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DRAFT ZERO

Draft Zero — Screenwriting Podcast & Deep Screenplay Analysis

Recent Foundational Deep Cuts

Latest Episode

DZ-127: Secrets and Clues 2 - The Cost of Revelation

What does it cost a character to find something out, or to say it?
DZ-127: Secrets and Clues 2 - The Cost of Revelation
Listen to learn the emotional impact of revealing secrets vs discovering them.
⏱ 1h 51m
27 May 2026
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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 is a 90s thriller. We talk about how every time Dr Jonathan Banks uncovers a new piece of information, it puts him in danger — and that danger motivates him to uncover more… →

Shows: Shrinking

"Writers will use narrative point of view, i.e. the audience’s relationship to secrets and clues, way more than they use the characters’ relationships to those same secrets and clues."

— Chas Fisher  |  DZ-127: Secrets and Clues 2 - The Cost of Revelation

Recent Episodes

DZ-126: Secrets and Clues

How can Secrets and Clues motivate characters?
DZ-126: Secrets and Clues
Listen if you want to understand how hidden information drives character motivation and plot structure!
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“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 you plot from a character perspective. Part One (this episode) looks at WAKE UP DEAD MAN; while Part Two looks at SIDE EFFECTS, and the pilot episode of SHRINKING… →

DZ-125: Oscars One-shot - BLUE MOON

What craft tools make a low-budget, contained, period drama riveting?
DZ-125: Oscars One-shot - BLUE MOON
Listen if you want to understand how narrative POV, screenplay format, and dialogue craft can elevate a contained biopic into an Oscar-nominated film
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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, interweaving relationships, hooky dialogue, and even the screenplay format itself make the script for BLUE MOON so great… →

DZ-124: Making the Despicable Compelling

How does Film Noir show us terrible people doing terrible things without endorsing it?
DZ-124: Making the Despicable Compelling
Listen if you need audiences to root for characters who do terrible things
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Foundational Episodes

Beginner's Guide →

DZ-21: Scene Transitions and the Hook

How can scene transitions do more than just move from one location to another?

Stu and Chas look at one of the basic building blocks of a script: scene transitions. Transitions don’t just move you from one scene to another in a slick way, they can help you compress time, enhance thematic connections, unify different story threads, orient (or disorient) your reader... and just make your script feel more like a movie… →

⏱ 1h 40m
7 MAY 2015
Listen to understand how transitions compress time, enhance thematic connections, unify story threads, and orient your reader
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DZ-19: Car-Crash Characters

How do you make unlikeable characters compelling to watch... in drama?
Stu and Chas revisit a topic from a year ago: how do screenwriters make unlikeable characters compelling? This time, we turn our focus to dramas and analyse how AMERICAN HISTORY X, YOUNG ADULT, NIGHTCRAWLER all make their asshole protagonists compelling to watch. We expand our original list of five writer’s tools to include a few more for your tool belt… →
⏱ 1h 59m
1 MAR 2015
Listen when you're writing a protagonist who does terrible things but you need the audience to keep watching.
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DZ-55: Character Motivations 1

What to do when a reader says "I don't buy that he/she would do that"?
Chas & Stu look at examples of good character motivation. We’ve all watched movies where we don’t believe the motivation of a character or characters. We may have even written scripts where readers don’t buy the character’s choices. And that’s often a real problem because most of these choices coincide with key structural moments — e.g. the moments where the characters decide to do something “out of character” in order to progress to the next part of the story. To help us solve the problem of how to improve our character motivations, in this episode we explore great examples of character motivation and how they have helped the audience believe a character’s decision… →
⏱ 2h 18m
15 JAN 2019
Listen if you're writing a scene where your character does something 'out of character' and your readers to buy it.
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DZ-16: Masters of Time and Whitespace

Does manipulating time on the page make your script feel more cinematic?
Chas and Stu are joined by Khrob Edmonds - an award-winning filmmaker - to discuss manipulation of time… →
⏱ 1h 49m
16 DEC 2014
Listen if you want your screenplay to feel cinematic before a director ever reads it.
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DZ-29: Showdowns & Scene Structure

What can fight scenes - whether physical or verbal - teach us about structuring any scene?
In exploring how to write good fight scenes, Stu and Chas compare how writers structure memorable showdowns - both verbal and physical. Fights vs arguments. Swords vs insults. Lightsabres vs passive aggressive subtext. To do this, they analyse the showdowns in EASTERN PROMISES, ROB ROY, THE FORCE AWAKENS (yes, yes, we finally let Stu officially discuss Star Wars), A FEW GOOD MEN, BREAKING BAD and BEFORE SUNSET… →
⏱ 1h 41m
25 JAN 2016
Listen to discover how fight scenes can be great inspiration for writing any kind of showdown (verbal or otherwise)
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DZ-9: Characterising Introductions

Can the introduction of a character be so good that the character doesn't need describing?
Stu and Chas argue about different techniques for introducing characters and whether character descriptions are even necessary. This is important for writers, as we only have words to compensate for the whole range of cinematic expression. And so Chas and Stu explore techniques like introducing characters through action, having other people discuss the character first, ensuring the introduction represents the character’s goal/flaw/theme, and many more… →
⏱ 1h 22m
23 JUN 2014
Listen if you want your character introductions to pop!
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