Couverture de Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

De : Chas Fisher and Stuart Willis
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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.Presented by Chas Fisher & Stuart Willis. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Art Divertissement et arts du spectacle
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  • DZ-130: Positive Character Arcs

    DZ-130: Positive Character Arcs
    Sep 1 2026
    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 Open00:00:21 – Positive Character Arcs00:04:47 – › Relationship questions as the key to dramatizing arcs00:09:00 – Followup Questions00:12:12 – Zero Context Insights00:13:01 – BARBIE00:17:16 – › The void scene with Barbie's creator00:23:13 – › Immortality versus death as the real choice00:27:02 – › Debating the lie the character believes00:44:26 – › Gain versus loss framing the ending00:52:34 – › Contrast and affinity00:59:47 – WIDOWS01:05:47 – › Establishing character patterns before the heist begins01:09:37 – › Do the widows have values before the story starts01:18:42 – › Skills and goals tightly tied to character growth01:21:04 – › Alice's escalating value shift through the sugar daddy scene01:25:04 – › Linda's grief scene and steadfast versus positive arcs01:27:12 – › Veronica's arc through Harry's betrayal and revenge01:39:33 – › Comparing ensemble arcs to OCEAN'S ELEVEN and THE TOWN01:46:46 – › Relationship questions as emotional engine of ensemble films01:49:36 – ALL OF US STRANGERS01:55:38 – › Rebuffing Harry sets up the positive arc02:02:15 – › Isolation to connectedness as the emotional throughline02:07:24 – › Contrasting coming out scenes with mom and dad02:11:26 – › The low point as emotional violence not distance02:18:48 – › Dream logic and touch as physical arc tracking02:23:20 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up02:26:20 – › Additive versus subtractive rewards in character arcs02:29:58 – › Patreon shoutouts and next episode preview FILMS BARBIE (2023) — (w) Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig (d) Greta GerwigWIDOWS (2018) — (w) Gillian Flynn, Steve Mcqueen (d) Steve McqueenALL OF US STRANGERS (2023) — (w) Andrew Haigh, Taichi Yamada (d) Andrew Haigh SCRIPTS Study the script: BARBIE (2023) — Noah Baumbach, Greta GerwigStudy the script: ALL OF US STRANGERS (2023) — Andrew Haigh, Taichi Yamada SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES What You Don't See: WIDOWSFrames within Frames: ALL OF US STRANGERS LINKS Read: Colour Theory: DESERT HEARTSRead: 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 ChangeDZ-130: Positive Character Arcs RELATED EPISODES DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith WestonDZ-112: Breaking the 4th wallDZ-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/
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    2 h et 33 min
  • Teaser: Positive Character Arcs

    Teaser: Positive Character Arcs
    Aug 27 2026

    Teaser for our next episode: DZ-130. Please watch BARBIE, WIDOWS, and ALL OF US STRANGERS so you can learn about positive character arcs.
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    1 min
  • DZ-129: Steadfast Character Arcs - Agents of Change

    DZ-129: Steadfast Character Arcs - Agents of Change
    Jul 31 2026
    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 charactersadditive 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 Open00:00:18 – What Is a Steadfast Character Arc?00:04:24 – › Character as habitual action defines change00:06:11 – › Operant conditioning reframes reward and punishment beats00:09:14 – › Steadfast characters still need emotional stakes and impact00:10:33 – The Questionnaire for Analysing Character Arcs00:12:18 – MOANA00:16:12 – › The I Want song and being pulled versus pushed00:18:19 – › Doubt as necessary proof of steadfast resilience00:26:54 – › Distinguishing upskilling and reward from true character change00:27:25 – › Maui's full arc contrasts with Moana's steadfastness00:41:15 – › Genre expectations teach the audience to predict steadfastness00:45:10 – › Tracking Maui's and Moana's dramatized moments of change00:53:08 – APOLLO 1300:58:52 – › Riveting problem solving without character values changing01:01:07 – › Jim and jack relationship as substitute emotional arc01:12:12 – › Comparing disaster films that punish or reward steadfastness01:20:02 – › Working through the arc questionnaire for the film01:33:53 – THE DRESSMAKER01:38:14 – › Debating whether THE DRESSMAKER is steadfast or positive01:44:54 – › Tracking Tilly's three objectives and mystery of the curse01:50:37 – › Teddy's death as subtractive reward and negative punishment01:57:00 – › GREY GARDENS parallels and the town as social environment02:03:10 – › How Tilly's steadfastness transforms the town around her02:16:37 – › Testing audience expectations for change versus subversion02:24:48 – › Values of beauty, love, and vengeance in the story world02:31:45 – 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 ClementsTHE DRESSMAKER (2015) — (w) Jocelyn Moorhouse, Pj Hogan, Rosalie Ham (d) Jocelyn MoorhouseAPOLLO 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 ChangeDZ-130: Positive Character Arcs RELATED EPISODES DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith WestonDZ-126: Secrets and CluesDZ-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/
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    2 h et 36 min
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