§ RESOURCES / FILMMAKER INDEX
Jon Spaihts
Writer
Films Discussed 3
- · Doctor Strange (2016) (w)
- · Dune (2021) (w)
- · Prometheus (2012) (w)
Draft Zero Episodes 2
DZ-56: Character Motivations (Part 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… →
Listen if you want to understand how character decisions can break a screenplay and how to fix them
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DZ-44: Marvel - First Acts and Establishing Characters
How can your first act effectively establish your character journey?
First Acts are hard. They have to set so much in motion, especially setting up characters. To help them understand how to write effective first acts better, Stu and Chas turn their analytical gaze to a franchise that has been refining and reiterating its first act “schema” for over a decade… THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE… →
Listen if your first act exposition feels clunky--the MCU has a schema for burying backstory inside character introductions.
