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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 sercrets vs discovering them.
⏱ 1h 51m
Structure · Character · Scenes |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… →
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AI✦Stu frames how Dr. Banks is pushed and pulled through Side Effects by the danger that comes from uncovering information, while Chas connects this to whether characters are sharing secrets because they're pushed by external forces or pulled by internal factors.✦

"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… →
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AI✦The hosts directly address whether characters are pushed forward or pulled forward by information, and how that distinction shapes the kind of escalation each character can sustain across the film.✦

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… →
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AI✦Chas and Mel dissect how nearly every line of dialogue functions as a hook, a play on words, or a callback, with pop culture references woven through 1940s context in ways that don't require prior knowledge to land, and how this demands performers who can keep up with the repartee.✦

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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Mel and Chas continue to explore what Noir (the genre) can teach writers of all other genres. In particular:… →
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AI✦The episode shows how voiceover and character motivation--giving audiences access to why a character makes an incredibly stupid but understandable choice--lets you jump over narrative hurdles that might otherwise lose the audience.✦

Foundational Episodes

Beginner's Guide →

DZ-10: Midpoint Reversals and The Ride

How can the middle of your film pivot so much that it pulls the rug out of your audience?
Stu and Chas embark on the first of a series of explorations into the dreaded Second Act. Their first stop is midpoint reversals or shifts, a plot point bang in the middle of ACT II that changes the protagonist’s goal, raises the stakes and potentially leaves your audience leaning forward and asking “How the hell is this going to end?&rdquo… →
⏱ 1h 19m
Structure · Character · Scenes | 8 JUL 2014
Listen when your second act sags and you need a structural jolt to accelerate audience engagement.
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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&hellip… →
⏱ 1h 49m
Words · Genre · Process | 16 DEC 2014
Listen if you want your screenplay to feel cinematic before a director ever reads it.
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DZ-67: Writing Passive Protagonists & Melodrama

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… →
⏱ 2h 58m
Structure · Tone · Character | 30 APR 2020
Listen if you want to write powerful stories centred on characters without much agency.
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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
Character | 23 JUN 2014
Listen if you want your character introductions to pop!
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DZ-56: Character Motivations 2

Workshopping ways to fix character motivations.
In this second part of their exploration of character motivations, Chas and Stu dive into what makes “BAD” screenplays NOT work. They examine at moments where they (and maybe you, dear listeners) did not believe a key decision being made by a character and so were taken out of the movie. In a departure from the Draft Zero format, they apply the tools they developed in Part 1 to workshop potential fixes to these beats… →
⏱ 2h 16m
Character · Process · Audience | 30 MAR 2019
Listen if you want to understand how character decisions can break a screenplay and how to fix them
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DZ-5: Shifting audience point of view and heightened emotions

Can forcing your audience to ask questions - and then answering them - trigger an emotional response?
Stu and Chas delve into audience point of view - not character point of view! Does your audience know more, less or the same as your characters? And does changing this within a scene trigger or heighten the desired emotional response… →
⏱ 1h 29m
Audience · Scenes · Structure | 27 APR 2014
Listen to learn about the most powerful tool in screenwriting: narrative POV.
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