DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith Weston

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 ostensibly a tool for directors to interpret scenes, we believe that the emotional event starts with the writer(s).

But it is an idea better illustrated through examples and discussion rather than sound bites. To that end, we breakdown scene from OPPENHEIMER, CASINO ROYALE (the Daniel Craig one), and PAST LIVES and explore how the emotional event is written (and not written) on the page. 

Through a close reading of each scene, we talk about subtext, power dynamics, status transactions, tactics, beats and much much more. Because Chas, Stu and Judith are also reading the scripts there  lot of discussion about table reads and how to get the most out of them.

For those unfamiliar with Judith, she is a famed teacher of writers, directors and actors with a focus on the directing or actors. Her books Directing Actors and The Film Director’s Intuition are basically industry standards. 

You can find Judith Weston (and her books!) at her website: https://judithweston.com/web/

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND.

Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

CHAPTERS:

  • 00:00:00 – Cold Open
  • 00:00:30 – What is an emotional event?
  • 00:13:48 – Oppenheimer
  • 00:46:16 – Casino Royale
  • 00:59:35 – Past Lives
  • 01:30:20 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
  • 01:36:05 – Thanks to our Patreons

RELATED EPISODES:

How can we forget our awesome Patreons, especially Lily,  Alexandre, Malay, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis, and Khrob.

Please considering rating or subscribing to us on Apple Podcasts or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners.

We are @stuwillis, and @chasffisher on twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.

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DZ-107: Establishing Tone through Character

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 dramatisation to create their unique tones. We talk minimalism vs maximalism, dialogue, character actions & reactions, emotional dynamic range, and rules of the world vs given circumstances.

Stu proposes a new triangle to help us understand the dials we as writers have to affect tone: the given circumstances of the story, how that effects character actions & reactions, and how the audience are told about those elements.

Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

CHAPTERS:

  • 00:00:00 – Cold Open
  • 00:00:23 – Tone & Character
  • 00:15:26 – Ladybird
  • 00:33:20 – Emily The Criminal
  • 00:57:43 – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
  • 01:17:28 – Spontaneous
  • 01:39:38 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
  • 01:51:58 – Many thanks to our Patreons

RELATED EPISODES:

How can we forget our awesome Patreons, especially Lily,  Alexandre, Malay, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis, and Khrob.

Please considering rating or subscribing to us on Apple Podcasts or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners.

We are @stuwillis, and @chasffisher on twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.

BUY DRAFT ZERO MERCH via TeePublic

SUBSCRIBE TO SHOT ZEROvia Substack

DZ-106: How do you know if you have enough story?

How do you know if you have enough narrative fuel to write a script?

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 lines, turning points, beat sheets, synopsis, treatments, and scene breakdowns. We also tackle the challenges encountered while developing an idea to first draft, such as balancing the pace of the story, developing distinct character voices, character choices, plot changes, pacing, and thematic clarity.

Is this backmatter? Or is it development tools? You decide! Hahaha.

Thanks so much to Chris Walker for his excellent editing on this episode!

CHAPTERS:

  • 00:00:00 – Cold Open
  • 00:00:30 – Introduction: Falling Short
  • 00:02:38 – Our Development Processes
  • 00:33:06 – Developing from concept
  • 00:45:26 – Sponsor: Arc Studio Pro
  • 00:48:12 – Expanding your Idea
  • 01:15:29 – Long Short Documents
  • 01:27:22 – Consistent problems with first drafts
  • 01:34:28 – Many thanks to our Patreons!

This episode brought to you by (drum roll):

And how can we forget our awesome Patreons, especially Lily,  Alexandre, Malay, Casimir, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis, and Khrob.

Please considering rating or subscribing to us on Apple Podcasts or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners.

We are @stuwillis, @chasffisher and @mehlsbells on twitter. You can also find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.

BUY DRAFT ZERO MERCH via TeePublic

SUBSCRIBE TO SHOT ZERO via Substack