Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

By Chas Fisher and Stuart WillisTV & Film Arts Performing Arts

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast episodes

September 01DZ-130: Positive Character Arcs
Listen to understand how to dramatize a character's internal change.
Welcome to our third entry in our character arc series; and the first where we talk about characters that actually change. And positively, too.
We deep dive into BARBIE, WIDOWS and ALL OF US STRANGERS to work out what makes an arc feel positive -- even if the film itself is heartbreaking. All three films are "positive arcs" that feel wildly different. We speculate whether that's due to the nature of the relationship questions, the use of additive/subtractive rewards; and whether it's do with the connection of the characters needs and their goals.
We further crystalize two tools we've been kicking around:
The relationship question — take a character question ("will she learn to connect?") and pose it as a relationship problem ("will these two grow closer or further apart?").
Additive vs subtractive rewards — We continue buildling on this idea from our Steadfast episodes. Does the story give the character something or take something away? And is that a good or a bad thing?
And Mel brings up a third:
Repeating a beat from a different angle so we can trace a character's gradual evolution.
We also debate whether Barbie's void scene is a producer's note personified — a director going into the endless nothing to spell the themes out one more time.
All this and more on DZ-130!
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
LIKE THIS EPISODE?
Watch and comment on YouTube.
Send us feedback.
Send us a voice message via Speakpipe!
Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre & Natalie and Lily.
→ Read the transcript for this episode.
———
"A relationship question is taking what we think is an internal question about a character and defining it in terms of the relationship. Will Moana grow closer to their village coming back or will they'll grow further apart?" — Stu Willis @ 00:06:09
———
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 – Cold Open
00:00:21 – Positive Character Arcs
00:04:47 – › Relationship questions as the key to dramatizing arcs
00:09:00 – Followup Questions
00:12:12 – Zero Context Insights
00:13:01 – BARBIE
00:17:16 – › The void scene with Barbie's creator
00:23:13 – › Immortality versus death as the real choice
00:27:02 – › Debating the lie the character believes
00:44:26 – › Gain versus loss framing the ending
00:52:34 – › Contrast and affinity
00:59:47 – WIDOWS
01:05:47 – › Establishing character patterns before the heist begins
01:09:37 – › Do the widows have values before the story starts
01:18:42 – › Skills and goals tightly tied to character growth
01:21:04 – › Alice's escalating value shift through the sugar daddy scene
01:25:04 – › Linda's grief scene and steadfast versus positive arcs
01:27:12 – › Veronica's arc through Harry's betrayal and revenge
01:39:33 – › Comparing ensemble arcs to OCEAN'S ELEVEN and THE TOWN
01:46:46 – › Relationship questions as emotional engine of ensemble films
01:49:36 – ALL OF US STRANGERS
01:55:38 – › Rebuffing Harry sets up the positive arc
02:02:15 – › Isolation to connectedness as the emotional throughline
02:07:24 – › Contrasting coming out scenes with mom and dad
02:11:26 – › The low point as emotional violence not distance
02:18:48 – › Dream logic and touch as physical arc tracking
02:23:20 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
02:26:20 – › Additive versus subtractive rewards in character arcs
02:29:58 – › Patreon shoutouts and next episode preview
FILMS
BARBIE (2023) — (w) Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig (d) Greta Gerwig
WIDOWS (2018) — (w) Gillian Flynn, Steve Mcqueen (d) Steve Mcqueen
ALL OF US STRANGERS (2023) — (w) Andrew Haigh, Taichi Yamada (d) Andrew Haigh
SCRIPTS
Study the script: BARBIE (2023) — Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig
Study the script: ALL OF US STRANGERS (2023) — Andrew Haigh, Taichi Yamada
SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES
What You Don't See: WIDOWS
Frames within Frames: ALL OF US STRANGERS
LINKS
Read: Colour Theory: DESERT HEARTS
Read: Greta Gerwig Explains What Barbie's Bench Scene Really Means
EPISODES IN THE CHARACTER ARCS SERIES
DZ-128: What even is a Character Arc?
DZ-129: Steadfast Character Arcs - Agents of Change
DZ-130: Positive Character Arcs
RELATED EPISODES
DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith Weston
DZ-112: Breaking the 4th wall
DZ-113: Tools For Filmmakers To Talk To The Audience
———
More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons.
If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser.
