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DRAFT ZERO

Genre

Every episode tagged Genre, newest first.

2025

"They do a lot of two-clause sentences. So they’ll do one clause telling you what’s going on and then the next clause is a more funny detail."

— Chas Fisher  |  DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy

DZ-122: Escalating Antagonism Across Genres
How can you apply horror ideas to action and comedy?
AIStu and Chas prove that TOMBS–a horror framework from a tabletop RPG–maps onto action thrillers and comedies, showing how the structure of antagonistic escalation transcends the genre it came from.
⏱ 1h 44m
Character · Structure · Genre | 1 OCT 2025
Listen to learn how thinking of your hero as the horror (for your villains) makes your script dynamic.
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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…


DZ-121: Escalating Antagonism in SINNERS
How do the antagonistic forces in your story escalate distinctly from the protagonists' journey?
AIKim and Stu map Noel Carroll’s Onset-Discovery-Confirmation-Confrontation horror cycle alongside TOMBS, showing how horror’s genre patterns align with and enrich the antagonistic escalation framework.
⏱ 1h 24m
Structure · Character · Genre | 29 AUG 2025
Listen to strengthen your story by focusing on the antagonistic forces in your script.
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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…


DZ-117: Pulling Off Tonal Shifts
How can we teach our audience new storytelling rules in the middle of our story?
AIThese three films all execute radical genre pivots mid-story, and Mel and Chas reverse-engineer how their writers made those shifts feel inevitable rather than jarring.
⏱ 2h 8m
Character · Words · Genre | 31 MAR 2025
Listen if you want to write tonal pivots that land on the page without a director's toolkit.
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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, editing, etc. at our disposal…


DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy
How do you make extended technical scenes funny on the page?
AIBringing Up Baby’s slug lines mimic the editing pace and camera movement to convey rhythm and humor through white space, while Bridesmaids uses action lines to show the geography of different rooms and character combinations executing the same gag in various ways.
⏱ 1h 35m
Words · Structure · Genre | 26 FEB 2025
Listen if you're writing physical comedy and have no idea how to make it work on the page
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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…




2023

"From a dramatic point of view, always coming back to what is your intention as the writer here?"

— Stu Willis  |  DZ-101: Oners - Creating Immediacy & Anchoring Action on the Page

DZ-105: Establishing Tone through Big Print
How can we teach the reader to find the humour in our darkness?
AIChas and Stu discuss what screenwriters can do on the page to compensate for cinematic tools like music, performance, composition, lighting, design, and editing–essentially how to encode tone without a director.
⏱ 2h 6m
Tone · Process · Genre | 30 NOV 2023
Listen if you want to use an unusual tone in your screenplay.
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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…



DZ-101: Oners - Creating Immediacy & Anchoring Action on the Page
What can we learn by analysing how 'oners' are written on the page?
AIChas, Stu, and Mel break down how writers create the feel of camerawork without calling shots, using big print and action lines to direct the camera through prose.
⏱ 1h 23m
Scenes · Genre · Process | 3 JUL 2023
Listen to understand how screenwriters direct the camera without calling shots.
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Chas, Stu and Mel reunite to talk about writing the feel of camerawork in screenplays. We use “oners” — a long-playing continuous take — as a lens to talk about how some writers have “directed” from the page. We talk immediacy, camera positions, handovers, and anchoring action and more…


DZ-98: Ensembles 3 - Character Function & Theme
What effect does adding a ton of characters have on your story?
AIThe hosts examine films whose genres do not conventionally require large ensembles, analyzing how these stories use ensemble in unconventional ways that work against or complicate genre expectations.
⏱ 2h 2m
Character · Genre · Theme | 31 MAR 2023
Listen if you're writing an ensemble storiy and want to understand how different characters serve different narrative and thematic functions!
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In Part 3 (the final part? Ha!) of our exploration into ensemble stories, Stu, Chas & Mel examine films whose genres do not conventionally require a ton of characters or that use those ensembles in unconventional ways. In particular, adding whole storylines that are separate from the main character’s story. To that end, we dive into three films that were horrifically snubbed by the Oscars: THE WOMAN KING, RIDERS OF JUSTICE and NOPE…


