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Real Time

Every episode covering Real Time.

"A lot of people would take the headlines from this script that, oh, it’s happening in real time in one location, that’s what I need to write. But this analysis hopefully has shown the amount of work that’s still going on under the hood of that. Yes, it’s real time, but you have narrative point of view, you have the French scenes, you have the incredible dialogue, and it’s all feeding into one another."

— Chas Fisher  |  DZ-125: Oscars One-shot - BLUE MOON

KEY IDEAS

Real-Time Under the Hood

"A lot of people would take the headlines from this script that, oh, it's happening in real time in one location, that's what I need to write. But this analysis hopefully has shown the amount of work that's still going on under the hood of that. Yes, it's real time, but you have narrative point of view, you have the French scenes, you have the incredible dialogue, and it's all feeding into one another."

— Chas Fisher (01:09:54) · DZ-125: Oscars One-shot - BLUE MOON

Real-Time Narrative Creates Inescapable Tension

"when something's being shot in real time, I think you feel like narratively you can't escape. There won't be a cut to three weeks later. There's a kind of sense of terror that comes with watching something in real time."

— Chas Fisher (00:07:28) · DZ-118: ADOLESCENCE -- How Questions Create Dramatic Tension

DZ-101: Oners - Creating Immediacy & Anchoring Action on the Page

What can we learn by analysing how 'oners' are written on the page?
AI✦The sensory experience written from the point of view of the character--what they hear, see, notice--is how writers create the feeling of real time without explicitly calling out that it’s a oner or cheating the edit.✦
⏱ 1h 23m
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-125: Oscars One-shot - BLUE MOON

What craft tools make a low-budget, contained, period drama riveting?
AI✦The script unfolds largely in real time across 90 minutes in a single location, and Mel explains how this constraint actually enables the kind of variability in pacing that keeps a contained drama from feeling static.✦
⏱ 1h 18m
26 FEB 2026
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-118: ADOLESCENCE -- How Questions Create Dramatic Tension

How do dramatic questions create tension?
AI✦The unity of time created by shooting in oners generates immediacy and thus tension, Chas argues, making the audience feel the claustrophobia and urgency of confined spaces even when very little is actually happening plot-wise.✦
⏱ 2h 0m
1 MAY 2025
Listen when you need tension without external stakes--subtext, stillness, and thematic weight do the work.
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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… →