We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2026/dz-130/
2 hr 33 min
August 27 Teaser: Positive Character Arcs
Teaser for our next episode: DZ-130. Please watch BARBIE, WIDOWS, and ALL OF US STRANGERS so you can learn about positive character arcs.
2 min
July 31DZ-129: Steadfast Character Arcs - Agents of Change
Listen to learn how to move an audience with a character who never changes.
Do characters need to change for you to have a satisfying story? That's a question we've been asking since, like, episode five of this podcast. And we're finally talking about them - whatever you call 'em: steadfast, resilent, or flat arcs.
To that end, we breakdown MOANA, APOLLO 13, and THE DRESSMAKER to work out what carries a story when a character arc doesn't. If your protagonist isn't going to change, the drama has to come from what they do to everyone else.
We develop some tools that we reckon carry a steadfast story:
doubt and wobble (a character with no doubt isn't steadfast, they're a psychopath)
emotional events between characters
additive rewards (something is gained) versus subtractive ones (something is taken away) - a distinction we've borrowed borrowed from operant conditioning;
and how that difference changes the emotional tone of an ending.
The subtractive reward is why a happy ending can still feel like loss... and it's the thing we reckon that'll matter most when we get to negative arcs.
Chas, Mel and Stu also wibble-wobble over WILLOW, TAKEN, FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, THE MARTIAN, PROJECT HAIL MARY, THE GREY, ALL IS LOST, STAR WARS (as always), GREY GARDENS, PRISCILLA, and how many tampons NASA sent to space.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
LIKE THIS EPISODE?
Discuss with our Patrons on Patreon.
Join the discussion on Reddit.
Watch and comment on YouTube.
Send us feedback.
Send us a voice message via Speakpipe!
Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre & Natalie and Lily.
→ Read the transcript for this episode.
———
"If your characters are not going to arc, if they are going to remain steadfast, then creating multiple smaller emotional events is really important to keep the story dynamic." — Mel Killingsworth @ 02:32:01
———
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 – Cold Open
00:00:18 – What Is a Steadfast Character Arc?
00:04:24 – › Character as habitual action defines change
00:06:11 – › Operant conditioning reframes reward and punishment beats
00:09:14 – › Steadfast characters still need emotional stakes and impact
00:10:33 – The Questionnaire for Analysing Character Arcs
00:12:18 – MOANA
00:16:12 – › The I Want song and being pulled versus pushed
00:18:19 – › Doubt as necessary proof of steadfast resilience
00:26:54 – › Distinguishing upskilling and reward from true character change
00:27:25 – › Maui's full arc contrasts with Moana's steadfastness
00:41:15 – › Genre expectations teach the audience to predict steadfastness
00:45:10 – › Tracking Maui's and Moana's dramatized moments of change
00:53:08 – APOLLO 13
00:58:52 – › Riveting problem solving without character values changing
01:01:07 – › Jim and jack relationship as substitute emotional arc
01:12:12 – › Comparing disaster films that punish or reward steadfastness
01:20:02 – › Working through the arc questionnaire for the film
01:33:53 – THE DRESSMAKER
01:38:14 – › Debating whether THE DRESSMAKER is steadfast or positive
01:44:54 – › Tracking Tilly's three objectives and mystery of the curse
01:50:37 – › Teddy's death as subtractive reward and negative punishment
01:57:00 – › GREY GARDENS parallels and the town as social environment
02:03:10 – › How Tilly's steadfastness transforms the town around her
02:16:37 – › Testing audience expectations for change versus subversion
02:24:48 – › Values of beauty, love, and vengeance in the story world
02:31:45 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
FILMS
MOANA (2016) — (w) Jared Bush, Ron Clements, John Musker, Chris Williams, Don Hall, Pamela Ribon, Aaron Kandell, Jordan Kandell (d) John Musker, Ron Clements
THE DRESSMAKER (2015) — (w) Jocelyn Moorhouse, Pj Hogan, Rosalie Ham (d) Jocelyn Moorhouse
APOLLO 13 (1995) — (w) William Broyles Jr, Al Reinert, Jeffrey Kluger, Jim Lovell (d) Ron Howard
EPISODES IN THE CHARACTER ARCS SERIES
DZ-128: What even is a Character Arc?
