Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

How does splitting 'character functions' enhance theme? We are often told that our 'protagonist' needs to be a active. That they need to be compelling. That they need to change. And - old faithful - that they need to be likeable. But after looking at MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, STAR TREK (2009), THE FIGHTER, and SICARIO, Chas and Stu learn that your primary character does not need to do all these things. In fact, they learn that splitting these functions between your primary characters can reinforce theme and create potential for different types of narratives. And stick around for backmatter if you want to hear Stu go on a rant. For a change. EPISODE LINKS John August: What’s the difference between Hero, Main Character and Protagonist? Screen Anarchy: Destroy All Monsters: All We Have Are Our Bodies On FURY ROAD MAD MAX: FURY ROAD by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy & Nico Lathouris Watch it on iTunes and Stan (AU) STAR TREK (2009) by Roberto Orchi & Alex Kurtzman Watch it on iTunes and Netflix Bitter Script Reader: How STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS gave us the Kirk we deserve THE FIGHTER screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; story by Paul Tamasay & Eric Johnson & Keith Dorringon  Watch it on iTunes and Netflix SICARIO by Taylor Sheridan Watch it on iTunes and Stan (AU) DZ-03: Making Unlikeable Protagonists Compelling DZ-19: Car-Crash Characters DZ-20: Writing Strong Secondary Characters DZ-24: Forging Story Rules in TV Pilots BACKMATTER LINKS Done Deal Pro Forums: Podcast Recommendations Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero  We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter. Please considering rating or subscribing to us on iTunes! or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners.

How can you recreate the feeling of cinematic high-tension on the page? Chas & Stu take a close look at sequences of high-tension - the ones that make you lean forward in fear, or jump backwards in terror. Without camera angles, lighting, music or sound, how can screenwriters can evoke those emotions in readers using only the page? These sequences can be found in any genre of film, not just thriller or horror. To that end, Stu and Chas dive into high tension scenes from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, ZODIAC, ROOM, and THE BABADOOK. We cover their use of shifting POV, Dramatic Irony, Status Transactions, White Space, Sound FX, and many more. And in backmatter we talk SICARIO and high tension, crack open the mail-bag, and look at how the so-called gurus rated the Oscar-nominated scripts. EPISODE LINKS Aeon: Neurothriller - Horror Films are scarier than they were in the past Film Crit Hulk - HULK EXPLAINS ACTION SCENES - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - sequence starts page 60 YouTube: Hotel Showdown (excerpt) ZODIAC by Jamie Vanderbilt - sequence runs pages 125-129 YouTube: Zodiac Basement Scene (partial scene excerpt) YouTube: Zodiac Analysis - Inside the Basement ROOM by Emma Donoghue - sequence starts pdf page 56 (scene 35) YouTube: Jack's Escape (excerpt) THE BABADOOK by Jennifer Kent - excerpt for educational purposes only The Babadook Production Notes YouTube: The Possession Scene "You Can Bring Me The Boy" Watch THE BABADOOK on GooglePlay Watch THE BABADOOK on iTunes DZ-05: Shifting audience point of view and heightened emotions DZ-13: True That – Tips from Tarantino DZ-08: Status Transactions and the Power of Washing Machines DZ-16: Masters of Time and Whitespace DZ-29: Showdowns & Scene Structure Jane Espenson: The Grim Brothers BACKMATTER LINKS Youtube: SICARIO - border crossing DZ-30: Oscars revisited – Spotlight and Carol Truby Rates the Oscar Hopefuls Robert McKee's Work/Doesn't Work - ROOM Scriptshadow on Spotlight (via Twitter) and his screenplay review Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero  We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter. Please considering rating or subscribing to us on iTunes! or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like listeners.

