Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast
Two emerging screenwriters – Chas Fisher and Stuart Willis – try to work out what makes great screenplays work. Discovering what it takes by analysing what successful writers put on the page.
Episodes
What craft tools make a low-budget, contained, period drama riveting?
Explore how narrative POV, interweaving relationships, hooky dialogue, and even the screenplay format itself make the script for BLUE MOON - that runs largely in real time about an obscure songwriter in the 1940s - one that attracts world class talent and Academy Award nominations.
While Stu is still on show and we are be...
How does Film Noir show us terrible people doing terrible things without endorsing it?
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
What can Film Noir teach us about character arcs and audience engagement?
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 true natures?
How can you apply horror ideas to action and comedy?
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 classic <...
How do the antagonistic forces in your story escalate distinctly from the protagonists' journey?
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?
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 screen...
How does your protagonist's final choice resolve the plot, character arc and theme?
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, in particular whether and when the audience is mad...
How do dramatic questions create tension?
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 crea...
How can we teach our audience new storytelling rules in the middle of our story?
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, lighting, music, edi...
How do you make extended technical scenes funny on the page?
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 food poisoning scene in BRIDESMAIDS.
We d...
What magic do Christmas movies use to make them so rewatchable?
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 OF JUSTICE, and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
We ...
How does ending your story on the climax affect audience experience?
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 audi...
What tools help ensure that you as the filmmaker are not misunderstood?
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'...
DZ-112: Breaking the 4th wall
How is the effect of breaking the 4th wall different to VoiceOver?
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 they identif...
How does the unreliability of a narrator impact the way a story is told?
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 sequence-driven structure and how the voiceover...
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 MARS pilot, Disney's THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE, and the Michael Bay epic PAIN & GAIN.
In exploring wha...
What are the different ways a filmmaker can ask something of the audience?
Chas and Stu are joined by recurring guest Mel in this prelude episode to upcoming episodes on Voice Over and Breaking the Fourth Wall. In this episode, we attempt to taxonomise the different ways filmmakers can ask something directly of their audience. To this end, we identify 4 levers that can be pulled:
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 asking how a scene moves the plot forward, ask how the scene alters the relationship between characters. While emotional events are ostensibl...
How can we use dramatisation to create 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 relationship between character & tone and how the writers of these films use dramati...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.