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Storytelling Output for "The Client"
ANALYSIS INFORMATION:
The most notable aspect of this analysis is the choice of main character. In this analysis, the attorney Reggie is identified as the main character (as opposed to the boy witness, Marcus). This is contrary to most expectations. The primary reason for this choice is that Reggie seems to be the person the audience is supposed to "connect" with on an emotional level, whereas Marcus plays a more typical protagonist function by being the prime mover in the objective story.
Brief Synopsis:
Objective Character Mini-Synopsis:
THE OBJECTIVE CHARACTERS:
AUDIENCE AND STORY DYNAMICS APPRECIATIONS:
By overcoming her grief at the loss of her family, especially her children, Reggie is able to find the strength to risk everything she has worked for to not only help Mark, but to help him into the Witness Protection Program, even though she knows she will never see him again.
The mob and the government are closing the net around Mark. The mob comes closer to killing Mark and may move the senator's body before he can inform the government of its whereabouts. The government takes Mark into custody and tries to force him to talk. Mark escapes, and the FBI is about to recapture him along with charging Reggie with aiding, abetting, and interfering with an investigation. She and Mark must find the body and force a deal with Foltrigg to enter Mark and his family into the Witness Protection Program before their plan falls apart.
Reggie has lost her children to her ex-husband. Now she must send Mark into the Witness Protection Program because it is his and his family's only chance--but she has to watch someone she cares about walk away.
In this story, the main character is female and she is caught in an optionlock situation. The women in the audience will have a tendency to empathize with Reggie, while the men in the audience will have a tendency to sympathize. NOTE: The presence of a strong male protagonist makes the movie itself, as opposed to the story (in Dramatica terms), easy for male audience members to be involved in the story--but the men will still have a tendency to sympathize with Reggie as the main character.
Reggie starts out as unable to let things go even after they have been taken away from her (e.g. her children). By the end of the story, Reggie is instrumental in enrolling Marcus and his family into the Witness Protection Program (which means she expects never to see him again).
When there are problems, Reggie prefers to internalize them over trying to resolve them externally. When her husband left, taking the kids, she became an alcoholic; to gain Marcus' trust, she becomes motherly; when she is verbally attacked and accused of being an alcoholic, she swallows her hurt and doesn't offer an explanation; when Marcus tries to hitchhike from her house, she waits for him inside; etc.
Reggie needs to stop making decisions based on what may be likely. She often doesn't have enough information and that gets her into trouble.
From the first time she appears in the story, Reggie uses female problem solving techniques. Mark says he doesn't want "some woman lawyer" because his mother's divorce lawyer was so bad. Reggie asks what "her" name was, and Mark says "it was a man." Reggie says, "Exactly." Reggie uses the balance between surpluses and deficiencies to solve a problem. She lets Mark figure out that the deficiency he was ascribing to female lawyers was unfair. U.S. Attorney Foltrigg and his staff believe that they can manipulate Mark into divulging information while they are alone with him, but Reggie has Mark "wired." The advantage or "surplus" the men feel they have is turned into a disadvantage or "deficiency." Reggie discovers that Mark has lied to her, creating a deficiency. She tries to balance the inequity by demanding the truth from him. Instead, he runs away, thus creating more of a deficiency. To satisfy the growing inequity, her only recourse is to follow him.
The location of the senator's body is revealed.
Reggie's change of heart lets her willingly arrange for Marcus' participation in the Witness Protection Program. She will no longer be haunted by her sense of failure regarding her own children. She IS a good person and a good mother -- Marcus tells her that he loves her.
The mob attorney's suicide sets off everybody's deliberations on what happened and how much Marcus knows. Ultimately, the senator's body must be moved or discovered (action) to draw the story to a conclusion, and Marcus must disappear via the Witness Protection Program (action) regardless of what he decides to say about what he knows (decision).
There are only so many ways Marcus can delay giving the information, and once they have been exhausted he has to spill the beans, or else.
THE OBJECTIVE STORY THROUGHLINE:
Throughline Synopsis:
Backstory:
The greatest conflicts between all the characters in "The Client" are the result of fixed attitudes and incompatible positions on the issues explored. This begins with the conflict between the thug and his attorney (which leads to the attorney's suicide), and can be seen throughout the rest of the story: Marcus' determination to remain quiet conflicts with his attorney, the DA's office, and the mob; the DA's attitude of "the end's justify the means" conflicts with the defense attorney's attitude toward protecting Marcus' rights; the thug's reckless dismissal of the possible discovery of the senator's body conflicts with the mob's disposition toward protecting family above all else; etc.