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. Together, they (well, mostly Stephen) break down scenes from ANALYSE THIS, NOTTING HILL, REMAINS OF THE DAY and THE AVENGERS. In a first for Draft Zero, we include audio excerpts to make everything even clearer / stop Chas & Stu (mostly Stu) from butchering lines. That, and not everything is on YouTube. And, in back matter, we continue the discussion into more academic areas of the difference between theatrical, cinematic and television dialogue. EPISODE LINKS Stephen Cleary's Website: http://www.stephenclearyfilm.com Inglorious Bastards - "Strudel" ANALYSE THIS screenplay by Peter Tolan and Harold Ramis and Kenneth Lonergan YouTube: Analyze This - "Anxiety Disorder" YouTube: Remains of the Day - "Book" NOTTING HILL by Richard Curtis YouTube: Notting Hill - "Just A Girl" THE AVENGERS by Joss Whedon  YouTube: The Avengers - "We're a Timebomb" Goodreads: Directing Actors by Judith Weston iView: Please Like Me Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero  We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter. Please considering rating or subscribing to us on iTunes! or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like listeners.

What makes a script so compelling that it ends up with an Oscar nod? This week, Stu and Chas return to their first ever episode by tackling two Oscar-nominated screenplays. But this time - instead of exploring the rigid structures laid down by gurus - they use it as an opportunity to explore what they've learned in the last three years and apply them to the phenomenal writing in SPOTLIGHT and CAROL (with slight digression towards THE EXPANSE* and GAME OF THRONES). And so this slightly meandering episodes revisits the excellent execution of catharsis, world-building, mid-points, dramatic point of view, status transactions and more. * Which has possibly replaced Star Wars as the de facto reference point for anything. EPISODE LINKS CAROL by Phyllis Nagy, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith The Q&A Podcast with Jeff Goldsmith: Phyllis Nagy - CAROL SPOTLIGHT by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy  The Q&A Podcast with Jeff Goldsmith: Tom McCarthy - SPOTLIGHT YouTube: OUR LITTLE SECRET directed by Monique Schafter, written by Monique Schafter & Chas Fisher, Produced by Lee Matthews (link available only outside of Australia) Every Frame a Painting: - Snowpiercer - Left or Right by Tony Zhou Reddit: Academy Award for Best Original & Adapted Screenplay Nomines AV Club: Stu on GOT vs The Expanse (with excellent followup by Motard) SyFy: The Expanse Birth. Movies. Death. : Film Crit Hulk Smash: NEVER HATE A MOVIE Draft Zero: DZ-04: Catharsis and the Post-Coital Cigarette Draft Zero: DZ-05: Shifting audience point of view and heightened emotions Draft Zero: DZ-08: Status Transactions and the Power of Washing Machines Draft Zero: DZ-10: Midpoint Reversals and the Ride Draft Zero: DZ-15: World Building Rules, OK? BACK MATTER TableRead Production App Netflix: Darkness on the Edge of Town (US & CA only) by Patrick Ireland Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero  We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter. Please considering rating or subscribing to us on iTunes! or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like listeners.

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 in EASTERN PROMISES, ROB ROY, THE FORCE AWAKENS (yes, yes, we finally let Stu officially discuss Star Wars), A FEW GOOD MEN, BREAKING BAD and BEFORE SUNSET. As a result, they discover how larger structural elements like mid-points, reversals and act breaks can play out in making individual scenes compelling and dynamic. Also, they learn that great screenwriters don't just write "They fight" when writing fight scenes. In Backmatter, we learn that Quentin Tarantino is a listener! PS: Please complete our listener poll.  EPISODE LINKS EASTERN PROMISES by Steven Knight Vimeo: Eastern Promises fight in the bath house The Nerd Writer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgLoIasrz9Q (YouTube) Youtube: ROB ROY sword fight Reddit: [RESOURCE] Star Wars: THE FORCE AWAKENS by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt A FEW GOOD MEN by Aaron Sorkin  Youtube: A FEW GOOD MEN courtroom scene Dailymotion.com: Saul Goodman kidnapped by the meth cooking duo BEFORE SUNSET by Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy No Film School: Simplest Way to Make Your Films More Interesting: Use 'Therefore' & 'But' Instead of 'And Then' The Movie Crypt Podcast: Episode 131 - Gareth Evans Draft Zero: DZ-08: Status Transactions and the Power of Washing Machines Draft Zero: DZ-10: Midpoint Reversals and the Ride BACKMATTER  Brett Easton Ellis Podcast: Quentin Tarantino FULL Excerpt Link: https://overcast.fm/+BT14ACZVM/39:25 Draft Zero: DZ-13: True That - Tips from Tarantino Draft Zero: DZ-27: Competing Views on Screenplay Competitions Reddit.com/r/screenwriting: Can screenplay competitions be worth it? Thirteen Minutes: Why Backmatter Matters SKTCHD: Backmatter and the Golden Age of Comic Book Letters Columns Listener Poll: Draft Zero & Patreon? Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero  We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter. Please considering rating or subscribing to us on iTunes! or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like listeners.