DZ-97: Ensembles 2 - Servicing Characters
How do you give your audience access to a lot of characters?
AIEach film represents a different genre with its own ensemble demands–team sports, murder mystery, slasher, and family comedy–revealing how genre shapes character servicing strategies.
⏱ 2h 22m
Character · Genre | 28 FEB 2023
Listen if you're writing ensemble stories and want to discover tools for giving all your characters adimension
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In Part 2 of our exploration into ensemble stories, Stu, Chas and Mel examine films whose plot and genre require a lot of characters. Thus we tackle a team sports film (PITCH PERFECT), a murder mystery (GLASS ONION), a slasher (SCREAM 2022) and a family holiday flick (THE FAMILY STONE)…



2022

DZ-95: Backmatter - Building and Maintenance
How do you maintain hope in the face of, er, screenwriting
AIThe comparison of Andor versus Obi-Wan as Star Wars iterations engages with how genre conventions function and evolve within the same franchise.
⏱ 1h 16m
Process · Structure · Genre | 31 DEC 2022
Listen listen to hear why first acts keep shrinking--and whether yours should too
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Time for our annual backmatter episode, where we drop any ruse of any objectivity, and fully embrace our subjective opinions…



DZ-94: Talismans (Part 2)
How can you use physical objects to track character change… wordlessly?
AIThe episode focuses on how objects and locations become a visual grammar for character states, using paintings, instruments, and recurring spaces to articulate emotional arcs wordlessly.
⏱ 2h 7m
Character · Structure · Genre | 30 NOV 2022
Listen to write objects that accumulate powerful meanings across your story and create unspoken emotional payoffs.
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In part two of our two-part series on TALISMANS, we break down the beats used to turn objects (in a broad sense) into talismans; how talismans can track character journeys and transitions; and how they can be used to create powerful moments without words…


DZ-93: Talismans (Part 1)
How can you use physical objects to reveal inner character?
AITalismans function as a visual storytelling device–the object itself becomes a language through which audiences read character interiority without a word being spoken.
⏱ 1h 37m
Character · Process · Genre | 31 OCT 2022
Listen to so you can write talismans that are powerful tools for accessing character!
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In this series, Chas and Stu discuss TALISMANS. Physical objects that are imbued with meaning by a character or characters. They’re a powerful tool to access inner character…


DZ-90: Setups & Payoffs in Everything Everywhere All At Once
How can you use setups and payoffs to stitch your film together?
AIThe multiverse storytelling framework demands a particular relationship between setup, payoff, and reversal that differs from linear narrative, and the episode examines how the film navigates those genre-specific requirements.
⏱ 1h 30m
Structure · Genre | 27 JUL 2022
Listen to understand how setups, payoffs, and reversals create narrative cohesion even when your story is fkn bonkers.
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In this one-shot, Chas and Stu dive into the awesomeness of EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. In particular, we focus on its use of setups, payoffs and reversals; breakdown the difference between Pointers and Plants and Stitches; deep dive into its Michael Arndt inspired ending. And, of course, we talk hotdog fingers and butt-plugs…


DZ-89: Opening Sequences
How does your opening sequence set up your audience?
AIThe episode’s core insight is that these films open in ways that seem to defy their genre conventions and yet still provide all the setup needed to tell their stories.
⏱ 1h 48m
Structure · Genre · Tone | 31 MAY 2022
Listen if you want to understand how great opening sequences establish character, genre, and theme while defying genre conventions
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Inspired by her tweet on how subversive an opening OCEAN’S ELEVEN has, Chas and Stu invited amazing writer/director Jessica Ellis onto the show to deep dive into opening sequences. How does a good opening setup character, genre, and theme…


DZ-88: Drama in Genre clothing
How can dramas use genre elements to hook their audiences?
AIKodie Bedford, Stu, and Chas examine how Hustlers, Pig, and The Power of the Dog exploit genre expectations–heist film, revenge thriller, western–to hook audiences before pivoting away from them.
⏱ 2h 6m
Genre · Structure · Theme | 30 APR 2022
Listen if you're writing a genre film but sense your story wants to become something else entirely.
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Stu and Chas reunite with TV writer & director Kodie Bedford to look at how some films start out as genre but gradually become character dramas. Or, as Stu never said on the episode “Genre in the streets, Drama in the sheets”.


