Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Listen to separate the three layers of an arc -- does the character change? How do they feel about it? And how is the audience positioned to feel about it? Stu, Chas and Mel finally begin their long-awaited journey into CHARACTER ARCS. In this "primer" episode, we try find some learnings and analytical lenses that we can then apply in future breakdowns. In this episode, we explore differences betw...

Listen to learn the emotional impact of revealing secrets vs discovering them. In this episode Stu, Chas and Mel apply the Landmark–Hidden–Secret framework (from DZ-126) across two very different genres: the thriller SIDE EFFECTS (2013) and the tragicomic pilot of SHRINKING. SIDE EFFECTS is a film of two genres. The first half plays as a drama about depression and over-medication; the second half...

Listen if you want to understand how hidden information drives character motivation and plot structure! “Getting information puts your character in danger. And danger rewards your character with information." — One of three ideas we steal from game design in this episode. In this two part series, we talk about how secrets, clues and hidden information motivate characters and may (or may not) help...

Listen if you want to understand how narrative POV, screenplay format, and dialogue craft can elevate a contained biopic into an Oscar-nominated film BLUE MOON is a talky, period-drama that film about an obscure songer-writer in the 1940s. Yet, it attracted world-class talent AND Academy Award nominations, including for it's script. Join Chas & Mel as they explore how narrative POV, interweavi...

Listen if you need audiences to root for characters who do terrible things Mel and Chas continue to explore what Noir (the genre) can teach writers of all other genres. In particular: How to keep the audience on side of characters doing reprehensible things; How to control your audience understanding of those reprehensible actions; and Distinguishing between characters undergoing transformative ar...

Listen if you want to write morally compromised characters without endorsing their choices. In this two part series, Mel and Chas use Noir (the genre) as a lens to interrogate flawed characters. How can characters doing reprehensible things still engage audiences? How can you ensure representation isn’t endorsement? And whether these characters undergo transformative arcs, or simply reveal their t...

What happens when a group of filmmakers play a ragtag group of filmmakers in a gritty sci-fi horror? "Ignite the fire within and explore unknown territory" - Werner Herzog. This episode is unusual, even by Draft Zero standards. It's an "Actual Play Podcast" where Chas, Stu, & Mel are joined by Kim Ho and Luke Clark to play MOTHERSHIP, the sci-fi horror game we talked about in episodes DZ-121 a...

Listen to learn how thinking of your hero as the horror (for your villains) makes your script dynamic. In this episode Chas, Stu and guest Kim Ho continue their exploration into the power(s) of antagonism and how focusing on them can develop story. While Part 1 looked at the horror film SINNERS, in Part 2 we venture into genres beyond horror with the action-thriller REBEL RIDGE, and the comedy cla...

Listen to strengthen your story by focusing on the antagonistic forces in your script. We often struggle to develop the middle stages of a story. Could this be because we focus on our protagonists’ journeys and plot structure more than on how the antagonistic powers are awakened, wronged, discovered, gathering strength and revealing themselves? In this episode, Chas and Stu are joined by professio...

Listen if you're struggling to write subtext without it feeling forced! Or, how focusing on good drama will result in good subtext. We often hear how subtext is important for good screenwriting. We're here to tell you it isn't. Good subtext is a result of good drama, and your focus should be on creating that good drama. But how? In this episode, Chas Fisher and Stu Willis are joined by screenwrite...

Listen if you want to understand how to better dramatise a character's internal journey In this episode, Stu and Chas focus solely on the final choices made by protagonists and how that reflects their character journey and successfully, or not, dramatises the internal. We compare and contrast different uses of narrative POV in respect to these final choices. And in particular whether and when the...

Listen when you need tension without external stakes--subtext, stillness, and thematic weight do the work. In this episode, Stu and Chas delve into the cultural phenomenon of ADOLESCENCE. We try to find the craft tools that have made the show so compelling and such a catalyst for conversation. In particular, we breakdown how the show’s emphasis on questions creates tension: not just tension throug...

Listen if you want to write tonal pivots that land on the page without a director's toolkit. Following on from our episodes on establishing tone through action lines and through character , this is what we have been building up to: how to pull off a tonal switch… that does NOT throw the audience out of the film. And, in particular, how to pull that off on the page when writers don’t have framing,...