Everyone in "The Client" is concerned with the suicide of Jerome Clifford, and how it is being considered by everyone else. The mob is concerned with what Mark is considering and what he may do. They are concerned with what U.S. Attorney Foltrigg is considering and what action he may take. They are concerned with what remedies they can apply without creating even more problems for themselves. Foltrigg is concerned with how Mark and his new attorney's considerations may affect his case and his political ambitions. If Foltrigg could just get Mark to disregard any personal danger and take into consideration Foltrigg's suggestion to do his civic duty by telling what he knows, he might be successful in his prosecution of the mob. Mark wants the world to stop being interested in what he is considering. He just wants to go back to life before the suicide.
Appraisal as the thematic range is evidenced by Marcus' first impression of Reggie as unfit to be his attorney because she is a woman; the DA team's appraisal of Marcus' naiveté; the appraisal that Reggie isn't qualified to handle the case because of her past alcoholism; the mob's appraisal of the thug as valuable because of the blood relation; the DA's appraisal that Reggie is a nothing attorney; Diane Sway's appraisal of Reggie as a surrogate mother trying to replace her; Mark's impression that he doesn't need any help; Mark's impression that nobody can be trusted.
Reappraisal as the thematic counterpoint is explored in the following ways: Mark's reassessment of Reggie when he sees her skills; the DA team's reappraisal of Mark when they find that he is wired; Foltrigg's reappraisal of Reggie when he sees her in action -- he eventually offers her a job; the mob's re-examination of the value of Barry Muldanno when he becomes a serious liability; Diane Sway's reappraisal of Reggie as a friend who is trying to help.
Initial appraisals and reappraisals are the thematic conflict in "The Client." Mark's initial appraisal of Reggie as being less of a lawyer because she is a woman is echoed by Foltrigg and his team. The assumption of Officer Hardy that Mark is just a kid who can be frightened into compliance is repeated by the DA's team. The balancing of the themes moves the story along. Mark comes to respect and eventually trust Reggie. Foltrigg comes to have the same kind of regard for Reggie. By Mark trusting Reggie, he can let her help him. Foltrigg's newfound respect for Reggie makes it possible for them to cut a deal that will put the Sways into the Witness Protection Program in exchange for the information leading to the location of the senator's body.
The actions of all the objective characters stem from the belief that Jerome Clifford probably told Mark where the body is buried. No one knows for sure, but they all believe the odds are that Mark knows something. Foltrigg tried to bluff Clifford, but only succeeded in driving the man to suicide. Now Foltrigg must act on the assumption that Mark knows Clifford's secret. The location of the senator's body in the boathouse should have remained secret with Clifford's suicide, but the mob must act on the assumption that Mark knows. Further, even if the mob can kill Mark, the body must be moved or the police may find it. Foltrigg and his team assume that an eleven year old boy is probably easy to push around when they make threats during their meeting with him. When Mark finally tells Reggie that he does know where the body is buried, Reggie has to face the real probability that Mark's life, and his family's lives, are in grave danger.
The solution to the objective story problem lies in a possibility presented by Reggie: the Witness Protection Program. While everyone acts on the probability that Mark knows something, it is the possibility that he can relay the information safely that ultimately solves the problem. Further, Reggie has to believe in the possibility that she and Mark can confirm the location of the senator's body to get Foltrigg to agree with the solution. Reggie addresses Foltrigg's initial impression that Mark can be pushed around by giving Mark a tape recorder, based on the possibility that Foltrigg and his team might say something that would incriminate them.
Mark steadfastly refuses to tell what he knows. He refuses to tell the police, his mother, his lawyer, the FBI, Foltrigg, or the press. The pressure continues to mount, but he will not talk. He is threatened by the mob, but he will not talk. He is caught lying to his lawyer, but he will not talk. He is even questioned under oath, but refuses to say a word. He pleads "the Fifth," and is put into custody.
Mark tells his mother and his brother that he "will think of something to get us out of this." He feels ultimately responsible for protecting his family; Reggie acts to protect Mark from Foltrigg, the press, and the mob; The mob acts to protect itself; Foltrigg is trying to protect his political future; etc.
