Period Piece Screenplay

My URSP creative project is writing a feature-length screenplay set during the Manhattan Project. I approached this project by using the traditional screenplay acts and sequences. The three screenplay acts follow the protagonist being called to a journey, going on the journey, and the results of that journey. Each act is broken down into sequences which are “mini movies,” each with a specific goal for the protagonist, and a climax that brings them closer to or farther away from achieving their overall goal. Each of these sequences carry character themes and build on previous conflict in a suspense-filled setting.
Act one of the screenplay consists of two sequences with an inciting incident (a major change in the protagonist’s life), call to action, and turning point. The goal of act one is to introduce the characters, insert a crisis, and commit the character to solving the crisis that occurs at the call to action. Act two consists of four sequences and follows the protagonist through their struggles to solve the crisis. Two sequences follow in act three, where the protagonist finally realizes how to achieve their overall goal. They have completed their full character arc and have different goals than at the beginning of the movie.
The Manhattan Project was a code name for the American effort to develop an atomic weapon during World War II. Leading physicists and chemists gathered at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico to collaborate on weapon development. The nuclear age began on the morning of July 16th, 1945. The Gadget exploded at the Trinity test site in the New Mexico desert. On August 6th, 1945 the United States dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima. The bombing of Nagasaki followed three days later. The United States accepted Japan’s surrender on August 12, 1945.

The Manhattan Project was a code name for the American effort to develop an atomic weapon during World War II. The Project began as a response to concern that Nazi Germany was working on a nuclear weapon. Leading physicists and chemists gathered at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico to collaborate on weapon development. In September of 1942, General Leslie Groves selected Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as a site for an electromagnetic separation facility. Construction began the following February on the Y-12 plant, the electromagnetic U-235 separation plant. Two months later, Groves selected Los Alamos, New Mexico as the site for a specific research laboratory. He chose J. Robert Oppenheimer as laboratory director. In February of 1944, construction began on the first plutonium reactor in Hanford, Washington. Uranium is element 92 on the periodic table of the elements. There are two main isotopes of uranium — uranium 235 and uranium 238. The uranium atom bomb required the 235 isotope, which has a natural abundance of .72%. Scientists selected this isotope because it is a fissile material and can sustain nuclear fission chain reactions. U235 production increased drastically between November of 1944 and January of 1945 due to increasing efficiency at the Oak Ridge Production Y-12 plant in Tennessee. From November to December, there was a 125% increase in efficiency, followed by a 126.67% increase in efficiency from December to January. Improvements in technology and mass production techniques at Oak Ridge accelerated the process and resulted in sufficient material produced by July of 1945. The nuclear age began on the morning of July 16th, 1945. It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the far east. We are now prepared to destroy more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have in any city. The Gadget exploded at the Trinity test site in the New Mexico desert. The explosion vaporized the steel tower and turned the surrounding asphalt to green sand. On August 6th, 1945 the United States dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima. The bombing of Nagasaki followed three days later. The United States accepted Japan‚Äôs surrender on August 12, 1945.