Listen to learn how formatting--white space, caps, dashes--becomes your comedy toolkit without a director. Mel joins Chas to tackle physical comedy. We limited our homework selection to extended scenes (as opposed to moments and sight gags) in live action projects and – with the help of our Patreons – selected early sequences from BRINGING UP BABY, the pilot for HAPPY ENDINGS and that wonderful fo...

Listen if you want to understand what makes holiday films enduring parts of our seasonal rituals! In this “backmatter” episode of Draft Zero, Stu, Chas, and Mel Killingsworth embark on a festive exploration of what makes holiday films so engaging and so re-watchable that they can become part of our rituals. To that end, we breakdown the charm of of Christmas films like KISS KISS BANG BANG, RIDERS...

Listen to understand how withholding resolution can make your story great! While Stu is on show, Mel and Chas sit down to analyse the meaning behind the ending of 2024's CHALLENGERS, especially when - upon reading the script - the most impactful moment of the ending on screen (for Chas in particular) is not written on the page. Following on from episodes on Filmmakers Talking Directly To The Audie...

Listen if you want to explore how you can make your creative hand visible through meta-storytelling and structural choices!?! In our final (ha!) episode looking at Talking Directly to the Audience, we turn away from character-and-text based craft tools to look at other ways that filmmakers - whether they be directors, writers, editors, or anyone else - can make the audience feel their 'hand' more....

Listen to understand how breaking the 4th wall directly involves the audience in a character's emotional present. As part of our series on how filmmakers can directly communicate to the audience, we finally examine the most blatant tool of them all: when character look directly down the barrel of the camera… and thus look directly at us , the viewer. Chas, Stu and Mel take the craft tools/levers t...

Listen to learn how unreliable narrators shape storytelling through voiceover, structure, and control. In this episode, Stu and Mel (sans Chas!) take a deep dive into FIGHT CLUB and its use of the unreliable narrator. This is a bridging episode between our previous episode on VOICEOVER and our forthcoming episode on TALKING TO CAMERA as Fight Club does both. We dissect the film's disconnected sequ...

Listen to explore how voiceover can set tone, reveal character, enhance empathy, and create tension. How can you use Voiceover without it feeling like a cheat? In this episode, we finally delve into the world of VOICEOVERS (as part of our larger series exploring craft tools that allow characters & storytellers to talk directly to the audience). Chas, Stu and Mel deep dive into the VERONICA MAR...

Listen if you've wondered what a character actually wants when they're talking directly to the audience!? What are the different ways a filmmaker can ask something of the audience? Chas and Stu are joined by Mel in this prelude episode to upcoming episodes on Voiceover (DZ-110, DZ-111) and Breaking the 4th Wall (DZ-112). In this episode, we attempt to taxonomise the different ways filmmakers can a...

Listen to understand why a scene's power lives in what shifts between characters, not what happens to them. How and why should every scene have an emotional event? For the first episode of our tenth anniversary year, we are joined by Judith Weston to talk about Emotional Events. What is an emotional event? Well, it’s a way of thinking about scenes through relationships rather than plot. Instead of...

Listen if you want to understand how character actions and reactions shape a film's tone In this episode, Chas and Stu continue their deep dive into how to write tone by examining films with “light” (we use the phrase loosely) tones: LADY BIRD, EMILY THE CRIMINAL, THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS, and SPONTANEOUS. We also talk a surprising amount about DUNE and CRAZY STUPID LOVE. We focus on the relat...

Listen you're not sure whether your idea has enough fuel for 90 pages. In this episode, Chas, Stu and Mel attempt to answer a listener question: “In your own pre-writing process, how do you know you have enough for a feature? And do you have a specific pre-writing method you're going to?” Thus we launch into a discussion on our writing processes and the varying usefulness of tools such as log line...

Listen if you want to use an unusual tone in your screenplay. Chas and Stu finally start their long-mooted exploration of tone with a series that examines films and shows with unusual tones and dives into how the writers establish those tones in the first 5 pages. How does your script want your reader to experience violence in your story? Humour? Sex? Prejudice? To answer these questions, this epi...