How do you maintain hope in the face of, er, screenwriting? Time for our annual backmatter episode, where we drop any ruse of any objectivity, and fully embrace our subjective opinions! In this episode we discuss: potential topics for 2023; the ostensible shortening of first acts; balancing new projects vs current projects; how to maintain hope in the face of an industry as fickle as ours; and end with a discussion of Andor vs Obi-Wan. Yup, Star Wars is the new Die Hard. Get over it. SPOILERS AB...
Dec 31, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 10Ep. 95
How can you use physical objects to track character change… wordlessly? In part two of our two-part series on TALISMANS, we break down the beats used to turn objects (in a broad sense) into talismans; how talismans can track character journeys and transitions; and how they can be used to create powerful moments without words. While Part 1 looked a range of talismans in a bunch of different movies, in this episode we deep dive into just three examples. We look at how Thor's crisis of masculinity ...
Nov 30, 2022•2 hr 8 min•Season 9Ep. 94
How can you use physical objects to reveal inner character? In this series, Chas and Stu discuss TALISMANS. Physical objects that are imbued with meaning by a character or characters. They're a powerful tool to access inner character. In this first part, we lay the groundwork to discuss talismans and present something of a taxonomy. What makes talismans powerful? What makes them different from MacGuffins or characters? What types of Talismans are there? In the second part, we will breakdown THOR...
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 38 min•Season 9Ep. 93
How can endings prompt an audience to reflect on your story? Stu & Chas set out to explore what makes certain endings powerful, in particular those of LA LA LAND, INCEPTION, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and TURNING RED. The lens they bring to those endings is Aristotle's moment of "anagnorisis" (don't worry - we can't pronounce it either), traditionally when a character moves from ignorance to knowledge (particularly of self). But in analysing these films, Chas and Stu discover that endings can be...
Sep 29, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Season 9Ep. 92
How can you keep your audience hooked when they know the end of the story? Chas, Stu and Mel take a deep dive into stakes, using then lens of biopics to help us think about them. If an audience already knows the "plot" outcome of a story, then how do you create stakes to make a story tense for the audience? To explore this, we deep dive into HIDDEN FIGURES (about the NASA Friendship 7 mission), DOWNFALL (the final days of Berlin in WW2), and BRIGHT STAR (the life and death of romantic poet John ...
Aug 31, 2022•2 hr 20 min•Ep. 91
How can you use setups and payoffs to stitch your film together? In this one-shot, Chas and Stu dive into the awesomeness of EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. In particular, we focus on its use of setups, payoffs and reversals; breakdown the difference between Pointers and Plants and Stitches; deep dive into its Michael Arndt inspired ending. And, of course, we talk hotdog fingers and butt-plugs. As always: SPOILERS ABOUND. Audio quotations used for educational purposes only. Timestamps indicat...
Jul 27, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Season 9Ep. 90
How does your opening sequence set up your audience? Inspired by her tweet on how subversive an opening OCEAN'S ELEVEN has, Chas and Stu invited amazing writer/director Jessica Ellis onto the show to deep dive into opening sequences. How does a good opening setup character, genre, and theme? In exploring how best to open your story - instead of looking at the almost mandatory studio note of "dropping you in the action" - Stu, Chas and Jess look at the inventive openings of OCEAN'S ELEVEN, LONG S...
May 31, 2022•1 hr 48 min•Season 9Ep. 89
How can dramas use genre elements to hook their audiences? Stu and Chas reunite with TV writer & director Kodie Bedford to look at how some films start out as genre but gradually become character dramas. Or, as Stu never said on the episode "Genre in the streets, Drama in the sheets". Together, they break down HUSTLERS, PIG and POWER OF THE DOG, to see how these films use their genre trappings to hook their audience while ultimately delivering something else entirely. We discuss chapter brea...
Apr 30, 2022•2 hr 7 min•Season 9Ep. 88
How do you deliver on the emotional contract of a genre while surprising the audience? In tackling this enormous topic, Stu and Chads enlist professional TV writer and director for Kodie Bedford, someone who has somehow managed to defy genre pigeon-holing by writing mystery, comedy and vampire shows. The three of them look at GET OUT, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN and THE INVISIBLE MAN (with reference to PARASITE, JOHN WICK, TAKEN, KNIVES OUT and more) to see what tools the writers have used to deliver ...
Mar 28, 2022•2 hr 13 min•Season 9Ep. 87
How do you determine what is your MVP? In their annual full backwater episode, Stu and Chas let out their pandemic hair, drop the ruse of objectivity, and allow themselves to have even more options about writing and the business of writing. In this Backmatter entry, they go deep on: future episode topics; their screenwriting lessons from 2021 (especially on control); pitching projects; the minimum viable product & minimum loveable thing; and share their exper iences with running a writers wo...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 30 min•Season 9Ep. 86
What is difference between choice and decision when it comes to audience experience? In our second part of our "series" on Choices and Decisions, we take a deep dive into THE FAREWELL and WRATH OF MAN, with a sidebar on NOMADLAND. In THE FAREWELL, we consider how the choice/decision to lie underpins every sene of the film (to great effect). In NOMADLAND, we consider how using choice and decision is a great way to show how a character doesn't change. And in WRATH OF MAN, we look at how non-linear...
