Scenes
Every episode tagged Scenes, newest first.
2026
"Bridge is also, in my opinion, apologies to my dead grandmother, boring as fuck."
— Mel Killingsworth | DZ-126: Secrets and Clues
DZ-126: Secrets and Clues
How can Secrets and Clues motivate characters?
AI✦The episode’s central framework examines how secrets (information characters know exists but must unlock) and hidden clues (invisible until characters pay a cost) motivate character action across WAKE UP DEAD MAN and other narratives.✦
Listen if you want to understand how hidden information drives character motivation and plot structure!
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“Getting information puts your character in danger. And danger rewards your character with information." — One of three ideas we steal from game design in this episode. In this two part series, we talk about how secrets, clues and hidden information motivate characters and may (or may not) help you plot from a character perspective. Part One (this episode) looks at WAKE UP DEAD MAN; while Part Two looks at SIDE EFFECTS, and the pilot episode of SHRINKING… →
Films:
Wake Up Dead Man (2025)
2025
"The writers on a macro and a micro level are so in control of the questions they want their audience to be asking at any given time. Do they want them to be asking plot questions? Do they want them to be asking character questions?"
— Chas Fisher | DZ-118: ADOLESCENCE and Tension Through Questions
DZ-123: Flawed Characters in Noir
What can Film Noir teach us about character arcs and audience engagement?
AI✦Double Indemnity and The Long Goodbye both tip their hand to the audience from the opening–you know the transgression happened before the plot begins–which means you’re not watching to find out what occurred, but rather watching how the character’s own certainty that they’re smarter than they are leads them into the trap.✦
Listen if you want to write morally compromised characters without endorsing their choices.
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In this two part series, Mel and Chas use Noir (the genre) as a lens to interrogate flawed characters. How can characters doing reprehensible things still engage audiences? How can you ensure representation isn’t endorsement? And whether these characters undergo transformative arcs, or simply reveal their true natures… →
DZ-120: Subtext is Overrated!
How do character goals, tactics, and fears create subtext automatically?
AI✦Tom identifies how Tony Gilroy constructs the Michael Clayton scene with three clear emotional movements and beats that create subtext through structure rather than exposition, each beat caused by what came before.✦
Listen if you're struggling to write subtext without it feeling forced
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DZ-118: ADOLESCENCE and Tension Through Questions
How do dramatic questions create tension?
AI✦Chas and Stu analyze how the decision to shoot in a oner constrains and clarifies the writing: it forces real-time character experience, demands careful handovers between POV characters, and prevents the spectacle-driven distractions that would undermine emotional discovery.✦
Listen if you think tension only comes from plot.
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In this episode, Stu and Chas delve into the cultural phenomenon of ADOLESCENCE. We try to find the craft tools that have made the show so compelling and such a catalyst for conversation… →
Films:
Adolescence (2025)
2024
"If you think the scene is just there to give the audience information, then you need to look into it further and find out what the emotional event is."
— Stu Willis | DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith Weston
DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith Weston
How and why should every scene have an emotional event?
AI✦Status transactions–the moment-to-moment shifts in power between characters–form the backbone of how Judith and the hosts read emotional events within scenes.✦
Listen to understand why a scene's power lives in what shifts between characters, not what happens to them.
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2014
DZ-6: Key Scenes and Unlocking the Story
Can one scene be the key to unlocking the whole story?
AI✦Stephen Cleary’s central argument is that a single key scene–like the diner in HEAT or the boardroom in MARGIN CALL–can unlock your entire story structure if you understand your characters.✦
Listen listen if you want to understand how a single key scene between protagonist and antagonist can unlock the entire structure of your story