Memory as the objective story stipulation illustrates how recollections become the standard for measuring progress in the story. As the memories of Clifford, Mark, Reggie, and even the gangsters unfold, so does the story move forward. In fact, in this story we are actually waiting for the recollections to surface. Following the suicide, Ricky's memory of the event drives him into a nearly catatonic state. The memory of the suicide, and what Clifford said, become the motivating force in the objective story. What does Mark remember? What does he know? Reggie lives with, and is guided by, the memories of her failed marriage, and her subsequent reliance on alcohol. These memories are thrown into her face by Foltrigg in an attempt to undermine her self-confidence. Even at the climax of the story, Reggie and Reverend Roy are testing each other's memories. Foltrigg says she didn't remember to bargain for immunity from prosecution, for aiding Mark. She counters by holding up the tape that incriminates him in his meeting with Mark.
It is the very fact that no one is sure what Mark knows that drives the story forward. Foltrigg doubted that Clifford would be tough enough to handle his threats, but it merely pressed the man to suicide. Officer Hardy doubts that Mark is telling the truth, and acts to obtain his fingerprints. Barry "The Blade" doubts that Mark will talk, but his mob boss uncle wants a preemptive move against Mark BECAUSE no one knows for certain if he will or not. Foltrigg continually doubts Reggie's ability, only to be outmanuevered by the attorney.
If Mark had told what he knew immediately, the issue would have been resolved, but he believes he can solve his family's dilemma. At any point that the police or the courts get close to him, he tries to solve the problem on his own, slowing down progress toward the goal. Because Foltrigg judges Reggie to be incapable of the task at hand, her actions slow him down considerably. Also, because she is indeed suited to the task, her efforts to shield Mark from every one inhibits progress toward the goal.
Everyone is concerned with what Mark is thinking. What is he considering? What will he do? Mark is wondering the same thing: Should he do what's best for his family? Should he trust his attorney? Should he trust the judge? Should he trust Foltrigg? The mob wants him to consider the consequences if he talks. Foltrigg wants to use Mark's knowledge to further his political career.
The threat of failure to achieve the goal is immediate. The mob is actively trying to kill Mark and his family. Reggie must force the government to put Mark and his family in the Witness Protection Program, or their deaths are imminent. Further, the government is actively pursuing Mark to get his story regardless of the consequences to him or his family. Reggie must continually deflect the efforts of Foltrigg, or Mark will lose any leverage that he has. Ricky's condition is acute, and requires immediate, continuing treatment. Without it, his condition can be permanent.
Reggie must learn the truth about what happened to Mark, but there is a price to pay. She must expose herself emotionally to Mark first, and in doing so, she must face her own demons. Mark must learn to trust Reggie, and to trust her, he must learn the truth of her past, but there is a price here as well. Mark trusts nobody, and he tries to be self-sufficient. In order to save himself and his family, he must let go of his hard-edged view of life so Reggie can help him. Roy Foltrigg must learn what Mark knows, and Foltrigg is used to people doing whatever he wants them to, but to get the information from Mark, Foltrigg must deal with an eager, inexperienced lawyer who is not going to roll over. Reggie and Mark must learn if the body is where Clifford said it was, but they are then forced to take a great risk to find it.
Just as there are costs paid along the way, there are also dividends realized. Reggie is an ambitious, inexperienced lawyer who is up against a government machine in the form of Roy Foltrigg. To deal with Foltrigg, Reggie must come up with one idea after another--but at the same time, she is stronger for the experience. Reggie uses the well-known ambition of Roy Foltrigg to come up with the idea of "wiring" Mark for his meeting with the government lawyers. By the end of the story, she is confident and capable of going "toe to toe" with Foltrigg. Mark sees an ambulance chasing lawyer attempt to reel in a client at the hospital, and comes up with the idea of a lawyer as the answer to his problem. This leads him to Reggie. Mark devises a way to get a little revenge when he steals a detective's credit card and charges two hundred dollars worth of pizza.
Mark's memory is the issue in the story. In this case, he must keep his memory to himself until he can use it for his own benefit.
Mark's knowledge of where Muldanno buried Boyette is the focus of the story. Mark has to deal with his experience with a bad lawyer to trust Reggie.
Roy Foltrigg wants to further his political career. Instead of just helping Mark, he chooses to first understand what the suicide means, what it means to his case against Muldanno, and what it means to his career. He then decides to use his understanding of the law to force Mark to speak rather than simply guarantee Mark's safety. Reggie wants to understand Mark, as well as make the judge understand Mark before taking action. Mark must understand who Reggie is and what her past is before he will trust her. The mob could simply kill Mark and his family and be done with it, but they must first understand what Mark knows.
The mob figures out how to terrify Mark. The FBI figures out how to legally force Mark into custody. The mob almost gets the body away before it can be discovered.
