DZ-29: Showdowns & Scene Structure

What can fight scenes – whether physical or verbal – teach us about structuring any scene? In exploring how to write good fight scenes, Stu and Chas compare how writers structure memorable showdowns – both verbal and physical. Fights vs arguments. Swords vs insults. Lightsabres vs passive aggressive subtext. To do this, they analyse the showdowns […]

DZ-21: Scene Transitions and the Hook

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.

To help us see how scenes connect & collide in interesting ways, we take a close look at scripts of films with great transitions to see how much of the work was done by the writer (as opposed to the director or editor): SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD, HIGHLANDER, AMERICAN SPLENDOR and BOYHOOD.

And then, in backmatter we take a self-reflective look at TIME MANAGEMENT (and naps).