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.
Site
RSS
Apple
Data updated on 08/07/2026
Recent rankings
Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.
Shared links between episodes and podcasts
Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.
How is the effect of breaking the 4th wall different to VoiceOver?
As part of our series on how filmmakers can directly communicate to the audience, we finally examine the most blatant tool of them all: when character look directly down the barrel of the camera… and thus look directly at us, the viewer. Chas, Stu and Mel take the craft tools/levers they identified in previous episodes and use them to examine HIGH FIDELITY, ABBOTT ELEMENTARY and - of course - FLEABAG.
By examining how “in-world” the camera is, who is talking, and whom the character is talking to (i.e. who we are in the relationship), we end up discovering how breaking the 4th wall can involve the audience in the emotional present of the character and also grants the character a degree of narrative control (a craft lever that can be dialled in and out).
Separately, in a Backmatter to this episode to be found on our Patreon page, Mel and Chas answer a listener question and take a deep dive into how breaking the 4th wall changes the RELATIONSHIP between you - the viewer - and character.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Cold Open 00:00:17 - What is “barrelling”? 00:13:45 - HIGH FIDELITY 00:39:46 - ABBOTT ELEMENTARY 01:04:09 - FLEABAG 01:40:54 - Key Learnings 01:50:48 - Patreon thanks
How does the unreliability of a narrator impact the way a story is told?
In this episode, Stu and Mel (sans Chas!) take a deep dive into FIGHT CLUB and its use of the unreliable narrator. This is a bridging episode between our previous episode on VOICEOVER and our forthcoming episode on TALKING TO CAMERA as Fight Club does both.
We dissect the film’s disconnected sequence-driven structure and how the voiceover ’stitches’ the film together. And then we look at what makes ‘Jack’ an unreliable narrator and how his control over the storytelling impacts us.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.
How can we forget our awesome Patreons, especially Lily, Alexandre, Malay, Jennifer, Thomas, Paulo, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis, and Khrob.
Please considering rating or subscribing to us on or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners.
DZ-110: Voiceover
Season 11 · Episode 110
Friday, May 31, 2024 • Duration 01:41:23
How can you use Voiceover without it feeling like a cheat?
In this episode, we finally delve into the world of VOICEOVERS (as part of our larger series exploring craft tools that allow characters & storytellers to talk directly to the audience). Chas, Stu and Mel deep dive into the VERONICA MARS pilot, Disney’s THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE, and the Michael Bay epic PAIN & GAIN.
In exploring what makes these particular examples of Voiceover great (and not feel like a cheat or a well-worn trope), we apply the four levers identified in our Part 1 (in particular ‘when in time is the Voiceover coming from’). In this episode we discover how Voiceover can set tone, reveal character motivations, enhance viewer empathy, or even create tension.
What are the different ways a filmmaker can ask something of the audience?
Chas and Stu are joined by recurring guest Mel in this prelude episode to upcoming episodes on Voice Over and Breaking the Fourth Wall. In this episode, we attempt to taxonomise the different ways filmmakers can ask something directly of their audience. To this end, we identify 4 levers that can be pulled:
Diagetic to non-diagetic (in story world to outside story world)
Who is talking? From story-teller to a character
Whom are they talking to? Themselves or directly to the audience?
From when in time is the communication coming?
They then take these levers and ask a series of questions, including:
What does the communication want from the audience?
Does the audience know who’s talking?
How reliable is the information?
How aware is who is communicating of the audience?
They then apply these questions and levers to… deep breath… STAR WARS, ROBOCOP, STARSHIP TROOPERS, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, MINORITY REPORT, CHILDREN OF MEN, NEVER HAVE I EVER, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, STRANGER THAN FICTION, DUNE, OPPENHEIMER, YELLOWJACKETS, HUSTLERS, THE OFFICE, MASTERCHEF, ZOMBIELAND, FLEABAG, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, SPONTANEOUS, BLACKKKLANSMAN, AMERICAN FICTION, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, THE KILLER, VERONICA MARS, FIGHT CLUB, SHUTTER ISLAND, SIXTH SENSE, HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR. FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, GOODFELLAS, EMPERORS NEW GROOVE, THE TRUMAN SHOW, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, DIE HARD, THE BIG SHORT, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, DERRY GIRLS, THE LAST JEDI, THE LAST DUEL, RASHOMON, BONES AND ALL, ARCHIVE 81, SANS SOLEIL, F IS FOR FAKE, THE PRINCESS BRIDE, THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS, JULIUS CAESAR, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Vol. 1
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.
CHAPTERS:
DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith Weston
Season 11 · Episode 108
Sunday, March 31, 2024 • Duration 01:37:03
How and why should every scene have an emotional event?
For the first episode of our tenth anniversary year, we are joined by Judith Weston to talk about Emotional Events.