THE SUBJECTIVE STORY THROUGHLINE:
Throughline Synopsis:
Backstory:
Mark Sway is a minor and a witness to a suicide. He is wanted for questioning by the FBI, and the mob wants him dead. Reggie Love is his attorney. The subjective story takes place in the realm of a unique attorney/client relationship.
Mark is caught in a tug-of-war between the U.S. Attorney who wants information from him and the mob who want to kill him. He is trying to get himself and his family out of danger. Reggie Love is trying to do the same.
Reggie is drawn to Mark because she has a void created by the loss of her children in a divorce, and the fact that he needs someone to help him. Mark is drawn to Reggie first because he needs a lawyer, second because she's smart, and third because he comes to trust her as a person who has lived a hard life. Despite their age and life differences, they come to discover that they are indeed very much alike. When Reggie makes a disparaging remark about Mark, Mama Love says, " Talk about the pot callin' the kettle black."
Reggie discovers that Mark is continually withholding pieces of the truth from her. Mark finds out that she had a substance abuse problem and tries to fire her. Mark does not want to need anyone, and Reggie has a hard time letting go.
As much as Mark wants to be a loner and solve his own problem, he must come to trust Reggie and accept her help. As much as Reggie wants to help Mark and rescue him, she must eventually help send him away.
Reggie does not fully understand the situation Mark is in because he withholds information from her. Her initial evaluation of the situation proves to be incorrect. Mark's evaluation of Reggie does not allow room for his discovery that she is an alcoholic.
Reggie has to continually reevaluate Mark's circumstances, as well as her own attachment to him. Mark has to reevaluate Reggie when he discovers her past. They both come to a mutual respect for each other based on the reevaluation.
Reggie and Mark try to deal with the situation by taking no action as a means of response. She puts off the FBI. He tries to stay out of the way of the mob. While they could just choose to go to the police, they continue to resist taking that step.
Reggie's motivation is to protect Mark and his family. Mark is doing the same, but in his own way. When Reggie tricks Foltrigg and his staff into making incriminating comments on the tape, she is protecting Mark. When Mark refuses to speak to them the next day, he is protecting his family. Reggie has to then face Foltrigg and tell him the meeting is canceled, all to protect Mark. When she takes Mark to Mama Love' s house, she is trying to protect Mark from the press. When she agrees to drive him to New Orleans, she is still hoping to protect him.
Only when Mark and Reggie share a cigarette while Reggie describes her divorce and descent into alcoholism does Mark begin to truly trust her. It is then that he tells her the truth about knowing where the body is buried.
Mark has never hired a lawyer before and goes out to find one. Reggie is new at the game, but she agrees to take the case. Reggie is up against very slick, powerful attorneys who tell her she is out of her league. Reggie and Mark drive to New Orleans to dig up the corpse of a murdered man in an attempt to get Mark and his family into the Witness Protection Program.
The progress of Reggie and Mark's relationship slows down as each one discovers damaging information about the other. Mark learns that Reggie is a reformed drunk, and must investigate her past before moving on in the pursuit of a solution. Reggie's investigation uncovers the lies as well as the truths Mark has neglected to tell her.
Reggie Love's THROUGHLINE:
Role:
Description:
Throughline Synopsis:
Backstory:
Reggie's manner of thinking constantly shifts. Subjectively, she is changing from a person trapped by her attachment to her previous life, to a person who can let go of someone she loves (Mark) because it is good for him. Objectively, the facts constantly throw her for a loop. Mark's story changes; she is caught off-guard and must change her strategy. Foltrigg confronts her with her drug dependency--she must scramble again. Mark ultimately forces her to risk everything--her career, even her life--to take a trip to find the body. She must constantly revise her attitudes toward each situation that comes up.
Reggie's main job in the story is conceiving of what to do about Mark's dilemma, and the events demand that she continually shift her approach. Reggie comes up with the idea of taping Mark's conversation with the attorneys. She is pushed by Mark to invent a reason to postpone the second meeting. She conceives of the idea of putting Mark and his family into the Witness Protection Program.
Reggie is driven by the emptiness she feels from the dissolution of her marriage and the loss of her children to her ex-husband. Mark thinks she is further lacking because of her sex, and Foltrigg lets her know that she is found lacking because of her inexperience and history of drug abuse. She is constantly trying to prove herself while battling the demons of her past, for example, the simple act of finding an imprint of one of her children's hands reduces her to tears.