Nov 17, 2021•1 hr 49 min•Season 8Ep. 85
What is the difference between choice and decision when it comes to characters? In order to better understand dramatising of character, Chas and Stu take a very draft zero look at very specific tool: choices and decisions. We analyse three films through the decisions made by their characters. In particular, how the audience understanding of: the choice available, the considered decision itself, and the consequence changes how we feel about these characters. And how separating those three things ...
Oct 30, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Season 8Ep. 84
What can screenwriters learn from the storytelling techniques used by stand-up comedians? Standup comedians can keep audiences gripped to their every word for over an hour, and often bring them to emotional climaxes by the end. So how do they do it and what tools can apply to scripted narratives? For this deep dive into standup, Stu and Chas are joined by the super-talented comic and podcaster Alice Fraser. Which is rather fortuitous. Because not only are we schooled on comedy techniques, but be...
Sep 08, 2021•2 hr 32 min•Season 8Ep. 83
How can writers dramatise Given Circumstances? In this final podcast release of last year's run of LiveSoLation episodes, Chas and Stu are joined by Uber-geek Mel Killingsworth (who else?) in an epic exploration of how Dave Gibbons' and Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel WATCHMEN is adapted differently in Zack Snyder's 2009 film and Damon Lindelof's 2019 HBO television show. For this podcast release, we focus on a single craft tool: GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES. Traditionally an acting tool, we look at h...
Aug 18, 2021•2 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 82
How do you make effective pitch decks and look books for your projects? Chas and Stu are joined by writer/director/producer/multi-hyphenate Marc Furmie of Rezistor Studios to talk all things pitch decks and look books. Coming from an advertising and music video background, Marc shares his experience in putting together visual materials to pitch a project. We discuss the difference between pitch decks and lookbooks, how they help you sell your projects, what buyers are looking for, television vs ...
Jun 30, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Season 8Ep. 81
How can interweaving timelines elevate the emotional experience for the audience? In our final part, part 3, of our Interweaving Timelines series, we — Chas, Stu & Mel — take a deep dive into Greta Gerwig's 2019 adaptation of Little Women. In her adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's iconic novels, Greta chose to interweave the seperate timelines of Little Women and it's sequel, Good Wives, to create a thematically and emotionally potent work. This differs from all the other adaptations, which h...
May 31, 2021•2 hr 11 min•Season 7Ep. 80
How can interweaving two timelines change how we feel about a character? In this Part 2 of Interweaving Timelines (aka The Stu Monologue Episode), Mel, Chas and Stu tackle Sorkin/Fincher's The Social Network. As you'll hear, it is clearly Stu's favourite of the examples we cover and, ah, *not* Mel's favourite. While all three bring their own biases and opinions on the reality of Facebook as it has become, we do manage to put the destruction of democracy to one side to actually analyse the meticu...
Apr 30, 2021•1 hr 37 min•Season 8Ep. 79
How does interweaving two timelines change how the audience feel? Stu and Chas are joined by Mel Killingsworth to dissect interweaving timelines. Not anthology films. Not Cloud Atlas. But films where two plot lines featuring the same characters, but from different timelines, are woven together. How do you manage stakes when you know a character's future? What questions does this prompt in the viewer? And how the hell do you orient the reader? To answer these questions, it will take three episode...
Apr 01, 2021•1 hr 43 min•Season 8Ep. 78
How do you choose which project to start next? In their now-annual full backmatter episode, Stu and Chas let their hair down, drop the guise of objectivity, and allow themselves to have an even more subjective opinion about writing and the business of writing. In this particular Backmatter entry, they wax lyrical on [ deep breath] : character journeys, hyperlink cinema, keeping genre fresh, beginning a new co-writing relationship, managing multiple projects, choosing your next project, and - nat...
Feb 28, 2021•1 hr 37 min•Season 8Ep. 77
What can we learn from Sofia Coppola's on-the-page skills over her career? Following the success of the Tips from Tarantino episode, we have again decided to look at three different scripts from over the course of a long screenwriting career from a single writer to see what we can learn. Our beloved patreons not only selected Sofia Coppola as said writer, but also selected the scripts to analyse: LOST IN TRANSLATION, THE BLING RING and THE BEGUILED. Stu and Chas are joined by repeat Draft Zero o...