DZ-129: Steadfast Character Arcs - Agents of Change
DZ-130: Positive Character Arcs
RELATED EPISODES
DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith Weston
DZ-126: Secrets and Clues
DZ-128: What even is a Character Arc?
———
More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons.
If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser.
We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2026/dz-129/
2 hr 37 min
June 28DZ-128: What even is a Character Arc?
Listen to separate the three layers of an arc -- does the character change? How do they feel about it? And how is the audience positioned to feel about it?
Stu, Chas and Mel finally begin their long-awaited journey into CHARACTER ARCS. In this "primer" episode, we try find some learnings and analytical lenses that we can then apply in future breakdowns.
In this episode, we explore differences between a character learning something and a character fundamentally changing, how to dramatise that, and how the show teaches the audience to perceive that transformation (whether positively or negatively).
Throughout the discussion, we skate over A NEW HOPE, BLUE MOON, BREAKING BAD, BETTER CALL SAUL, the French real-time thriller FULL TIME, A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, THE GREEN KNIGHT, ALL OF US STRANGERS, PREDATOR BADLANDS, FIELD OF DREAMS, MEG 2, and Stu's receding hairline.
Ultimately, this discussion synthesises into a series of questions to ask of a story and the main point-of-view character living through that story:
Does the audience enter the story with an expectation that characters will change?
How does the story teach the audience to expect characters to change or not?
Do the characters change? Is it experiential change or internal value change? How is that dramatised?
Is the character aware that they changed? How do they feel about that change? Does that matter?
How does the story want the audience to feel about that change? If different to the character’s perception, how does the story pull that off?
How does the story world punish or reward the change?
What are the values explored by the arc? How does this relate to the theme?
How is contrast vs affinity/unity portrayed through the characters’ journey? Order vs disorder vs inertia
What is the emotional event created between the character and audience as a result of the journey? Does the character end up more intimate or distant from the audience?
In upcoming episodes, we intend to apply these lenses to stories with STEADFAST/RESILIENT arcs, POSITIVE arcs, NEGATIVE arcs and - potentially - a “WTF is this?!” arc.
Please check out our homework discussion on Patreon. And if you want to vote on the stories we're gonna breakdown, sign up!
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
LIKE THIS EPISODE?
Discuss with our Patrons on Patreon.
Join the discussion on Reddit.
Watch and comment on YouTube.
Send us feedback.
Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre & Natalie and Lily.
→ Read the transcript for this episode.
———
"Character arcs are really difficult to talk about because they're not just in isolation. Rarely is a film only about one character, right? So we're actually talking about how we harmonize other characters around them." — Stu Willis @ 00:12:16
———
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 – Cold Open
00:00:17 – Character Arcs: A Primer on What We're Really Asking
00:03:13 – › Three layers of an arc: character, self-perception, audience
00:07:04 – › The four-quadrant map: change, no change, better, worse
00:10:15 – › Why calling it an arc is already a misnomer
00:13:35 – What We Each Want to Learn from This Series
00:19:56 – › Whether emotional authenticity is becoming more valuable than spectacle
00:23:37 – › Why stories let us safely inhabit experiences outside our own
00:30:04 – The Deep Question: Can Characters Actually Change?
00:35:49 – › Contrast and affinity as the design logic of transformation
00:41:40 – › The rock metaphor: external forces versus intrinsic change
00:46:43 – › Order, disorder, and inertia as the spectrum of arc types
00:50:29 – Three Layers of Judgment: Character, World, and Audience
00:56:45 – › How the filmmaker positions the audience relative to the character
01:00:01 – › Do audiences enter stories expecting change at all?
01:06:09 – › Mapping the inner journey against plot beats
01:09:28 – › Why low points exist to make the climax feel earned
01:12:09 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
01:26:47 – Thanks to Our Patreons!
FILMS
STAR WARS (1977) — (w) George Lucas
SHOWS
A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS — (w) George Rr Martin, Ira Parker
BETTER CALL SAUL — (w) Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould
BREAKING BAD — (w) Vince Gilligan
LINKS
Website: Bruce Block's The Visual Story
EPISODES IN THE CHARACTER ARCS SERIES
DZ-128: What even is a Character Arc?
RELATED EPISODES
DZ-04: Catharsis and the Post-Coital Cigarette
DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith Weston
———
More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons.
If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser.
We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2026/dz-128/
1 hr 31 min
May 27DZ-127: Secrets and Clues 2 - The Cost of Revelation
Listen to learn the emotional impact of revealing secrets vs discovering them.
