Draft Zero is a podcast that tries to works out what makes great screenplays work. Our episode are epic deep-dives into the art and the mechanics of storytelling for the screen. With every episode, our goal is to unearth practical techniques and tools for storytellers. If you want to sound fancy, you’d call it “narrative aesthetics”. But we ain’t fancy… We are Chas and Stu, two Australian filmmakers, who are trying to really understand our craft. And we do that by looking “under the hood” of great movies and TV shows. They’ve been doing this since 2014. They pick a particular topic or thesis for example, how shifting the audience’s point of view can heighten their emotions and then set themselves homework: reading scripts and watching screen stories. They then record their podcast arguing, debating, and exploring these topics in depth and share their discoveries with their listeners. Their episodes aren’t for the faint of heart: they average 90 minutes each. Their longest is over 3 hours. If you want something like ‘Top Ten Tips For Dialogue’, they ain’t for you. But if you want an in-depth, passionate and analytical discussion: you’ve come to the right place. Their listeners run the range from complete beginners to established showrunners & directors, and everyone in-between. Some of their listeners’ favourite episodes tackle catharsis, exposition, tactics and dialogue. They even got schooled by Tarantino himself after their listened to us breaking down his work. It was humbling… but it was rewarding, too. You can find and listen to their current episode list here: http://draft-zero.com/episodes/ Or listen to their latest episode below: So far, they’ve done this at their own expense. As they said, they love it. They’re going to continue doing it too for as long as they can which, if you’ve heard an episode, can be a really long (and fun) time. So no pressure. It’s all there and freely available. The most common complaint about Draft Zero (surprisingly) is not the epic length of their episodes. It’s that they don’t come often enough. If you’re lucky, you get an episode every 6 to 8 weeks. The main reason for the delay isn’t the homework or the recording. It’s finding the time to edit when both Stu and Chas are trying to y’know actually make films. We don’t want sponsorship for Draft Zero. We don’t want to endorse any particular product or service. Unless you’re Laphraoig and want to send us sweet, peaty whisky. We won’t paywall our content. We want Draft Zero to be freely available to everyone, everywhere. We have listeners worldwide from Iraq to China to Russia to the US and, of course, Australia. If you can’t afford film school or a online master class, you can always listen to Draft Zero. They may do merchandise cause merch is cool, but it’s a poor way to raise money that feeds directly into them producing more episodes. They’re not script gurus. They’re not trying to sell you their “script coaching” services or workshop tours or their e-book. They’re just two screenwriters trying to work out how to get better at their craft. They’re not here to monetise Draft Zero. They’re here to make better movies and TV… and maybe narrative games too. Patreon offers them a simple, direct relationship with their audience. If you like their podcast, want more episodes more frequently, then please consider becoming a patron. Thank you for continuing to listen and support what they do.
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