DZ-87: Keeping Genre Fresh
How do you deliver on the emotional contract of a genre while surprising the audience?
AIThe entire episode pivots on understanding what audiences expect to feel from a genre and how to honor that contract while still surprising them.
⏱ 2h 13m
Genre · Theme · Structure | 28 MAR 2022
Listen when you're writing within a genre but terrified you'll deliver something your audience has already seen.
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In tackling this enormous topic, Stu and Chads enlist professional TV writer and director Kodie Bedford, someone who has somehow managed to defy genre pigeon-holing by writing mystery, comedy and vampire shows…



2021

DZ-77: Backmatter - Prioritising and choosing projects
How do you choose which project to start next?
AIKeeping genre fresh comes up as a direct topic, suggesting Stu and Chas discuss how to work within and against genre expectations.
⏱ 1h 36m
Process · Character · Genre | 28 FEB 2021
Listen if you're starting a new co-writing relationship, managing multiple projects, or wondering how to prioritize your next screenplay.
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In their now-annual full backmatter episode, Stu and Chas let their hair down, drop the guise of objectivity, and allow themselves to have an even more subjective opinion about writing and the business of writing…




2020

DZ-75: Fury Road & Visual Storytelling
How can you do powerful storytelling... without dialogue?
AIThe episode centers on how George Miller constructs meaning through image systems and environmental storytelling rather than exposition or conversation.
⏱ 1h 9m
Structure · Genre · Words | 31 DEC 2020
Listen to hear how visual storytelling can carry an entire narrative with minimal dialogue.
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Stu and Chas are joined by filmmaker, podcaster and writer Lia Matthew Brownn to deep dive into FURY ROAD and its astounding visual storytelling, both on the page and on screen. We talk about setups and payoffs, given circumstances, image systems, environmental storytelling, and how the relationship between Furiosa and Max is built over the course of the story with very little dialogue (besides Tom Hardy’s grunts and the odd bellow of “MEDIOCRE!”). You can also watch the complete live stream on YouTube or just the breakdown of the Furiosa/Max fight (which isn’t in the podcast) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8uYAbEcQeQ&feature=youtu.be


DZ-70: Joker & Melodrama
How does Joker use melodramatic techniques to elevate its storytelling?
AIThe episode interrogates what melodrama as a genre demands on the page, asking whether Joker satisfies or subverts the conventions that define it as a melodramatic work.
⏱ 1h 36m
Genre · Tone · Character | 23 JUL 2020
Listen if you're writing a character whose trauma becomes the engine of your entire narrative.
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Draft Zero return with their next YouTube livestream! Stu and Chas take a deep dive into JOKER and analyse the film through the story paradigm of melodrama. Is it a melodrama? Why or why not does that matter? And does that influence how it has been written on the page…


DZ-66: The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker - Audience Knowledge vs Character Motivation
How does audience knowledge affect your character's motivations?
AIThe conversation treats fan service as a genre convention specific to serialized storytelling, examining how it bends character motivation to meet audience expectations rather than internal logic.
⏱ 1h 45m
Character · Scenes · Genre | 17 MAR 2020
Listen to understand how fan service weaponizes external knowledge against character logic.
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By Order 66: Chas and Stu are joined by special guest - filmmaker Mel Killingsworth - to talk all things Star Wars. Well. Focusing on The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker and wherever else our tangents take us…


DZ-65: Collaborating with a Director - The Snip
HOw does a writer work with a director (on a short film?)
AITHE SNIP is a rom-com working within genre expectations–a relationship-based comedy with high personal stakes–and the discussion addresses how genre shape both the writing and the production.
⏱ 1h 3m
Process · Character · Genre | 14 FEB 2020
Listen if you are thinking of producing your own short film!
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This episode, Chas steps down as co-host (kinda) and is interviewed by Stu as a guest, alongside director Ben Mizzi, about the short rom-com that Chas wrote and Ben directed & produced. The episode covers taking an idea from pitch to screen, working with a director, directing performance on the page, and marketing and distribution strategies for short films…

