Thursday, April 17, 2014

Degrassi “Unbelievable”/ Dark Water/ B- Girl



Mar. 12 Degrassi “Unbelievable”: There was a 1hr Degrassi episode called “Unbelievable.”  It was a really good and intense episode.  It dealt with how Zoe was drunk at a party and there was a video of her being groped.  She may have been sexually assaulted.  I used to watch Law and Order: SVU since 2002 to 2009.  I kind stopped and only watched one or two eps because I find the show unoriginal.  It’s like “ripped from the headlines”, as in all the story ideas are from the newspaper.

Zoe wakes up from Miles’s party and she’s naked.  She doesn’t remember what happened that night.  There are lots of pictures taken from all the people at the party. 

Becky is a Christian girl and she wants to be a news reporter.  She’s on Degrassi TV news and is covering a story about the dangers of teens and drinking.  There is a video where Zoe is drunk and there is a hand groping her as she’s in her bikini.  Becky gets her TV friend Imogen to help her.  She then shows the video to her friends Drew, Miles, and Dallas to see if they remember who was with Zoe and if they recognize the voice in the video.  There is a basketball players jacket in the video.

Becky then gets an anonymous video where Miles and Winston Chu takes Zoe’s unconscious body away from the pool party.  Becky shows it the principal Mr. Simpson and the police are involved and asking questions.  Winston then shows a time stamped video that proves that he and Miles didn’t rape Zoe. 

24 min in, there was a little funny part.

Miles writes “M+W” on the chalkboard.
Miles: Miles and Winston equals.
Miles writes “NP.”
Winston: Not pervs.
They do a little victory dance. 

Becky, Imogen, and Drew are still investigating who are the rapists.  They look into two guys who are together at the party. 

The punk girl Grace enters and intros herself as The Watcher who sent the videos.  Her plan is send an anonymous text to the guys and say in it: “Your friend already told on you about what you did to Zoe.”  That’s a good plan.  They keep an eye on the pairs of two guys and there was nothing.  Then Becky sees her brother Luke argue with a guy on the basketball team about it. 

Becky doesn’t think her brother Luke would do it.  She asks to use his phone and then sees the video with him in it.  Luke notices she’s watching it and Becky is crying.  Becky runs away.  Later Luke goes to Zoe and tells her he was in the video and to forget all about it.

Luke: You’re going to ruin my life.
Zoe: My life is already ruined.

Later Zoe confronts Luke and points out that he’s a rapist in front of everybody.  She starts hitting him and Becky pulls Zoe off Luke.

Luke: You don’t have proof.
Becky: Yes, I do.  I have his phone and it shows him in the video.

Luke and the other team member is arrested.  The next day, Drew, Dallas, Tristan, Miles, and Mia are there to support her.  Zoe hugs and thanks Becky.

I was on twop.com to read comments:

Randi H. Dela Rosa: The only thing in this episode I didn't like is the fact that like didn't delete the pics. To be more realistic he would of deleted the evidence especially when he found out the police were now involved. I mean if your sister was doing a story on it and the police talked to everyone on the basketball team I'm pretty sure he would of deleted the evidence. 

SuperDwarf Hamster I was on the edge of my seat. And it's funny you guys wanted to be realistic. Delete the pics. But Luke said he was a christian boy. Who would believe anyone's accusations on him. His father, mother, sister and brother are all known for being good with god. So that was realistic. And to believe his kind hearted sister would take his side is realistic. Blood runs thicker than water is the ultimate saying. Sadly for him, his sister is about justice. And she warned him in a playful way. But she said she wanted to be a hard hitting journalist and wouldnt stop until she aired her findings.

He got what he deserved. It doesnt have to go far. With the photos/videos, confessions and the paperwork from Zoe's doctor, he and his friend could have it hard.

MegaJ:-Speaking of Zoe, Ana did a great job for a "new" actress with the material. I think she wasn't raped per se but sexually assaulted which is just as traumatic. A lot of people would probably want this storyline to be dragged out and feel like it was wrapped up too nicely, but goddammit after Dean got away with it and we never saw Darcy's rapist, it's so nice to see a girl win one. I think that sends a good message about bravery and that a lot of times, the rapist doesn't get away with it.
Apr. 8 Screenwriting Goldmine: I was going through my Screenwriting Goldmine newsletter emails written by Phil Gladwin.  Here’ some inspiring stories of writers succeeding on Sept. 28, 2012:
Finally, if you really are still hesitating about whether this workshop thing is really for you, here's an extract Phil Shelley received recently from one of his clients:

'...just to keep you up to date with the M-K picture that I sent you an early draft of... thanks to your notes I was able to do a root and branch reworking of my proposals and sent them off to Hollywood. The reaction was ecstatic (Yes, I know it's Hollywood and all that.) I've been asked to produce a full script by the end of the summer. Contracts are being prepared. It's now moving in the right direction.'  (Screenwriter John Morrison, June 30th 2011)

And here's what just a couple of happy customers had to say about 
my Screenwriting Goldmine Book:

"Dear Phil--  I want you to know that I, a novelist, used your book on screenwriting to help me write a romantic comedy screenplay based on one of my published novels. It turned out so well that a successful movie producer (his comment upon reading it was,
"Wonderful! Delightful!") is now trying to raise the money for anindependent production. My next step is getting a Hollywood agent to negotiate a contract with the producer. So, thanks for your help!" Trina Mascott - Palm Desert, California (Personal communication, June 2011)

"I've written two screenplays since I read this book, and I've had two producer requests for one of them, one producer request for the other, and a producer request based on a seven-word logline for a scenario that's not yet even a script! Stuff like this has never
happened to me before. Plus one of the above screenplays was a finalist in this year's New York-based Bridge International Screenplay Competition. Let me say that again: Stuff like this has never happened to me before. Get it, read it, and do it." Ian Hamilton - Australia (courtesy of Amazon.com)
Dark Water: I read about this in the Metro:

“Production of a movie called Deep Water has halted due to the flight in Malaysia that disappeared in the Indian Ocean.  According to the Associated Press, Managing Director Gary Hamilton said, "We're delaying it out of respect for what's going on."

The film has been put on hold due to the tragic accident regarding the Malaysia Airlines jet that disappeared from March 8 en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian officials have finally released information that they believe the jet crashed and that 239 people have lost their lives.”


My opinion: Oh yeah, that’s happened to me before.  I had written a story where a guy can just get on a plane quickly.  That’s not possible after 9/11. 

Apr. 13 B-Girl: I came home from work and checked what’s on TV.  I found this dance movie called B-Girl (2009.)  It’s written and directed by Emily Dell.  I saw the last 20 min. of it.  It stood out to me because it’s about dancing, the lead is a girl Angel (Jules Urich), and it’s written and directed by a woman.

I went on imdb.com: “A story about a female breakdancer overcoming a brutal attack to claim her place in the world of underground hip-hop.”

I looked into it some more and Dell had written a short film with the same title in 2004.  Then in 2009 she got it produced to a feature length movie.  That’s great.

I notice Wesley Jonathan was in it.  You may remember him as the black guy on the late 90s teen sitcoms City Guys and Amanda Byne’s sitcom What I Like About You.

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