§ PODCAST / EPISODES
Development Tools
5 episodes · Sep 2020 – Dec 2023
"What I’m constantly trying to do is just tell the story in a bunch of different ways as it slowly gets more and more embellished. [...] A prose version of the story, particularly with a feature, can give you an idea of, is this flowing as a narrative?"
— Stu Willis | DZ-106: How do you know if you have enough story?
DZ-71: Treatments & Loglines - Development Tools 1
How can I develop my plot before writing the screenplay?
Stu and Chas are joined by fan-favourite, Stephen Cleary, to NOT look at what makes great screenplays work -- but what makes great “short documents” work. We draw on Stephen Cleary’s wealth of experience in developing work with writers, as a producer, as a script editor and as a former head of development… →
Listen to understand why a treatment isn't something to dread, but the plot-development tool that saves you months of writing.
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DZ-72: Theme & The Story Synopsis - Development Tools 2
How can I develop my theme without writing script pages?
Continuing our look at tools used in development, Chas & Stu are joined by Stephen Cleary to talk about Theme, The Thematic Logline and what Stephen calls The Story Synopsis. All are tools to help writers better understand their theme and how it is dramatised. We use the classic film WITNESS as an example, so spoilers abound… →
Listen tolearn concrete tools for developing theme in the early stages of your writing.
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DZ-73: Selling documents - Development Tools 3
How do I write selling documents differently to development documents?
In developing our stories and scripts, we have probably written some combination of treatments and loglines and outlines. Some of us have probably even sent these development materials out to producers or agencies when “selling” a project — as a step towards getting someone to read or gulp produce your material. If so... have you written them differently? Should you have? You probably should have… →
⏱ 39m
21 OCT 2020
Listen if you're preparing treatments, loglines, or outlines to pitch to producers or agencies.
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DZ-81: Pitch Decks & Look Books - Development Tools 4
How do you make effective pitch decks and look books for your projects?
Chas and Stu are joined by writer/director/producer/multi-hyphenate Marc Furmie of Rezistor Studios to talk all things pitch decks and look books. Coming from an advertising and music video background, Marc shares his experience in putting together visual materials to pitch a project. We discuss the difference between pitch decks and lookbooks, how they help you sell your projects, what buyers are looking for, television vs features, and how do we make yours better… →
Listen if you're preparing to pitch a project and want to understand how to create compelling visual materials
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DZ-106: How do you know if you have enough story?
How do you know if you have enough narrative fuel to write a script?
In this episode, Chas, Stu and Mel attempt to answer a listener question: “In your own pre-writing process, how do you know you have enough for a feature? And do you have a specific pre-writing method you’re going to?”… →
Listen you're not sure whether your idea has enough fuel for 90 pages.