2019

DZ-61: Unfilmables 2 - Moments of Awe
How can unfilmables help you create those cinematic moments of awe?
AIThe episode centers on writing cinematically and using limited palettes of language to create those breathtaking visual sequences that feel transcendent on screen.
⏱ 2h 5m
Words · Genre · Theme | 25 SEP 2019
Listen if you're writing a moment that feels too big for the page (but you need it on the page).
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In this second part of our series on unfilmables, Chas and Stu continue their deep dive into how writing the “unfilmable” can enhance your script. Rather than looking at micro moments, they turn their gaze to “moments of awe” — those often breathtaking cinematic moments that feel beyond writing. But are those scenes actually unscriptable…


DZ-59: Avengers Endgame - Ending Character Journeys
Do you want your audience feeling with or for your characters?
AIThe debate over Tony and Cap’s arcs is fundamentally about what the film promised its audience emotionally and whether it paid that promise off by the finale.
⏱ 1h 14m
Character · Audience · Genre | 1 JUL 2019
Listen if you're interested in how to dramatise character change, position your audience in relation to characters, and explore the difference between empathy and sympathy in screenwriting
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One day, Chas saw Avengers: Endgame for the second time and wrote a review on Letterboxd. In particular, he had issues with how little he perceived the characters of Cap and Tony changed within the film, their big finale (spoiler). Then friend and patron of the podcast Julio Olivera vehemently disagreed in the comments. He was egged on by Stu. And there in the comments began a debate that looked a lot like an episode of Draft Zero. So we decided to make it one…



2015

DZ-28: Containing Your Script
How do you keep contained movies engaging?
AIThe episode uses contained thrillers as its anchor genre, examining how films locked to a single location maintain tension and engagement across scripts like LOCKE, EVERLY, and THE ONE I LOVE.
⏱ 1h 55m
Genre · Audience · Scenes | 21 DEC 2015
Listen if you're writing a contained thriller, drama, or any story limited to a single location
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Contained Thrillers* *seem to be a genre that never goes out of fashion. But being contained is not just limited to thrillers. It’s a way of telling stories on a lower budget, regardless of genre. So - while allegedly easier to make / get made - limiting a story to a single location also limits the tools that maintain an audience’s interest. Changing audience or character point of view, intercutting between locations or characters are all much harder (if not impossible) in contained films. So how do good contained films hook their audience and keep them…


DZ-27: Competing views on Screenplay Competitions
Can screenplay competitions be worth it?
AIChas and Stu interrogate what screenplay competitions are really selling–whether they’re feeding ’the hope machine’ or delivering genuine value on the emotional investment writers make by entering.
⏱ 1h 42m
Process · Genre · Theme | 15 NOV 2015
Listen if you're considering entering a screenplay competition and want to hear from writers and industry professionals about whether it's a worthwhile investment!
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After being repeatedly asked by listeners for thoughts on screenplay competitions, Stu and Chas go full back matter for this special episode. They tackle the question - do comps just feeding the hope machine or are they a valid investment? - in their typical detailed (i.e. long) style. With their differing perspectives, Stu (a director looking for material) and Chas (a writer keen for exposure), talk to an impressive roster of guests. We start with Gordy Hoffman, founder and judge of the Bluecat Screenplay Competition; repeat Austin Film Festival attendees - first for the screenplay and now for the finished web series of EX BEST - Diana Gettinger & Monica Hewes; Launchpad 2014 finalist Tony Pitman; and Insite Competition winner Blake Ashford, whose winning script CUT SNAKE hit cinemas in 2015… ten years after winning the competition…


DZ-26: Horror and Collaboration- Wolf Creek 2
How does a screenwriter collaborate with a director on an existing property?
AIAaron discusses how horror as a genre operates within WOLF CREEK 2, and the episode frames this conversation around what makes anti-horror distinct from traditional horror beats.
⏱ 1h 48m
Process · Genre · Character | 31 OCT 2015
Listen if you're co-writing and need to figure out where your voice ends and your collaborator's begins.
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In this halloween special, Chas (sans Stu) is joined by a very special guest… Aaron Sterns the co-writer of WOLF CREEK 2 – the big budget sequel to the infamous WOLF CREEK, also directed by Greg McLean. Chas and Aaron talk horror, anti-horror, collaboration, novels and how a screenwriter works within an existing franchise…


