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Whitespace

Every episode covering Whitespace.

"The words on the page and the repetition are mimicking the edit, so we can visualize the humor and the repetition of it."

— Chas Fisher  |  DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy

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DZ-16: Masters of Time and Whitespace

Does manipulating time on the page make your script feel more cinematic?
AI✦Khrob Edmonds and the hosts center white space as a primary tool for manipulating time on the page, showing how strategic blank space recreates cinema’s pacing.✦
⏱ 1h 49m
16 DEC 2014
Listen if you want your screenplay to feel cinematic before a director ever reads it.
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KEY IDEAS

Using Repetition to Visualize Humor

"The words on the page and the repetition are mimicking the edit, so we can visualize the humor and the repetition of it."

— Chas Fisher (00:19:03) · DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy

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DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy

How do you make extended technical scenes funny on the page?
AI✦Mel observes that Bringing Up Baby creates comedic pacing through white space on the page--cutting back and forth between locations with quick slug lines--which drives the visual rhythm even before you see it on screen.✦
⏱ 1h 35m
26 FEB 2025
Listen to learn how formatting--white space, caps, dashes--becomes your comedy toolkit without a director.
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Mel joins Chas to tackle physical comedy. We limited our homework selection to extended scenes (as opposed to moments and sight gags) in live action projects and – with the help of our Patreons – selected early sequences from BRINGING UP BABY, the pilot for HAPPY ENDINGS and that wonderful food poisoning scene in BRIDESMAIDS… →

DZ-76: Spotlight on Sofia Coppola

What can we learn from Sofia Coppola's on-the-page skills over her career?
AI✦Coppola’s insightful use of whitespace is central to how she constructs her scripts, creating space for actor performance and directorial choice rather than spelling everything out on the page.✦
⏱ 1h 54m
1 FEB 2021
Listen to discover how Sofia Coppola crafts character performance on the page and uses whitespace to create her distinctive cinematic voice
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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… →

DZ-32: High-Tension Sequences

How can you recreate the feeling of cinematic high-tension on the page?
AI✦White space emerges as a specific craft tool for building tension on the page, working alongside sound FX and other written elements to heighten reader fear.✦
⏱ 2h 23m
12 JUN 2016
Listen if you want to evoke fear and tension using only the written word (without relying on camera, lighting, music, or sound).
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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… →

DZ-0: Welcome to Draft Zero

What, exactly, is Draft Zero?
AI✦Stu specifically calls out ’the use of white space on the page, how you control pacing of a scene through white space’ as the exact kind of micro-level technique Draft Zero investigates.✦
⏱ 9m
1 FEB 2014
Listen if you're new to the podcast and want to understand our philosophy on screenwriting craft!
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Welcome to Draft Zero. A message from 2019 to those starting with our first episodes dating from 2014. We’ve learned a lot in five years. So where do you begin… →