In this episode Stu, Chas and Mel apply the Landmark–Hidden–Secret framework (from DZ-126) across two very different genres: the thriller SIDE EFFECTS (2013) and the tragicomic pilot of SHRINKING.
SIDE EFFECTS is a film of two genres. The first half plays as a drama about depression and over-medication; the second half is a 90s thriller. We talk about how every time Dr Jonathan Banks uncovers a new piece of information, it puts him in danger — and that danger motivates him to uncover more.
In SHRINKING, we see a different use of the framework. "What are psychologists but detectives of the mind?" Rather than the cost of finding secrets, it's about the cost of sharing them. Chas also comes out of this with a paradigm he's been building toward (but we're keeping what that is secret until you listen!)
And inevitably we go on some tangents: whether SIDE EFFECTS should even have been an erotic thriller!
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
LIKE THIS EPISODE?
Discuss with our Patrons on Patreon.
Join the discussion on Reddit.
Watch and comment on YouTube.
Send us feedback.
Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre and Lily.
→ Read the transcript for this episode.
———
"Every time Dr Jonathan Banks uncovers a new piece of information, it puts him in danger -- and that danger motivates him to uncover more." — Chas Fisher @ 00:26:04
———
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 – Cold Open
00:00:16 – Intro: Secrets and Clues 2 - the Cost of Revelation
00:01:03 – Previously on Secrets and Clues (Recap of Part 1)
00:04:24 – Flashforward Insights
00:09:29 – SIDE EFFECTS
00:20:18 – › The First Half: Push and Misdirection
00:28:41 – › Genre Shift: Banks Becomes the Detective
00:48:06 – SHRINKING
01:00:02 – › The Inverted Paradigm: When Everyone Knows
01:07:47 – › The Cost of Sharing
01:22:02 – › Power Through Honest Acknowledgement
01:35:37 – The Key Tool Chas Learned
01:39:28 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
01:50:48 – Many Thanks to our Patrons!
FILMS
SIDE EFFECTS (2013) — (w) Scott Z Burns (d) Steven Soderbergh
SHOWS
SHRINKING — (w) Brett Goldstein, Jason Segel, Bill Lawrence
SCRIPTS
Study the script: SIDE EFFECTS (2013) — Scott Z Burns
LINKS
Website: DIY & dragons: Landmark, Hidden, Secret
Website: The Alexandrian » Advanced Node-Based Design
Website: Ascii Dreams: The Quest for Quests (Part One)
Website: Ascii Dreams: The Quest for Quests (Part Two)
EPISODES IN THE SECRETS AND CLUES SERIES
DZ-126: Secrets and Clues
DZ-127: Secrets and Clues 2 - The Cost of Revelation
RELATED EPISODES
DZ-90: Setups & Payoffs in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
———
More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons.
If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser.
We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2026/dz-127/
1 hr 52 min
May 05DZ-126: Secrets and Clues
Listen if you want to understand how hidden information drives character motivation and plot structure!
“Getting information puts your character in danger. And danger rewards your character with information." — One of three ideas we steal from game design in this episode. In this two part series, we talk about how secrets, clues and hidden information motivate characters and may (or may not) help you plot from a character perspective. Part One (this episode) looks at WAKE UP DEAD MAN; while Part Two looks at SIDE EFFECTS, and the pilot episode of SHRINKING.
The other two (related) ideas are:
Landmark information (characters just have it), Secret (they know it's there, need to unlock it), and Hidden (invisible until they pay the cost)
Narrative velocity — are characters pushed forward or are they pulled forward?
To that end, in this episode Stu, Chas and Mel start with the murder mystery (ostensibly the easier deep-dive): Rian Johnson’s WAKE UP DEAD MAN. But this is a complex film made even more complex by being a dual-protagonist film. Uhuh. Benoit Blanc is pulled through the story by his need to solve the case; Father Judd pushed through, against his will, to prove his innocence. Breaking down how that plays out — and why it matters for the kind of escalation each character can sustain — is the heart of the episode.
And inevitably we go on some tangents: pointers, plants, and underpinnings (from our Everything Everywhere All At Once episode) fair play in locked-room mysteries, Narrative POV (as always) and node-based plotting and what dungeon-crawl game design has to do with writing a web of clues.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
LIKE THIS EPISODE?