DZ-25: Coincidences, Contrivances & Giant Eagles
How do screenwriters get away with using coincidences in their stories?
AIWhen a writer needs coincidence to move the plot forward, they’re testing whether they’ve built enough trust with the audience to honor an implicit agreement about what kind of story this is.
⏱ 1h 40m
Structure · Genre · Theme | 15 SEP 2015
Listen when you need to know which coincidences earn trust and which ones feel like cheating.
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Remember that time in THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS when Bruce suddenly - magically - returned to Gotham, and you were like “WTF?!” Well, it turns out that many of the best films have moments that are just as coincidental or contrived (or a flock of Giant Eagles) and yet get away with it. Does Pixar’s “rule” that it is ‘cheating to use coincidences to get your characters out of trouble’, always apply…


DZ-24: Forging story rules in TV pilots
Are your story rules in your pilot strong enough to play out over the life of your show?
AIThe discussion across THE SHIELD, THE WIRE, BREAKING BAD, and MAD MEN reveals how each pilot establishes its own genre contract–procedural, ensemble crime drama, transformation narrative, and period drama respectively–that signals what kind of show you’re watching.
⏱ 2h 5m
Structure · Genre · Theme | 4 AUG 2015
Listen if you wanna know great television pilots establish the dramatic, literary, and cinematic rules that sustain their entire run.
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Stu and Chas move away from the world of features and dive into the Pilot Episodes of some (New) Golden Age Television: THE SHIELD, THE WIRE, BREAKING BAD, and MAD MEN. And we sneak in some discussion about ANGEL, THE SOPRANOS and GAME OF THRONES…



DZ-22: Romantic Comedy, Actually
How can studying RomCom clichés teach us to subvert them?
AIChas and Alli dissect the established patterns that define romantic comedy as a genre to understand what writers can work with or against.
⏱ 1h 40m
Genre · Character · Structure | 11 JUN 2015
Listen if you're writing a romcom and want to understand what makes this gentre tick.
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With Stu busy working on Hollywood blockbusters, Chas is joined by Alli Parker (script department on Aussie TV series and former co-ordinator of European #scriptchat) to unpick successful romcoms to see if they can illuminate a path for writers working in this struggling genre. Cheap to produce and potentially highly lucrative, Chas and Alli look at RomCom’s conventions to see what it may take to reinvigorate this genre…


DZ-18: Michael Bay - F*ing the Frame and P*ing the Page
Are there screenwriting lessons to be taken from analysing the work of Michael f-ing Bay?
AIStu, Chas, and Bitter analyze how Bay makes visual decisions on the page itself, translating cinematic action into screenwriting craft that serves the story’s information architecture.
⏱ 1h 7m
Genre · Character · Process | 22 JAN 2015
Listen to understand how one of the world's highest-grossing directors structures story, makes great villians, controls information flow, and makes visual decisions on the page
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Of course there are. How could there not be? After all, Michael Bay is the 3rd highest grossing director at the worldwide box office… of all time. Behind, y’know, Spielberg and stuff. How could a man of such credentials not know story? Or, so argues this week’s guest: the author of MICHAEL F-ING BAY: THE UNHERALDED GENIUS IN MICHAEL BAY’S FILMS… [drumroll]… the Bitter Script Reader…


DZ-17: Where's my gold-plated ensuite?
When you're an emerging filmmaker, what are different ways to tackle a "career"?
AIBy examining different formats–shorts, features, web content–Chas and Stu implicitly consider how genre and medium conventions shape what stories emerging filmmakers can realistically execute.
⏱ 1h 14m
Process · Theme · Genre | 6 JAN 2015
Listen when you're deciding between shorts, features, and web content--and need to know which format actually builds a sustainable creative practice.
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It’s our Holiday Special! In this episode (recorded December 2014), Chas and Stu break all the rules. No homework. No pages. No empirical analysis. They reluctantly but boldly reflect over the first year of Draft Zero and how it has influenced their ‘careers’ (such as they are). They also engage in a heated debate on whether a short film, a micro-budget feature or web-based content is the best way to go in terms of pushing a filmmaking career forward…



