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DZ-37: Excelling at Exposition (Part 1)

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Release Date: 11/23/2016

DZ-70: Joker & Melodrama show art DZ-70: Joker & Melodrama

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

How does Joker use melodramatic techniques to elevate its storytelling?

info_outline DZ-69: Parasite & Audience Questions show art DZ-69: Parasite & Audience Questions

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Draft Zero return with their next YouTube livestream! Stu and Chas take a deep dive into PARASITE and how its mastery of audience questions elevates the film. They then answer listeners questions on PARASITE and much more.

info_outline DZ-68: Using POV to structure KNIVES OUT show art DZ-68: Using POV to structure KNIVES OUT

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

How can shifting narrative point of view drive your sequences?

info_outline DZ-67: Writing “Passive” Protagonists & Melodrama show art DZ-67: Writing “Passive” Protagonists & Melodrama

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Stu and Chas are joined by Stephen Cleary following his exploration into Melodrama, and together they try to reclaim the word from its pejorative meaning.

info_outline DZ LiVEsolation Annoucement show art DZ LiVEsolation Annoucement

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

We hope you are all staying healthy and safe. Due this difficult time of lockdown, Chas and Stu have decided to “regularly” do special live-streamed episodes (via YouTube Live) of Draft Zero that we are calling LiVEsolation.

info_outline DZ-66: The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker - Audience Knowledge vs Character Motivation show art DZ-66: The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker - Audience Knowledge vs Character Motivation

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Chas and Stu are joined by special guest - filmmaker Mel Killingsworth - to talk all things Star Wars. Well… focusing on The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker and wherever else our tangents take us.

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Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

This episode, Chas steps down as co-host (kinda) and is interviewed by Stu as a guest, alongside director Ben Mizzi, about the short rom-com that Chas wrote and Ben directed & produced. The episode covers taking an idea from pitch to screen, working with a director, directing performance on the page, and marketing and distribution strategies for short films.

info_outline DZ-64: Backmatter - Controlling your Work, Treatments, and Writing Styles show art DZ-64: Backmatter - Controlling your Work, Treatments, and Writing Styles

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Stu and Chas indulge themselves by offering personal opinions based on their own personal experience. To that end, they discuss: what is and is not in your control in relation to an emerging writing career; choosing what project to develop next; using the Black List site to gain traction; the difference between treatments for pitching as opposed to for development; the difference in writing style when writing on spec as against work for hire; and guest David Wappel shares his thoughts on anchoring nouns.

info_outline DZ-63: Tools for Better Dialogue (Part 2) - Hook and Eye show art DZ-63: Tools for Better Dialogue (Part 2) - Hook and Eye

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Stu and Chas have kidnapped Stephen Cleary to once again develop some craft tools around dialogue. In Part 2 of this series, we analyse key scenes from films and TV shows famous for their dialogue, namely FLEABAG (Season 2, Episode 5), JUNO and DEADWOOD (The Pilot). The biggest tools we explore are: the hook and eye; how dialogue can reveal status and empathy; rhythm; contrast and affinity; and pacing.

info_outline DZ-62: Unfilmables and Unscriptables (Part 3) - As Ifs & Emotional context show art DZ-62: Unfilmables and Unscriptables (Part 3) - As Ifs & Emotional context

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

In this final part of our series on unfilmables, Chas and Stu turn their critical eye to... each other’s work! They take their key learnings from the previous ep and apply them to rewriting scenes from their own projects. They discuss metaphors, emotional context, and how you can write tone on the page without resorting to unfilmables.

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More Episodes

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?

To that end, in Part 1 of Excelling At Exposition we break down scenes from PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, SHORT TERM 12, INSIDE OUT, THE WORLD'S END, THE BIG SHORT, IT FOLLOWS, JURASSIC PARK and JURASSIC WORLD. Audio quotations are included for educational purposes.

Many thanks to /r/screenwriting for suggesting so many examples.

EPISODE LINKS

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