Discuss with our Patrons on Patreon.
Join the discussion on Reddit.
Watch and comment on YouTube.
Send us feedback.
Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre and Lily.
→ Read the transcript for this episode.
———
"Information puts players in danger and danger rewards characters with information, right? That's kind of the loop with like thriller game design." — Stu Willis @ 00:05:40
———
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 – Cold Open
00:00:18 – What do we mean by Secrets and Clues?
00:04:17 – › Landmark, hidden, and secret information defined
00:08:10 – › Narrative velocity as push and pull for characters
00:13:22 – WAKE UP DEAD MAN
00:17:56 – › Key learnings preview: push-pull and narrative velocity
00:32:33 – › Mapping character awareness of secrets through WAKE UP DEAD MAN
00:58:21 – › Distinguishing secrets, clues, and hidden information
01:13:17 – › Benoit Blanc's character arc and the choice of grace
01:22:50 – KEY LEARNINGS & WRAP UP
01:24:22 – › Character drives how secrets are hidden and revealed
01:25:34 – › Narrative velocity and escalating stakes reveal character
FILMS
WAKE UP DEAD MAN (2025) — (w) Rian Johnson
SCRIPTS
Study the script: WAKE UP DEAD MAN (2025) — Rian Johnson
LINKS
Read: DIY & dragons: Landmark, Hidden, Secret
Read: The Alexandrian » Advanced Node-Based Design
Read: Ascii Dreams: The Quest for Quests (Part 1)
Read: Ascii Dreams: The Quest for Quests (Part 2)
Read: Mel's KNIVES OUT: A Rose by Any Other Name Would Not Clue Us In
EPISODES IN THE SECRETS AND CLUES SERIES
DZ-126: Secrets and Clues
DZ-127: Secrets and Clues 2 - The Cost of Revelation
RELATED EPISODES
DZ-90: Setups & Payoffs in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
———
More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons.
If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser.
We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2026/dz-126/
1 hr 29 min
February 26DZ-125: Oscars One-shot - BLUE MOON
Listen if you want to understand how narrative POV, screenplay format, and dialogue craft can elevate a contained biopic into an Oscar-nominated film
BLUE MOON is a talky, period-drama that film about an obscure songer-writer in the 1940s. Yet, it attracted world-class talent AND Academy Award nominations, including for it's script. Join Chas & Mel as they explore how narrative POV, interweaving relationships, hooky dialogue, and even the screenplay format itself make the script for BLUE MOON so great.
While Stu is still on show and we are between the 2026 Oscar nominations and the actual ceremony, our patreons selected BLUE MOON for this one-shot and boy are Mel and Chas glad they did. They dive into many lessons learned in previous episodes, like our character-driven episode… or analysis of French scenes in Adolescence… or the story-telling power that comes from the audience knowing the ending from biopics.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
LIKE THIS EPISODE?
Discuss with our Patrons on Patreon.
Watch and comment on YouTube.
Send us feedback.
Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre and Lily.
→ Read the transcript for this episode.
———
"When I say rules, I mean the prescriptive rules of when someone posts something on screenwriting and everyone goes *Oh, you broke all the rules*. I'm saying this is good. I'm saying most of those rules are suggestions or most of those rules are given to you when you are learning how to write for a reason." — Mel Killingsworth @ 00:38:42
———
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 – Cold Open
00:00:32 – What Makes a Contained Biopic Compelling?
00:02:19 – Flashforward Insights: POV, French scenes, dialogue craft, and structure
00:04:32 – BLUE MOON: Plot Summary and Structural Overview
00:08:00 – › How script format signals emotional breaks in a real-time story
00:13:34 – Controlling narrative POV
00:17:13 – › Tragedy versus the life he would have chosen
00:24:09 – › Narrative POV as the film's core structural tool
00:27:49 – Using screenplay FORMAT to reflect the emotional story
00:31:56 – › French scenes and real-time spatial staging
00:35:40 – › How rule-breaking formatting signals emotional truth
00:39:27 – Interweaving relationships: Hart's Relationships as the A, B and C Stories
00:44:50 – › Hart and Rogers: the collision of artistic integrity and commercial success
00:49:14 – › Hart and Elizabeth: desire, repetition, and the just-not-that-way callback
00:53:08 – › The bar regulars as audience surrogates and mirror to Hart's self-awareness
00:56:46 – Repetition and pop culture references in dialogue
00:59:48 – › Repetition as lyrical structure in dialogue craft
01:03:49 – › Tonal variety and mixing registers in witty scripts
01:07:54 – Key Learnings
01:09:48 – › The hidden craft beneath real-time, single-location scripts
01:13:42 – › How cultural touchstones establish stakes without exposition
01:16:02 – Thanks patreons and Oscar-nominated listener!