2014

"most of his emphasis about the beats is in the first act. That’s where he gives the most information. You know, you’ve got to have your opening image, you’ve got to state the theme, you’ve got to do the setup, you’ve got to do your catalyst inciting incident. You have to have your debate, which I think is Snyder’s term, effectively for the call to adventure and the refusal of the call. We’ll get to the hero’s journey, but that’s kind of that same section. And then you break into the second act, right? And then it becomes, oh, then you got your B story, your midpoint, your rise to your third and then beginning your third act."

— Stu Willis  |  DZ-1: Do Screenplay Gurus win you Oscars?

DZ-16: Masters of Time and Whitespace
Does manipulating time on the page make your script feel more cinematic?
AIBy examining scripts like PULP FICTION and THE BOURNE IDENTITY, Chas and Stu reveal how screenwriters use formatting and structure to write like you’d edit–creating visual momentum on the page.
⏱ 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-12: Craft, Career and Coffins
It's the The Podcast You Used To Know…
AIHer MTV-nominated music video work for Goyte means Natasha brings directorial sensibility to how images and sound design communicate what words alone cannot.
⏱ 1h 1m
Process · Character · Genre | 16 SEP 2014
Listen if you're navigating multiple creative disciplines and wondering how to build a sustainable career across them.
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Well, half of us is… Chas (sans Stu) is joined by a very special guest - Natasha Pincus. As a screenwriter, Tash’s feature CLIVE was on the 2012 Black List. As a director, her music video for Goyte’s Someone I Used To Know was nominated for an MTV Music Video Award. And at the time of this recording, her debut feature as a screenwriter FELL was weeks away from opening night…


DZ-3: Making Unlikeable Protagonists Compelling
How do you make obnoxious a-holes compelling
AIChas and Stu show how filmmakers establish an implicit agreement with the audience that despite the protagonist’s obnoxiousness, there’s something underneath worth investing in.
⏱ 1h 20m
Character · Audience · Genre | 30 MAR 2014
Listen if you want to understand how filmmakers make audiences care about deeply flawed protagonists
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Stu and Chas delve into unlikable protagonists in comedy. How do filmmakers keep us watching characters who should alienate us? To answer this question, Stu and Chas look at the first 20 pages of HOT FUZZ, AS GOOD AS IT GETS and - of course - GROUNDHOG DAY…


DZ-2: Do the Screenplay Gurus score big at the Box Office?
Do the biggest original films of 2013 follow more archetypal - or formulaic - structures?
AIStu and Chas examine whether GRAVITY and FROZEN–the biggest original films of 2013–adhere to or subvert the genre conventions audiences expect from award nominees versus box office hits.
⏱ 1h 33m
Structure · Genre | 17 MAR 2014
Listen to see how GRAVITY and FROZEN use completely different structural blueprints.
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After analysing awards-nominated screenplays, Stu and Chas turn to the original screenplays that struck it biggest at the box office in 2013: GRAVITY and FROZEN. Do bigger films stick more closely to the archetypal story structures espoused by Vogler and Snyder…


DZ-1: Do Screenplay Gurus win you Oscars?
Do Oscar-Nominated screenwriters follow the structural formulas prescribed by the 'gurus' and books?
AIStu observes that Philomena ‘could be written as a thriller’ with nuns as antagonists, but instead uses ‘people not wanting to speak to them’ as resistance, upending the genre’s opposition mechanics.
⏱ 1h 40m
Structure · Character · Genre | 1 MAR 2014
Listen if you want to know whether Blake Snyder, Michael Hauge and Christopher Vogler's structural theories actually apply to Academy Award-nominated screenplays
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In this, our debut episode of Draft Zero, Stu and Chas analyse two screenplays nominated for Academy Awards in 2014 – PHILOMENA and DALLAS BUYERS CLUB – to see whether they follow the structural theories espoused by Blake Snyder, Michael Hauge and Christopher Vogler. We discuss character dynamics, structural challenges, and the complexities of narrative…