Permission means ability limited by restrictions. Reggie is a woman whose life has been ruled by the impact of permission. It has created such a blind spot that as her marriage was falling apart, she let her husband dictate she should take sleeping pills. In the present story, everyone seems to assume they can limit, or "pigeonhole" her abilities. Mark's first judgment is that she's just a woman. Foltrigg tells her she is a drunk and inexperienced. Mark tells her she lied to him when he finds out that she spent time in a treatment center. Diane Sway accuses her of trying to steal her son and orders her to leave.
Reggie's feelings of lack are both amplified and challenged at the same time. When Mark suggests that she is only a woman, she points out to him that it was a male lawyer who disappointed him. When Foltrigg tries to undermine her by exposing her past, she gathers her wits and refuses to be beaten. When she is ordered away by Diane, she continues to work on Mark's behalf. Though she is constantly being thrown off by changing events, she continues to move forward toward the goal. She ultimately is able to beat Foltrigg at his own game, garnering his respect. He even offers her a job, to which she replies, "I already have a job, Roy."
Reggie wears a compass around her neck "so she'll never lose her way again." She has indeed paid a high price for losing her way once--alcohol, drugs, and the loss of her children in a divorce. She now holds onto this good luck charm to increase her own chances, but she still tends to take calculated risks, "playing the odds" so to speak, even though she often does not have enough information. She acts on the probability that Mark is telling her the whole truth, but she discovers that he has withheld information. She counsels Mark to talk to the police and be done with it, assuming the likelihood that Mark can be protected. Ultimately, she has to decide whether to assist Mark in his desire to get to New Orleans, even though there is a high probability of danger, and the chance she will lose her license to practice law.
Reggie has to give in to the possibility that the mob will kill Mark if she doesn't help him find the body. At a great personal and professional risk, she helps Mark get to New Orleans and dig up the body. This ultimately leads to solving the story problem. In her final moment with Mark, she removes the good luck compass she has claimed she will never take off, and puts it around Mark's neck. She can finally let go of her past.
Reggie focuses her attention on evaluating the ever changing situations and circumstances. For instance, her past as an alcoholic has the D.A.'s team assess her as a loser despite her sobriety and practice history; based on an assessment of Reggie's office and staff, the D.A.'s think she's way out of her league; Reggie's poor evaluation of the severity of Marcus' trouble throws the two of them into greater danger; etc.
Reggie is constantly forced to reevalutate. She makes an instant evaluation of a young boy claiming to need a lawyer, but must reevaluate him when she finds out who he is, and that "Reverend Roy Foltrigg" wants to speak to him. She sets up a meeting in her office between Foltrigg and Mark, but Mark forces her to cancel. This causes Foltrigg to remind her of her struggle with alcohol and drugs, which again forces Reggie to reevaluate her tactics as well as the truthfulness of her new young client. She then has to reevaluate Mark's situation when he tells her the mob has threatened him. The climax of the story is set into motion when Mark demands that they go to New Orleans. At first she refuses, but she reevaluates Mark's plight and, ignoring the danger to her own life and career, decides to help him.
It falls to Reggie to come up with ways to implement the ideas she has to help Mark. She knows Mark is going to be manipulated by Reverend Roy, so she gives him a tape recorder to tape the men trying to coerce the boy. She must instantly think of a plan to keep Foltrigg at bay when Mark refuses to speak to him. She has to figure out how to implement the Witness Protection Program idea, and how to sell it to Judge Harry Roosevelt and Roy Foltrigg. Reggie must finally think of a way to stop Barry Muldanno from killing the two of them, but without having to kill him--she does so by shooting the house next door to set off an alarm.
The events of Reggie's life have created an empty place in her heart. That her ex-husband has custody of their children hurts "so much I try not to think about them." This lack drives her to help Mark. Further, she is out to prove herself. Reverend Roy's taunt that she is a drug addict and out of her league only serves to make her resolve grow stronger.
Reggie is hampered by all the forces conspiring to get to Mark. The U.S. Attorney wants him, creating a laundry list of legal issues that require her attention. The mob frightens Mark, forcing Reggie to contend with his fear. She is even hampered by Mark's discovery that she was once "a drunk," and Diane Sway's sudden outburst ordering her to leave.
Mark Sway's THROUGHLINE:
Role:
Description:
Throughline Synopsis:
Backstory:
Mark is a whirlwind of activity. His first choice of an approach to any situation is to do something about it. He wants a few of his mother's cigarettes and finds a way to distract her long enough to steal them. He involves himself in Jerome Clifford's suicide by trying to stop him, an action that sets off the whole story. He tells his mother and his little brother that he will find a way to "get us out of this." He sets out on his own to find a lawyer. He manages to escape from custody by feigning illness, and sneaking away from the emergency room. It is his idea to go to New Orleans and see if the body is where Clifford said it was.
