I decided to stay.

On my first day of school at FSSA, I met my first class…

 

Today, you will work on your Inciting Incident and your “big decision” outline sections.

++If you haven’t filled out up to this point for Million Dollar Baby, please make sure you do before Thursday++

 

Inciting Incident
Page 10 or Page _2-3_ (the 10% mark)

In the set-up, you have told us all about the world of your script. The inciting incident will turn that world upside down. Protagonists get fired, find out they have a long-lost brother, get news that they have three days to live, meet the girl or boy of their dreams, get transported somewhere over the rainbow by a powerful tornado, etc. This is what forces your protagonist out of a daily routine and into the adventure of a lifetime.

 

 

The Big Decision
Pages 10-25 or Pages _2/3___ (the 10% mark) -__3-5__ (the 25% mark)

Page 25 is the point of no return. From page 10 until this point, your protagonist should be debating whether to embark on his or her journey or just continue living his or her uneventful, everyday life. Your protagonist should ultimately choose the more dangerous and exciting path towards his or her goal, but it won’t be an easy decision to make.

Write two lists from your protagonist’s point of view: one stating why he or she should keep things as they currently are, and one stating why he or she should embark on the adventure.

Reasons why I keep things as they are:

Reasons why I should embark on the adventure:

 

 

Into the Wide Unknown
Page 25 or Page __3-5__ (the 25% mark)

This is a big moment for your protagonist, and you want to make sure that your audience knows it. He or she is leaving the old world behind, and stepping into the unknown. Because these two worlds are so distinct, the act of actually stepping into the new one must be unmistakable. A great example of this is in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy steps out of her house and into the Munchkin City.

Describe the moment where your protagonist steps into the “new world.”

 

 

Thursday, 5/1/14

Aim: Understanding the turning points of a film though watching Million Dollar Baby

HW4.3: Read Million Dollar Baby through page 37: http://sellascript.com/Source/resources/screenplays/million_dollar_baby.pdf

Describe the characters of Frank, Maggie and Scrap, as we know them so far. Highlight (or write down) action lines with good description.

Daily Spark: In Million Dollar Baby, the conflict is set up. Maggie wants to train with Frankie, Frankie doesn’t want to train her. List the reasons why you think Frankie should and the reasons he should not train her.

What do you think he will do? Why?

 

Watch Million Dollar Baby through the first major turning point