§ RESOURCES / FILMMAKER INDEX
Edgar Wright
Writer / Director
Films Discussed 5
- · Hot Fuzz (2007) (d/w)
- · Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) (d/w)
- · Shaun Of The Dead (2004) (d/w)
- · The World's End (2013) (d/w)
- · The Adventures of Tintin (2011) (w)
Draft Zero Episodes 5
DZ-117: Pulling Off Tonal Shifts
How can we teach our audience new storytelling rules in the middle of our story?
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… →
Listen if you want to write tonal pivots that land on the page without a director's toolkit.
DZ-101: Oners - Creating Immediacy & Anchoring Action on the Page
What can we learn by analysing how 'oners' are written on the page?
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… →
Listen to understand how screenwriters direct the camera without calling shots.
DZ-37: Excelling at Exposition (Part 1)
How can you successfully integrate exposition into your story?
In Draft Zero’s first two part episode, Stu & Chas take an in-depth look at one of screenwriting’s most common challenges: EXPOSITION. For many stories there are pre-existing facts that need to be communicated to the audience — whether those facts be about the rules of the world, the nature of a location, character motivations, character backstories or just character names. So how have great writers made exposition move the story forward, rather than stopping it to tell the audience stuff they need to know… →
Listen if your exposition scenes feel like information dumps disguised as dialogue.
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… →
Listen to understand how transitions compress time, enhance thematic connections, unify story threads, and orient your reader
DZ-3: Making Unlikeable Protagonists Compelling
How do you make obnoxious a-holes compelling
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… →
Listen if you want to understand how filmmakers make audiences care about deeply flawed protagonists
Referenced In
Shot Zero Deep Dives
Framing [between] Them: SHAUN OF THE DEAD by Shot Zero
Read on SubstackTime and space in staging "Oners" by Shot Zero
via Goodfellas, Children of Men, and The Adventures of Tintin
Read on Substack