§ RESOURCES / FILMMAKER INDEX
Richard Curtis
Writer / Director
Films Discussed 3
- · Love Actually (2003) (d/w)
- · Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) (w)
- · Notting Hill (1999) (w)
Draft Zero Episodes 4
DZ-55: Character Motivations 1
What to do when a reader says "I don't buy that he/she would do that"?
Chas & Stu look at examples of good character motivation. We’ve all watched movies where we don’t believe the motivation of a character or characters. We may have even written scripts where readers don’t buy the character’s choices. And that’s often a real problem because most of these choices coincide with key structural moments — e.g. the moments where the characters decide to do something “out of character” in order to progress to the next part of the story. To help us solve the problem of how to improve our character motivations, in this episode we explore great examples of character motivation and how they have helped the audience believe a character’s decision… →
Listen if you're writing a scene where your character does something 'out of character' and your readers to buy it.
DZ-54: Thematic Sequences
How does removing character and plot question force your audience to engage with theme?
Chas and Stu are joined, once again, by the inestimable Stephen Cleary. This episode is a spiritual sequel to our last episode with Stephen, the one on sequence structure. That episode explored how sequences could be broken into plot, character, and plot/character sequences… →
Listen if you want to make theme your primary driver (for a sequence)
DZ-31: Tools for Better Dialogue 1
How does dialogue serve to reveal character?
Chas & Stu are joined once again by the renowned script developer and producer, Stephen Cleary. In the first part of our series on writing better dialogue (there will be more!), we take a close look at how dialogue serves character: individuating characters, revealing characterisation, shifting status, and much more… →
Listen if your want your dialogue to individualizes characters, reveal characterization, and shift status!
DZ-22: Romantic Comedy, Actually
How can studying RomCom clichés teach us to subvert them?
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… →
Listen if you're writing a romcom and want to understand what makes this gentre tick.