As Mark sits in Jerome Clifford's car with a gun pointed to his head, he wants to know why Clifford is committing suicide. When Mark is confronted with the prospect of speaking to the FBI, he has to find a way to deal with it. He learns there is a hack lawyer in the hospital trying to drum up business. He tries to learn what he can about Reggie when he meets her; upon learning about her past, he runs away. He ultimately asks her to tell him the truth. He seeks to learn whether the body is actually buried in the boathouse before making a deal with the government.
Mark doesn't want a "woman lawyer," but agrees to Reggie when she points out to him that his last rotten lawyer was a man. Reggie tells him she is a big fan of Led Zeppelin, but Mark makes her prove it. When he learns of Reggie's alcohol problem, it becomes a condition to their relationship that must be resolved before they can go on. Reggie only gets him to talk by agreeing to tell her own story to him. At the hearing, he insists that Reggie stop calling him "the child." He insists on going to New Orleans to find the body, with or without Reggie.
Mark knows lawyers cost money. He asks, "How much is this gonna cost?" Reggie replies, "How much you got?" He produces all the money in his pocket; Reggie agrees to take the case for one dollar. After being threatened by Gronke, Mark refuses to speak to Foltrigg, forcing Reggie to find legal steps around the government lawyers. When he is on the stand in Judge Roosevelt's court, Mark doesn't want to tell what he knows, so he pleads "the Fifth," and convinces Reggie to agree with him. Before he will agree to talk to the government, Mark is determined to see the body first. He believes that he will have nothing to force Foltrigg to keep his part of the bargain if he can't be sure that the body is there.
Mark's deep lack of faith in people causes him to demand certain conditions from those around him, but then he finds that the conditions don't help him. He desperately needs Reggie as a lawyer, but he continually tests her. In the meantime, his situation gets rapidly worse. He needs to tell the police where the body is, but he needs protection for himself and his family. He won't even tell his lawyer the truth until he has learned the truth about her. He is so determined not to talk that he pleads "the Fifth" and is returned to protective custody. He refuses to talk to Foltrigg until he personally sees if the body is where Clifford said it was.
Mark is determined to solve his problem by himself. He only enlists help when he absolutely must. He seeks a lawyer when the FBI wants him, but not until he feels he has no other choice. He assures his mother and brother that he will find a way out of the problem. He fires Reggie telling her that he knows all about drunks and bad lawyers. He says he had to take control when a bad lawyer was about to mess up his mother' s divorce, and he can do it again. He escapes custody, and is determined to find the body himself. He has to ask for help, but when he thinks Reggie is going to refuse him, he simply strikes out on his own.
Mark has to take a second look at Reggie when she tells him about her divorce. He was going to go it alone, but finally admits he is scared and needs help. He doesn't trust Foltrigg or the Witness Protection Program, because he has seen it fail on TV. Ultimately he must trust that the solution is to give information to Foltrigg in exchange for the Program. Mark wants to kill Barry Muldanno at the boathouse, but listens to Reggie and hands her the gun instead.
Mark believes he must do something to solve the problem, but he lets the situation present the next step to be taken. He doesn't know how to avoid talking to the FBI, but sees a solution when he overhears the hack lawyer trying to drum up business. He doesn't want to tell even his lawyer about the conversation he had with Clifford, so he just allows the situation develop.
Mark is determined to protect his family. His decision not to talk is an attempt to make the whole problem go away. He tells Diane, Ricky, and Reggie that it is up to him. He "fires" Reggie when he thinks she is a drunk. He goes to New Orleans to find the body so he can get his family in the Witness Protection Program.
Mark's understanding evolves through the story. He knows he is in some kind of danger, but when threatened by Gronke he gains a new understanding of the extent of the danger. He tries to dump Reggie, but comes to understand her and trust her.
As Reggie Love says, she misses her children "so much I try not to think about them." She has worked for two years as a family lawyer and child advocate, but her life is still ruled by the feelings of loss. Mark Sway enters Reggie's life distrustful of lawyers in general and women lawyers in particular. He tests her from the beginning, demanding to know how many cases she has won. Each test and condition that Mark comes up with nudges her toward her ultimate change. She sees in Mark someone like herself, someone who never got a break and who is counting on Reggie. Her need to be a mother to her own children becomes the drive to help Mark at all costs. Mark makes her prove that she really knows about the rock group Led Zeppelin. He makes her send Foltrigg away, leading to Foltrigg's revelation about her past. Mark overhears this conversation and bolts from the office. Reggie has to virtually kidnap Mark, take him to Mama Love's house and tell him her life story (an extremely difficult act for her) to appease him. Relaying the story causes her to examine herself and the pain over the loss of her kids more deeply. Ultimately, Mark pushes Reggie to risk everything she has worked for to take him to New Orleans, and she is able to let him go into the Witness Protection Program even though they will never see each other again.
