§ RESOURCES / FILMMAKER INDEX
Robert Ludlum
Writer
Films Discussed 3
Draft Zero Episodes 5
DZ-99: Scene Questions
How do audience questions shape scenes?
Inspired by our earlier episodes on sequences, Chas and Stu narrow their focus to look at the atomic unit of screen storytelling: the scene. In particular, we breakdown how question and answers prompted in the audience structure individual scenes… →
Listen if learn how to structure individual scenes through the questions you pose to your audience!
DZ-43: Driving Sequences - Character and Plot Intensity
What gives your sequences their intensity?
Chas and Stu are joined for the fourth time by the inestimable Stephen Cleary - this time to take a deep dive into sequences. A real deep dive. A 3+ hour deep dive… →
Listen to understand how dramatic questions shape audience engagement and pacing through sequences.
DZ-16: Masters of Time and Whitespace
Does manipulating time on the page make your script feel more cinematic?
Chas and Stu are joined by Khrob Edmonds - an award-winning filmmaker - to discuss manipulation of time… →
Listen if you want your screenplay to feel cinematic before a director ever reads it.
DZ-10: Midpoint Reversals and The Ride
How can the middle of your film pivot so much that it pulls the rug out of your audience?
Stu and Chas embark on the first of a series of explorations into the dreaded Second Act. Their first stop is midpoint reversals or shifts, a plot point bang in the middle of ACT II that changes the protagonist’s goal, raises the stakes and potentially leaves your audience leaning forward and asking “How the hell is this going to end?&rdquo… →
Listen when your second act sags and you need a structural jolt to accelerate audience engagement.
DZ-5: Shifting audience point of view and heightened emotions
Can forcing your audience to ask questions - and then answering them - trigger an emotional response?
Stu and Chas delve into audience point of view - not character point of view! Does your audience know more, less or the same as your characters? And does changing this within a scene trigger or heighten the desired emotional response… →
Listen to learn about the most powerful tool in screenwriting: narrative POV.
Referenced In
Shot Zero Deep Dives
Staging the violence in TOTAL RECALL 1990 vs 2012 by Shot Zero
How can staging a scene differently completely change how we feel about a character?
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