Establishing Tone

Chas and Stu finally start their long-mooted exploration of tone with a series that examines films and shows with unusual tones and dives into how the writers establish those tones in the first 5 pages… →

Films: The Nice Guys (2016) , The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) , YELLOWJACKETS (2021)

Shows: YELLOWJACKETS 1x1

In this episode, Chas and Stu continue their deep dive into how to write tone by examining films with “light” (we use the phrase loosely) tones: LADY BIRD, EMILY THE CRIMINAL, THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS, and SPONTANEOUS. We also talk a surprising amount about DUNE and CRAZY STUPID LOVE… →

Films: Lady Bird (2017) , Emily the Criminal (2022) , The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) , Spontaneous (2020)

In this “backmatter” episode of Draft Zero, Stu, Chas, and Mel Killingsworth embark on a festive exploration of what makes holiday films so engaging and so re-watchable that they can become part of our rituals. To that end, we breakdown the charm of of Christmas films like KISS KISS BANG BANG, RIDERS OF JUSTICE, and IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE… →

Films: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) , Riders of Justice (2020) , It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

As part of our series on how filmmakers can directly communicate to the audience, we finally examine the most blatant tool of them all: when character look directly down the barrel of the camera… and thus look directly at us, the viewer. Chas, Stu and Mel take the craft tools/levers they identified in previous episodes and use them to examine the tv-version-of HIGH FIDELITY (“Top Five Breakups”), ABBOTT ELEMENTARY (“Attack Ad)”) and - of course - FLEABAG… →

Films: High Fidelity (2020) , Abbott Elementary (2022) , Fleabag (2016)

Shows: High Fidelity 1x1 , Abbott Elementary 2x7 , Fleabag 2x4

Inspired by her tweet on how subversive an opening OCEAN’S ELEVEN has, Chas and Stu invited amazing writer/director Jessica Ellis onto the show to deep dive into opening sequences. How does a good opening setup character, genre, and theme… →

Films: Ocean's Eleven (2001) , Long Shot (2019) , Arrival (2016) , A Serious Man (2009)

In this final podcast release of last year’s run of LiveSoLation episodes, Chas and Stu are joined by Uber-geek Mel Killingsworth (who else?) in an epic exploration of how Dave Gibbons’ and Alan Moore’s seminal graphic novel WATCHMEN is adapted differently in Zack Snyder’s 2009 film and Damon Lindelof’s 2019 HBO television show… →

Films: Watchmen (2009) , Watchmen (2019)

Shows: Watchmen

Following the success of the Tips from Tarantino episode, we have again decided to look at three different scripts from over the course of a long screenwriting career from a single writer to see what we can learn. Our beloved patreons not only selected Sofia Coppola as said writer, but also selected the scripts to analyse: LOST IN TRANSLATION, THE BLING RING and THE BEGUILED… →

Films: Lost in Translation (2003) , The Bling Ring (2013) , The Beguiled (2017)

*AKA Why your screenwriting guru is wrong *… →

Films: Lethal Weapon (1987) , Hereditary (2018) , A Quiet Place (2018) , Killing Them Softly (2012) , Spartan (2004) , The Girl on the Train (2016) , The Nice Guys (2016) , Drive (2011) , Michael Clayton (2007) , The Tree of Life (2011) , Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) , Killing Eve (2018) , Fleabag (2016) , Sharp Objects (2018) , Battlestar Galactica (2004)

Shows: Killing Eve 1x1 , Fleabag 1x1 , Sharp Objects 1x1 , Battlestar Galactica

In our most epic/longest episode yet, Chas and Stu tackle world building in films. Specifically, how the rules make something a world and not just a setting. Starting with world-centric genres like sci-fi and fantasy, we also cover horror, crime drama and - er - “other”. We discuss a variety of techniques for setting up the rules of the world, including cold opens, voiceover, title cards and outsider characters! We’ve limited ourselves to the opening 3-5 pages... mostly... because (so the theory goes) they’re the pages that teach the audience how to read/watch your story/film… →

Films: The Matrix (1999) , Inception (2010) , The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) , Jurassic Park (1993) , Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

How can you use Voiceover without it feeling like a cheat?… →

Films: The Emperor's New Groove (2000) , Pain & Gain (2013) , Veronica Mars (2004)

Shows: Veronica Mars 1x1

Following on from our episodes on establishing tone through action lines and through character, this is what we have been building up to: how to pull off a tonal switch… that does NOT throw the audience out of the film. And, in particular, how to pull that off on the page when writers don’t have framing, lighting, music, editing, etc. at our disposal… →

Films: Shaun Of The Dead (2004) , Sorry To Bother You (2018) , Swiss Army Man (2016)

In this “special”, backmatter-only episode, Stu & Chas take inspiration from Terry Rossio’s excellent article on TIME RISK and ice skate over a range of topics. We talk about time investment in projects, Stuart’s project Restoration, doing you down work first, managing feedback, thinking positive being a negative, and we open the listener mail bag for critiques, praise and suggestions. We also explore how we could do Draft Zero episodes exploring tone and theme… →

Films: Restoration (2016)