FILMS
BLUE MOON (2026) — (w) Robert Kaplow (d) Richard Linklater
LINKS
Read: BLUE MOON - Scene Headings Breakdown
RELATED EPISODES
DZ-01: Do Screenplay Gurus win you Oscars?
DZ-68: Using POV to structure KNIVES OUT
DZ-118: ADOLESCENCE -- How Questions Create Dramatic Tension
DZ-90: Setups & Payoffs in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
DZ-35: Driving Characters or Character Driven?
DZ-63: Tools for Better Dialogue 2 - Hook and Eye
———
More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons.
If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser.
We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2026/dz-125/
1 hr 19 min
January 30DZ-124: Making the Despicable Compelling
Listen if you need audiences to root for characters who do terrible things
Mel and Chas continue to explore what Noir (the genre) can teach writers of all other genres. In particular:
How to keep the audience on side of characters doing reprehensible things;
How to control your audience understanding of those reprehensible actions; and
Distinguishing between characters undergoing transformative arcs against discovering their true natures
In finding the common craft tools of Noir over 100 years, this Part 2 looks at two modern noirs – DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS (1995) and WOMAN OF THE HOUR (2024) – after Part 1 looked at the classic DOUBLE INDEMNITY and THE LONG GOODBYE.
Despite Chas claiming to have edited this episode it was, in fact, Chris Walker who saved the day and got this done. Thanks Chris.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
LIKE THIS EPISODE?
Watch and comment on YouTube.
Send us feedback.
Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre and Lily.
→ Read the transcript for this episode.
———
"I think these films have got really strong control over the questions and that's how they get us to follow, compelling us to follow characters who are doing terrible things." — Chas Fisher @ 01:06:08
———
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 – Using noir as a lens
00:01:56 – DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS
00:07:06 – › Period setting, race, and noir's embedded worldview
00:10:30 – › Voiceover as access to morally compromised decisions
00:22:02 – › How the film justifies rooting for Easy's transgressions
00:29:09 – › Character worldview versus film worldview in noir
00:31:33 – WOMAN OF THE HOUR
00:37:15 – › Why WOMAN OF THE HOUR qualifies as noir
00:43:25 – › The system as collective villain enabling the killer
00:53:12 – › Depiction without endorsement, empathy without sympathy
01:04:30 – Key Learnings
01:08:50 – Thank you Patreons!
FILMS
DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS (1995) — (w) Carl Franklin, Walter Mosley (d) Carl Franklin
WOMAN OF THE HOUR (2024) — (w) Ian Mcdonald (d) Anna Kendrick
LINKS
Shot Zero: Noir shots in WOMAN OF THE HOUR
EPISODES IN THE NOIR SERIES
DZ-123: Flawed Characters in Noir
DZ-124: Making the Despicable Compelling
RELATED EPISODES
DZ-123: Flawed Characters in Noir
DZ-03: Making Unlikeable Protagonists Compelling
DZ-110: Voiceover
———
More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons.
If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser.
We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2026/dz-124/
1 hr 11 min
December 31, 2025DZ-123: Flawed Characters in Noir
Listen if you want to write morally compromised characters without endorsing their choices.
In this two part series, Mel and Chas use Noir (the genre) as a lens to interrogate flawed characters. How can characters doing reprehensible things still engage audiences? How can you ensure representation isn’t endorsement? And whether these characters undergo transformative arcs, or simply reveal their true natures?
Part 1 (DZ-123) focuses on two (now classic) noirs: DOUBLE INDEMNITY and THE LONG GOODBYE.
While Part 2 (DZ-124) looks at two more contemporary examples DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS and WOMAN OF THE HOUR.
Despite Chas claiming to have edited this episode it was, in fact, Chris Walker who saved the day and got this done by the end of 2025. Thanks Chris.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
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Thanks to our Patrons, especially Lily, Paulo, Alexandre, Malay, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis and Khrob.