What is an emotional event? Well, it’s a way of thinking about scenes through relationships rather than plot. Instead of asking how a scene moves the plot forward, ask how the scene alters the relationship between characters. While emotional events are ostensibly a tool for directors to interpret scenes, we believe that the emotional event starts with the writer(s).
But it is an idea better illustrated through examples and discussion rather than sound bites. To that end, we breakdown scene from OPPENHEIMER, CASINO ROYALE (the Daniel Craig one), and PAST LIVES and explore how the emotional event is written (and not written) on the page.
Through a close reading of each scene, we talk about subtext, power dynamics, status transactions, tactics, beats and much much more. Because Chas, Stu and Judith are also reading the scripts there lot of discussion about table reads and how to get the most out of them.
For those unfamiliar with Judith, she is a famed teacher of writers, directors and actors with a focus on the directing or actors. Her books Directing Actors and The Film Director’s Intuition are basically industry standards.
Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
CHAPTERS:
00:00:00 – Cold Open
00:00:30 – What is an emotional event?
00:13:48 – Oppenheimer
DZ-107: Establishing Tone Through Character
Season 11 · Episode 107
Thursday, February 29, 2024 • Duration 01:54:19
How can we use dramatisation to create tone?
In this episode, Chas and Stu continue their deep dive into how to write tone by examining films with “light” (we use the phrase loosely) tones: LADY BIRD, EMILY THE CRIMINAL, THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS, and SPONTANEOUS. We also talk a surprising amount about DUNE and CRAZY STUPID LOVE.
We focus on the relationship between character & tone and how the writers of these films use dramatisation to create their unique tones. We talk minimalism vs maximalism, dialogue, character actions & reactions, emotional dynamic range, and rules of the world vs given circumstances.
Stu proposes a new triangle to help us understand the dials we as writers have to affect tone: the given circumstances of the story, how that effects character actions & reactions, and how the audience are told about those elements.
Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
How do you know if you have enough narrative fuel to write a script?
In this episode, Chas, Stu and Mel attempt to answer a listener question:
“In your own pre-writing process, how do you know you have enough for a feature? And do you have a specific pre-writing method you're going to?”
Thus we launch into a discussion on our writing processes and the varying usefulness of tools such as log lines, turning points, beat sheets, synopsis, treatments, and scene breakdowns. We also tackle the challenges encountered while developing an idea to first draft, such as balancing the pace of the story, developing distinct character voices, character choices, plot changes, pacing, and thematic clarity.
Is this backmatter? Or is it development tools? You decide! Hahaha.
Thanks so much to Chris Walker for his excellent editing on this episode!
And how can we forget our awesome Patreons, especially Lily, Alexandre, Malay, Casimir, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis, and Khrob.
Please considering rating or subscribing to us on or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners.
DZ-105: Establishing Tone Through Big Print
Season 10 · Episode 105
Thursday, November 30, 2023 • Duration 02:06:09
How can we teach the reader to find the humour in our darkness?
Chas and Stu finally start their long-mooted exploration of tone with a series that examines films and shows with unusual tones and dives into how the writers establish those tones in the first 5 pages.
How does your script want your reader to experience violence in your story? Humour? Sex? Prejudice?
To answer these questions, this episode look at how films with “darker” or “sadder” tones teach the reader what they can laugh at, namely: THE NICE GUYS, THE BANSHEES OF INISHIRIN and the pilot for YELLOWJACKETS.
Together they learn how to better talk about tone, how to frame tone for a scene or sequence, and what levers writers can use on the page to compensate for cinematic tools like music, performance, composition, lighting, design, editing, etc etc etc.
Future episodes plan to explore establishing lighter or quirkier tones, as well as tools in shifting or changing tone on the page.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
DZ-104: Characters Alone - Dramatizing the Internal
Season 10 · Episode 104
Wednesday, November 1, 2023 • Duration 01:29:43
How can scenes where characters are alone increase our connection with them?
In this episode, we explore the audience's connection with characters through the lens of characters being alone.
Chas and Stu breakdown scenes (and their scripts) from AFTERSUN, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY and THE EQUALIZER to discuss the significance of solitude in giving the audience insight into a character’s interiority. We talk how big print can reflect character; how finding moments for vulnerability allows characters to drop their masks; and how staging can help these moments occur organically.
Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
DZ-103: Game of the Scene 2 - Triangle of Sadness, The Favourite
Season 10 · Episode 103
Sunday, October 1, 2023 • Duration 01:42:37
How can games elevate dramatic scenes?
In part two of this two parter, Stu and Chas go further into the game (of the scene) and look at how games force characters *other* than the protagonist to interact. We deep dive into the wonderful social satires of TRIANGLE OF SADNESS and THE FAVOURITE.
We discuss how games reveal character through competency and decisions, how resources and skills impact the tactics that characters employ, and the difference between referees, rule lawyers, rule makers and rule breakers.
Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
Discover shows related to Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
