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DZ-48: One-Shot - Blade Runner 2049 – Agency vs Choice

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Release Date: 02/28/2018

DZ-71: Treatments & Loglines - Development Tools show art DZ-71: Treatments & Loglines - Development Tools

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Stu and Chas are joined by fan-favourite, Stephen Cleary, to NOT look at what makes great screenplays work -- but what makes great "short documents" work. Part I explores the short documents and tools you can use to develop your story’s PLOT before going to script, including the Premise, the Logline, various synopses, character documents, and - of course - the dreaded Treatment…

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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.

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Can your characters be given choices and yet still be deprived of agency?

To kick off 2018, Chas and Stu take a deep dive into one of their favourite movies of 2017: Blade Runner 2049. However, they abstained from “Fox News-ing this shit” by being joined by the most accomplished screenwriter they know, C.S. McMullen (Blood List 2017, Black List 2017, also a lover of Blade Runner 2049).

For a film that is thematically about choice, Stu and Chas thought this would be an excellent opportunity to explore how characters can be dramatised through binary choices.  And yet, CS opened their eyes to the idea that characters can still be given choices without having agency. Without having choice in their choices. Not having choices that lead to different outcomes.

It is perhaps the lack of agency (rather than the lack of choice) that lead to some of the troubling depiction of women and minorities in Blade Runner 2049, which our intrepid hosts explore in detail.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND

Audio quotations used for educational purposes only. Timestamps indicated below. Chapter markers included in the mp3.

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EPISODES LINKS

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