→ Read the transcript for this episode.
———
"This is the philosophical question, right? When you get drunk, do you change what you do or do you simply allow your inhibitions to fall and do what you would normally want to do?" — Mel Killingsworth @ 00:42:04
———
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 – Cold Open
00:00:17 – Flawed Characters and Noir
00:03:06 – › Writing morally compromised characters without endorsing their worldview
00:08:41 – › Defining film noir as genre, style, and worldview
00:14:27 – › Noir's reach across decades of screenwriting
00:16:40 – DOUBLE INDEMNITY
00:21:41 – › Diegetic confession and its structural function
00:27:17 – › Telling the audience the crime upfront removes justification burden
00:32:24 – › How everyman framing sustains complicity in a morally bankrupt protagonist
00:41:43 – › Whether morally compromised characters genuinely change or self-reveal
00:49:17 – › Film worldview versus character desire: crime without endorsement
00:53:38 – THE LONG GOODBYE
01:00:17 – › Save the cat: establishing a morally complex protagonist
01:06:26 – › Transgression, personal code, and the inevitability of noir failure
01:14:13 – › Character change versus worldview shift at the ending
01:21:15 – Wrap Up and Key Learnings
FILMS
DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) — (w) Raymond Chandler, James M Cain, Billy Wilder (d) Billy Wilder
THE LONG GOODBYE (1973) — (w) Leigh Brackett, Raymond Chandler (d) Robert Altman
SCRIPTS
Study the script: THE LONG GOODBYE (1973) — Leigh Brackett, Raymond Chandler
SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES
Blocking a Sneak: DOUBLE INDEMNITY
LINKS
Read: Mel's A Brief History of Queer Coding in Film Part 1
EPISODES IN THE NOIR SERIES
DZ-123: Flawed Characters in Noir
DZ-124: Making the Despicable Compelling
———
More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons.
If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser.
We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2025/dz-123/
1 hr 23 min
October 26, 20251dZ-01: Arkyvrs - A Mansion Most Vile - Ep1
What happens when a group of filmmakers play a ragtag group of filmmakers in a gritty sci-fi horror?

"Ignite the fire within and explore unknown territory" - Werner Herzog.

This episode is unusual, even by Draft Zero standards. It's an "Actual Play Podcast" where Chas, Stu, & Mel are joined by Kim Ho and Luke Clark to play MOTHERSHIP, the sci-fi horror game we talked about in episodes DZ-121 and DZ-122. Stu is the GM while everyone else is a ragtag crew of freelance filmmakers. We debrief the experience (so far) at the end of the episode)

Mel plays Zara, the glamorous face of the operation. Chas plays Winston, the cynical and egoistical "photojournalist". Kim is Cal, the scrappy scrounger and sound recordists, while Luke is Tarsos the steadfast producer of the group. The crew are enlisted to record a sensationalist report on a missing corporate president before the mercenary retrieval team arrives.

And yeah, this means we're soft-launching yet another project that's called 1dZ, which looks at how we can use tools from ttrpgs in screenwriting… and vice versa.
To get future episodes go to: http://www.1d-zero.com/

CHAPTERS
00:00:11 - Intro for DZ Listeners
00:01:51 - Meet the Snortin' Betsy
00:06:22 - A Mansion Most Vile (Ep 1)
01:52:32 - Debrief through TOMBS
RELATED EPISODES
DZ-121: Escalating Antagonism 1: Sinners
DZ-122: Escalating Antagonism 2: Rebel Ridge + Meet the Parents
LINKS
Tuesday Knight Games
Joshua Kramer: A Mansion Most Vile
Alewood Games: Arkyvr
Nobody Wake the Bugbear
Campaign Supplies
More Draft Zero is brought to you more often by our awesome Patreons. Especially Lily, Paulo, Alexandre, Malay, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis, and Khrob.
Please considering rating or subscribing to us on Apple Podcasts or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners.
We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
SUBSCRIBE TO SHOT ZERO via Substack
SUBSCRIBE TO 1DZERO via Substack
ACKNOWLEDGES via our website: https://draft-zero.com/2025/1dz-01/
2 hr 9 min

About Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

From the publisher's feed

Two emerging screenwriters – Chas Fisher and Stuart Willis – try to work out what makes great screenplays work. Discovering what it takes by analysing what successful writers put on the page.