How do you keep contained movies engaging? Contained Thrillers seem to be a genre that never goes out of fashion. But being contained is not just limited to thrillers. It's a way of telling stories on a lower budget, regardless of genre. So - while allegedly easier to make / get made - limiting a story to a single location also limits the tools that maintain an audience's interest. Changing audience or character point of view, intercutting between locations or characters are all much harder (if not impossible) in contained films. So how do good contained films hook their audience and keep them? In unravelling this locked room mystery, Stu & Chas look at three scripts form different genres: LOCKE - a drama; THE ONE I LOVE - a romcom or psychological thriller depending if you're Chas or Stu; and EVERLY - an exploitation action movie. They also discuss films including BURIED, PHONE BOOTH, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED, CUBE & CUBE 2, INFINITE MAN and BOXING DAY. EPISODE LINKS Locke by Steven Knight (Script) YouTube: Locke - Trailer The Q&A Podcast: Steven Knight - Pawn Sacrifice Q&A The One I Love by Justin Lader (IMDB) Watch on Netflix (US) and on Stan (Australia) Everly screenplay by Yalo Hannon, story by Joe Lynch & Yale Hannon (IMDB) YouTube: Everly - Official Trailer #1 The Movie Crypt with Adam Green & Joe Lynch Chicks Who Script: Ep 25 - Brett Hedblom and the Skinny on Producing  Boxing Day (IMDB) YouTube: Boxing Day - Trailer Boxing Day - Watch on iTunes The Infinte Man (IMDB) YouTube: The Infinite Man - Trailer The Infinite Man - Watch on iTunes YouTube: Buried - Trailer YouTube: Phone Booth - Trailer YouTube: the Disappearance of Alice Creed - Trailer YouTube: Cube - Trailer & Cube 2: Hypercube - Trailer ScriptShadow - GSU!!! (Goal, Stakes, Ugency) Wikipedia: Pathetic Fallacy & LiteraryDevices.Net: Pathetic Fallacy The Guardian: Covenhithe (short story) by China Miéville Draft Zero: DZ-05: Shifting audience point of view and heightened emotions BACKMATTER Grant Nebel on Story Intensity Over Time  & Forms of Storytelling on Television Pete's Blog: A Thousand Men : TV for Writers The Screen Director Podcast produced by Ben Mizzi Writing Predestination - The Spierig Brothers Corrie Chen on Bloomers Julietta Boscolo on Love Child Tommy Schlamme (The West Wing, Manhattan) interviewed by DZ's very own Stu Willis Patreon.com : Recurring funding for artists and creators Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero  We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter. Please considering rating us on iTunes! or sharing us on the Social Medias!

Can screenplay competitions be worth it? After being repeatedly asked by listeners for thoughts on screenplay competitions, Stu and Chas go full back matter for this special episode. They tackle the question - do comps just feeding the hope machine or are they a valid investment? - in their typical detailed (i.e. long) style. With their differing perspectives, Stu (a director looking for material) and Chas (a writer keen for exposure), talk to an impressive roster of guests. We start with Gordy Hoffman, founder and judge of the Bluecat Screenplay Competition; repeat Austin Film Festival attendees - first for the screenplay and now for the finished web series of EX BEST - Diana Gettinger & Monica Hewes; Launchpad 2014 finalist Tony Pitman; and Insite Competition winner Blake Ashford, whose winning script CUT SNAKE hit cinemas in 2015... ten years after winning the competition. These short descriptions in no way do justice to these eclectic and talented writers so - if you want to find out more - head to the links below. Our apologies in advance for the inconsistent sound quality in these interviews. Sadly, that's the nature of pulling together four different interviews across states, countries, times zones and technological barriers. LINKS Gordy Hoffman, Founder of the Bluecat Screenplay Competition DOG BOWL by Gordy Hoffman EX-BEST by Diana Gettinger & Monica Hewes 2014 Finalists for Tracking Board Launch Pad Competition including THE SINGULARITY by Tony Pitman Tony Pitman's skeptic podcast REALITY CHECK IMDB: CUT SNAKE directed by Tony Ayres, written by Blake Ayshford YouTube: CUT SNAKE Trailer Find Blake Ayshford on Twitter: @episode2480 AWG: Australian Writers Guild Competitions Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero  We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter. Please considering rating us on iTunes! or sharing us on the Social Medias!

