What makes a script so compelling that it ends up with an Oscar nod?

This week, Stu and Chas return to their first ever episode by tackling two Oscar-nominated screenplays. But this time - instead of exploring the rigid structures laid down by gurus - they use it as an opportunity to explore what they've learned in the last three years and apply them to the phenomenal writing in SPOTLIGHT and CAROL (with slight digression towards THE EXPANSE* and GAME OF THRONES).

And so this slightly meandering episodes revisits the excellent execution of catharsis, world-building, mid-points, dramatic point of view, status transactions and more.

* Which has possibly replaced Star Wars as the de facto reference point for anything.

EPISODE LINKS

• CAROL by Phyllis Nagy, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith
  • The Q&A Podcast with Jeff Goldsmith: Phyllis Nagy - CAROL
• SPOTLIGHT by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy
  • The Q&A Podcast with Jeff Goldsmith: Tom McCarthy - SPOTLIGHT
• YouTube: OUR LITTLE SECRET directed by Monique Schafter, written by Monique Schafter & Chas Fisher, Produced by Lee Matthews (link available only outside of Australia)
• Every Frame a Painting: - Snowpiercer - Left or Right by Tony Zhou
• Reddit: Academy Award for Best Original & Adapted Screenplay Nomines
• AV Club: Stu on GOT vs The Expanse (with excellent followup by Motard)
• SyFy: The Expanse
• Birth. Movies. Death. : Film Crit Hulk Smash: NEVER HATE A MOVIE
• Draft Zero: DZ-04: Catharsis and the Post-Coital Cigarette
• Draft Zero: DZ-05: Shifting audience point of view and heightened emotions
• Draft Zero: DZ-08: Status Transactions and the Power of Washing Machines
• Draft Zero: DZ-10: Midpoint Reversals and the Ride
• Draft Zero: DZ-15: World Building Rules, OK?

BACK MATTER

• TableRead Production App
• Netflix: Darkness on the Edge of Town (US & CA only) by Patrick Ireland

Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter.

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