§ RESOURCES / FILMMAKER INDEX
Steven Spielberg
Director
Films Discussed 8
Draft Zero Episodes 8
DZ-101: Oners - Creating Immediacy & Anchoring Action on the Page
What can we learn by analysing how 'oners' are written on the page?
Chas, Stu and Mel reunite to talk about writing the feel of camerawork in screenplays. We use “oners” — a long-playing continuous take — as a lens to talk about how some writers have “directed” from the page. We talk immediacy, camera positions, handovers, and anchoring action and more… →
Listen to understand how screenwriters direct the camera without calling shots.
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-96: Ensembles 1 - What do we mean by an ensemble?
How can the same story feel different when you have more characters?
In the first part of our series on ensembles, Chas, Stu and Mel start by laying the groundwork for our future episodes. And we begin by asking the seemingly innocuous question: What do we mean by calling a story an ensemble?… →
Listen if you're working on a story with multiple protagonists and want to understand what makes an ensemble different from a single-protagonist narrative
DZ-52: Antagonists! 4 - vs Systems
How do systems pressure your characters to change?
This is Part Four (!!) of our Five Part Epic Exploration into antagonists forces and sources of conflict. In this episode we explore “system/world/society” antagonists. While stereotypically associated with science-fiction, these sources of conflict are found across genres… →
Listen if you want to use how societal, governmental, or environmental forces as villains.
DZ-37: Excelling at Exposition (Part 1)
How can you successfully integrate exposition into your story?
In Draft Zero’s first two part episode, Stu & Chas take an in-depth look at one of screenwriting’s most common challenges: EXPOSITION. For many stories there are pre-existing facts that need to be communicated to the audience — whether those facts be about the rules of the world, the nature of a location, character motivations, character backstories or just character names. So how have great writers made exposition move the story forward, rather than stopping it to tell the audience stuff they need to know… →
Listen if your exposition scenes feel like information dumps disguised as dialogue.
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-15: World Building Rules, Okay?
How does setting up rules help you build a world?
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… →
Listen when your opening pages feel like exposition dumps (which is bad, okay?)
DZ-11: Adventure for the MacGuffin!
Is the MacGuffin truly interchangable, and how does it impact on your character writing?
Stu and Chas are joined by a special guest - Scriptmag contributor Brad Johnson - to discuss how the choice of the MacGuffin can impact on the quality of an action/adventure film. To test this thesis, our heroes compare the auspicious originals of two iconic franchise with their, um, less-than-auspicious 4th instalments (in other words we compare RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK with KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL and THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL with ON STRANGER TIDES) as well as look at two recent & original entries into the genre, namely NATIONAL TREASURE and PRINCE OF PERSIA… →
Listen to discover why the MacGuffin's emotional weight--not its function--determines whether your audience cares enough to follow the entire adventure.
Referenced In
Shot Zero Deep Dives
Exposition and Invisible Oners - JAWS, MAD MAX, and THUNDERHEART by Shot Zero
telling story and depiction power struggles through shots
Read on SubstackExposition and Invisible Oners - JAWS by Shot Zero
Read on SubstackTime and space in staging "Oners" by Shot Zero
via Goodfellas, Children of Men, and The Adventures of Tintin
Read on SubstackAlso on Shot Zero
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