How does a screenwriter collaborate with a director on an existing property? In this halloween special, Chas (sans Stu) is joined by a very special guest... Aaron Sterns the co-writer of WOLF CREEK 2 -- the big budget sequel to the infamous WOLF CREEK, also directed by Greg McLean. Chas and Aaron talk horror, anti-horror, collaboration, novels and how a screenwriter works within an existing franchise. In backmatter, Stu & Chas talk about their experiences and methods for collaborating with other writers & directors. EPISODE LINKS You can find Aaron Sterns at: Web: http://aaronsterns.com Twitter: @AaronSterns  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aaronsternsauthor GoodReads: Wolf Creek Origin by Greg McLean & Aaron Sterns YouTube: Wolf Creek 2 Trailer YouTube: Wolf Creek 2 Clip - the infamous 'kangaroo' scene IMDB: Wolf Creek 2 For Australian listeners it is on Stan. For US listeners it is on Netflix Inside Film: Wolf Creek Series Starts Shooting BACKMATTER LINKS Movie Crypt - Ep 124: Greg McLean: http://geeknation.com/podcasts/the-movie-crypt-ep-124-greg-mclean/ WriterDuet - Real-time collaborative screenwriting software Fountain - Fountain is a plain text markup language for screenwriting. Fountain Tools for Google Docs Literature & Latte: Scrivener Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero  We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter. Please considering rating us on iTunes! or sharing us on the Social Medias!

How do screenwriters get away with using coincidences in their stories? Remember that time in THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS when Bruce suddenly - magically - returned to Gotham, and you were like "WTF?!"  Well, it turns out that many of the best films have moments that are just as coincidental or contrived (or a flock of Giant Eagles) and yet get away with it. Does Pixar's "rule" that it is 'cheating to use coincidences to get your characters out of trouble', always apply? In exploring how to get the audience to buy into these moments where the writer needs story to intrude over character or even logic, Stu and Chas dive into FINDING NEMO, MICHAEL CLAYTON and PULP FICTION (as well as honourably mentioning THOR II, OUT OF SIGHT, MAD MAX FURY ROAD, EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, INDEPENDENCE DAY and those bloody Giant Eagles in both RETURN OF THE KING and THE HOBBIT). In back matter, we talk about moving forward vs working backwards when developing screenwriting skills. EPISODE LINKS io9.com: The 22 rules of storytelling according to Pixar Wikipedia: Coincidence Scriptmag.com - SPECS & THE CITY: Deus Ex Machina and "Lord of the Rings" by Brad Johnson YouTube: FINDING NEMO - Fish Are Friends Not Food (flashback to diver at 2:53) YouTube: MICHAEL CLAYTON Clip YouTube: PULP FICTION - Butch kills Vincent YouTube: PULP FICTION - Divine Intervention / Oh man I shot Marvin in the face... YouTube: THE HOBBIT - Eagles Rescue YouTube: White Boy Bob's Death - OUT OF SIGHT Draft Zero: DZ-05: Shifting audience point of view and heightened emotions Draft Zero: DZ-15: World Building Rules, rOkay? BACK MATTER LINKS reddit.com: clmazin comments on There are No Martells in the GOT Pilot Open Channel: Stephen Cleary Story Structure Workshop Kickstarter: Eat Me film - Draft Zero community project Draft Zero: DZ-07: On Rewriting – How much Bull is left in the Hustle? Draft Zero - Short Documents: http://traffic.libsyn.com/draftzero/Draft-Zero_ShortDocuments.zip