Mark is constantly acting without permission, which often gets him into trouble. He just doesn't care what anyone thinks. He steals his mother's cigarettes. He takes Ricky into the woods when he is told not to. He refuses to talk to the police. In any situation where he seems to need permission, he distinctly acts without it. Reggie takes him to her house, and he is determined to hitchhike back to the hospital. He sends two hundred dollars worth of pizza to Detective Klickman with the man's credit card just to get even. To solve the problem, he escapes from custody and gets Reggie to break the law and take him to New Orleans.
ACT PROGRESSIONS:
The Objective Throughline Act Order:
Mob attorney Jerome Clifford's memory is precisely the issue at the beginning of the story: he knows where the body is buried. His murderous client, Barry "The Blade" Muldanno, has told him where he buried his famous victim, Senator Boyd Boyette. To avoid a more painful death than at the hands of Muldanno, Clifford kills himself.
Before he carries out his suicide, Clifford tells Mark Sway where the body is buried. What he has recalled and relayed to Mark sets off the chain of events in the story. The selfish interests of the government and the mob drive them to discover what Mark knows. Mark becomes focused on protecting his family because he perceives it to be his job.
The full impact of the possibility that Mark knows something is felt. The mob is fighting for survival no matter what the consequences. Barry Muldanno's crime boss uncle sends a thug to find out what Mark knows. U.S. Attorney Foltrigg is demanding to speak to Mark, and willing to invoke the full power of the FBI to get what he wants and to further his career. Despite his dislike of lawyers, Mark's drive to protect himself and his family takes him to Reggie Love.
Reggie Love's protective instincts compel her to become Mark's attorney. With scarce information, she immediately begins to protect him from Foltrigg. Foltrigg will do anything to get to Mark, but finds himself surprisingly unprepared for Reggie's interference. The sheer force of his personality suddenly doesn't work and he must find different means to get at the boy. He resorts to having Mark taken into protective custody. Mob thug Gronke threatens Mark's life if he talks, as the mob moves to protect itself. Diane Sway decides Reggie is trying to be Mark's mother, and in a desperate attempt to protect against an imagined threat, orders Reggie to leave. Foltrigg forces a hearing to make Mark talk. But Mark is determined to protect his family and pleads "the Fifth."
The mob's innate reaction to contain the situation has failed. They know how to deal with New Orleans, but they don't carry as much influence in Memphis, so their immediate response is to kill Mark. Mark's reflex is to get to New Orleans as soon as possible, even though he has no way to get there.
While the mob boss has ordered Mark's death, and has ordered Barry to move the body, Mark and Reggie set off to New Orleans to verify where it is, and to hopefully cut a deal with Foltrigg for Witness Protection. Reggie has agreed to the trip despite the considerations that it is dangerous and she could be disbarred. Barry and his thugs surprise Mark and Reggie at the boathouse just as they find Boyette's body. Reggie is able to set off an alarm next door to drive them away. Because they have seen the body, she has the facts to persuade Foltrigg to help Mark.
After he considers the situation, Foltrigg agrees to Witness Protection to get the information about the body. Mark, Diane, and Ricky Sway are put into the Witness Protection Program so they can change the circumstances of their lives. Reggie is sensible to the fact that this is best for everyone and is able to watch them leave.
The Subjective Throughline Act Order:
Mark needs a lawyer, and he needs one now. Reggie agrees to take him on immediately. She establishes that his distrust of female lawyers is misplaced since his one bad experience with a lawyer was with a man. He describes his predicament, and she says "Yes, you do need a lawyer." He tells her that he has to talk to Foltrigg, and she formulates a plan on the spot.
Reggie is able to "con" the government lawyers into revealing themselves on tape. She is slightly concerned that Mark hasn't told her everything, and tells him he has to trust her. Reggie reveals a piece of her past by saying she is a longtime fan of Led Zeppelin, but Mark thinks she is saying it to make him trust her. She learns the next day that Mark has withheld information from her, but Mark discovers that Reggie's past includes drug and alcohol dependence.
