Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

How can Secrets and Clues motivate characters?
"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.

"The way those secrets were hidden, revealed, and discovered were all rooted in the characterization." — Mel Killingsworth
Like this episode? Discuss with our Patrons on Patreon. Or on Reddit!
Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre and Lily.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
 

Chapters
00:00:00 – Cold Open
00:00:18 – What do we mean by Secrets and Clues?
00:13:22 – Wake Up Dead Man
01:22:50 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up

Links
Read: 'Wake Up Dead Man' Script: Read Rian Johnson's Screenplay
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

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.

What craft tools make a low-budget, contained, period drama riveting?
Explore how narrative POV, interweaving relationships, hooky dialogue, and even the screenplay format itself make the script for BLUE MOON - that runs largely in real time about an obscure songwriter in the 1940s - one that attracts world class talent and Academy Award nominations.
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.
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - BLUE MOON
00:02:19 - Summary of Key Learnings
00:13:34 - Controlling narrative POV
00:27:49 - Using screenplay FORMAT to reflect the emotional story
00:39:27 - Interweaving relationships
00:56:46 - Repetition and pop culture references in dialogue
01:07:54 - Key learnings in full
01:16:02 - Patreon thanks!
LINKS
Read the script for BLUE MOON on Script Slug
See the slug line breakdown at https://melkillingsworth.substack.com/p/blue-moon-scene-headings-breakdown 
RELATED EPISODES
DZ-01: Do screenplay gurus win you Oscars?
DZ-68: Using narrative POV to structure KNIVES OUT
DZ-118: Adolescence and tension through questions
DZ-90: Raising (a different kind of) Stakes
DZ-35: Driving Characters or Character-Driven?
DZ-63: Tools for Better Dialogue - Hook and Eye
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.

How does Film Noir show us terrible people doing terrible things without endorsing it?
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
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.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
Despite Chas claiming to have edited this episode it was, in fact, Chris Walker who saved the day and got this done. Thanks Chris.
 
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Using noir as a lens
00:01:56 - DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS
00:31:33 - WOMAN OF THE HOUR
01:04:30 - Key Learnings 
01:08:50 - Thank you Patreons!
 
LINKS
Shot Zero on the noir-set of noir shots in WOMAN OF THE HOUR
 
RELATED EPISODES
DZ-123: Flawed characters & noir
DZ-03: Making unlikeable protagonists compelling
DZ-110: Voiceover
 
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.

What can Film Noir teach us about character arcs and audience engagement?
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 focuses on two (now classic) noirs: DOUBLE INDEMNITY and THE LONG GOODBYE.
While Part 2 looks at two more contemporary examples DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESs and WOMAN OF THE HOUR.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 - Cold Open
00:00:17 - Flawed Characters and Noir
00:16:40 - Double Indemnity
00:53:38 - The Long Goodbye
01:21:15 - End of Part 1


LINKS

Mel's A Brief History of Queer Coding in Film: Part 1 - https://melkillingsworth.substack.com/p/a-brief-history-of-queer-coding-in-film-part-1 


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.

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 1d0, 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/