Feb 01, 2021•1 hr 54 min•Season 8Ep. 76
How can you do powerful storytelling... without dialogue? Stu and Chas are joined by filmmaker, podcaster and writer Matthew Brown to deep dive into FURY ROAD and its astounding visual storytelling, both on the page and on screen. We talk about setups and payoffs, given circumstances, image systems, environmental storytelling, and how the relationship between Furiosa and Max is built over the course of the story with very little dialogue (besides Tom Hardy's grunts and the odd bellow of "MEDIOCR...
Dec 31, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Season 7Ep. 75
What can we learn from folk horror? Draft Zero return with their next YouTube livestream! Stu and Chas are joined by previous guest (and successful screenwriter) C.S. McMullen for a deep dive into MIDSOMMAR! We analyse the film through the lens of Folk Horror, but tackle broader topics such as horror vs dread, rising tension, transgressions, unfilmables, and portraying toxic relationships. You can also watch the recorded live stream on YouTube . As always: SPOILERS ABOUND Audio quotations used f...
Dec 01, 2020•2 hr 2 min•Season 7Ep. 74
How do I write selling documents differently to development documents? In developing our stories and scripts, we have probably written some combination of treatments and loglines and outlines. Some of us have probably even sent these development materials out to producers or agencies when " selling " a project — as a step towards getting someone to read or *gulp* produce your material. If so… have you written them differently? Should you have? You probably should have... In this final part from ...
Oct 21, 2020•39 min•Season 7Ep. 73
How can I develop my theme without writing script pages? Continuing our look at tools used in development, Chas & Stu are joined by Stephen Cleary to talk about Theme, The Thematic Logline and what Stephen calls The Story Synopsis. All are tools to help writers better understand their theme and how it is dramatised. We use the classic film WITNESS as an example, so spoilers abound. Audio quotations used for educational purposes only. Timestamps indicated below. Chapter markers included in th...
Sep 28, 2020•1 hr•Season 7Ep. 72
How can I develop my plot before writing the screenplay? Stu and Chas are joined by fan-favourite, Stephen Cleary, to NOT look at what makes great screenplays work -- but what makes great "short documents" work. We draw on Stephen Cleary's wealth of experience in developing work with writers, as a producer, as a script editor and as a former head of development. This recording turned especially epic and so we have divided it into three parts that can be listened to in any order. Part I explores ...
Sep 01, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Season 7Ep. 71
How does Joker use melodramatic techniques to elevate its storytelling? Draft Zero return with their next YouTube livestream! Stu and Chas take a deep dive into JOKER and analyse the film through the story paradigm of melodrama. Is it a melodrama? Why or why not does that matter? And does that influence how it has been written on the page? They then answer listeners questions on JOKER and more. If you want to listen in on the next live recording, find details here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/...
Jul 23, 2020•1 hr 36 min•Season 7Ep. 70
How can you use audience questions to heighten emotional investment? Draft Zero return with their next YouTube livestream! Stu and Chas take a deep dive into PARASITE and how its mastery of audience questions elevates the film. They then answer listeners questions on PARASITE and much more. If you want to listen in on the next live recording, find details here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/dz-livesolation-35770237 and/or subscribe to us on YouTube via http://www.draft-zero.com/YouTube If you wa...
Jun 10, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Season 7Ep. 69
How can shifting narrative point of view drive your sequences? Born out of isolation madness, this episode is an edited version of Draft Zero's first YouTube livestream. Stu and Chas both watched KNIVES OUT and - together with our listeners - broke down each sequence and turning point by reference to what the audience knows in relation to the characters (aka narrative point of view). hey then answer listener questions on KNIVES OUT and much else besides live on air. If you want to listen in on t...
May 17, 2020•1 hr 33 min•Season 7Ep. 68
How do I tell a powerful story where the protagonist cannot drive the plot? Stu and Chas are joined by Stephen Cleary following his exploration into Melodrama, and together they try to reclaim the word from its pejorative meaning. By examining powerful Melodramas - like THE HANDMAID'S TALE, LADIES IN BLACK and STRANGER THINGS… with many a tangent on MARRIAGE STORY, PETE'S DRAGON, MILDRED PIERCE, GAME OF THRONES, LOST, THE JOKER, THE KILLING, THE WITCHER, war movies and survival films - the three...
Apr 30, 2020•2 hr 58 min•Season 7Ep. 67
How does Draft Zero cope with lockdown? LINKS Facebook: http://facebook.com/draftzeropodcast/ Patreon: http://patreon.com/draftzero/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIEz5b9FMNa7Tj8DkcJQWRA Dear DZ Listeners, We hope you are all staying healthy and safe. Due this difficult time of lockdown, Chas and Stu have decided to "regularly" do special live-streamed episodes (via YouTube Live) of Draft Zero that we are calling LiVEsolation. They different from (and in addition to) Draft Zero Class...
Apr 07, 2020•6 min