Mark fires Reggie, saying she has lied to him. Reggie tells Mark about her divorce, losing her children, and her descent into alcohol and drugs. Mark finally decides to trust her, and tells her what happened in Clifford's car and what the attorney had told him.
Reggie's past compels her to help Mark. She tells the judge, "He's never had a break and he's counting on me." In court, Mark demands that Reggie stop calling him "the child." She begins to call him "my client." While he is on the stand, Foltrigg tries to force Mark to reveal what he learned from Clifford. He and Reggie thwart Foltrigg by Mark pleading "the Fifth." He escapes police custody and persuades Reggie to pick him up at the hospital. He then tells her about his plan to go to New Orleans saying he must go now, with her or without her.
To make progress, Mark convinces Reggie that they must go to New Orleans to find Boyd Boyette's body if they hope to use this information to get into the Witness Protection Program. Against all her training, and knowing she can lose her license, she agrees to the plan.
The pair go to New Orleans, break into Clifford's estate, and locate the boathouse. Mark climbs in a window, lets Reggie in, and they uncover the body. They hear the arrival of the thugs. Mark is trapped inside the boathouse when the men arrive. Before they can move the body, they see Mark climbing out of the window. Holding a gun on Muldanno, and weighing the consequences of killing him, Reggie decides to set off the neighbors alarm, forcing Muldanno to flee, and showing Mark that there is another way to live besides violence. Reggie then cuts her deal with Foltrigg. He uses the information about the body to make his case against Muldanno, and the Sways get into the Witness Protection Program.
The Sways depart for their new, future life; Mark can finally believe that his family will be safe. Reggie finds the peace to let Mark go, and can begin to resolve some of her own pain.
The Main Character Throughline Act Order:
Reggie must determine how to help her underage client. She figures out that Foltrigg will try to pressure Mark to speak, so she wires him with a tape recorder.
Reggie discovers that Mark is continually withholding information from her, so she has to keep changing her tactics. Despite her lack of experience, she is a tenacious advocate for Mark, keeping the high-powered Foltrigg away from him. She temporarily is taking on the role of lawyer AND protector.
Fulfilling the role of Mark's protector, all of Reggie's legal skills must be brought to bear to help him. As Foltrigg tells her, she is out of her league, but she must act as if she can be the lawyer she needs to be.
Just as Reggie thinks she is on the right track with Mark, Diane orders her away. Reggie's loss of her own children becomes acutely painful as she tries to protect Mark. She agrees to take Mark to New Orleans despite the personal danger, because she is truly willing become his ally to help him.
Despite the tremendous risk to her hard won professional life, and despite the fact that if they are successful, Mark will be placed into Witness Protection, Reggie becomes Mark's true ally. She helps him verify that Boyette is buried under the boathouse, and she shows Mark that she can remove the threat posed by Muldanno without having to kill him. She lets Mark know that he does not have to be like "them."
Reggie and Mark find the body, and she is able to use the knowledge to get everything she wants from Foltrigg.
Reggie devises a way to compel Roy to follow through with their deal, even down to trading the tape of his initial conversation with Mark for her immunity from prosecution. She also finds a way within herself to let Mark go.
The Obstacle Character Throughline Act Order:
Mark understands that his knowledge of the suicide and what Clifford told him means he and his family are in danger.
Because Mark appreciates the danger he and his family are in, he tells his mother that he will think of something to get them "out of this." When he hears that he must speak to the FBI, he seeks a lawyer.
Mark gives Reggie Love a dollar to be his lawyer. He withholds information from her because he still thinks he can control what is going on.
Mark tapes his initial meeting with Foltrigg and his staff. He forces a sleazy photographer out of Ricky's hospital room. When he learns that Reggie had a drug and alcohol problem, he runs, saying he can do it all himself. He eventually gets Reggie to tell him the truth about her divorce, and he tells her what he really knows. He also confesses that he was threatened by the mob. After being taken into custody by the police, and pleading "the Fifth" in court, Mark gains his freedom by faking an illness and being taken to the hospital.
Mark obtains his freedom, and then persuades Reggie to take him to obtain the truth: Is Boyette's body really buried in the boathouse?
Mark and Reggie find the estate, make it to the boathouse and learn that indeed Boyette is buried there. He learns from Reggie that he doesn't have to shoot Muldanno. Instead, she sets off an alarm next door and the thugs flee.
Mark learns that he can really trust someone, maybe for the first time. He learns that he and his family are leaving to start new lives in the Witness Protection Program.
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Copyright
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