DZ-95: Backmatter - Building and Maintenance

Listen listen to hear why first acts keep shrinking--and whether yours should too

Time for our annual backmatter episode, where we drop any ruse of any objectivity, and fully embrace our subjective opinions!

In this episode we discuss: potential topics for 2023; the ostensible shortening of first acts; balancing new projects vs current projects; how to maintain hope in the face of an industry as fickle as ours; and end with a discussion of Andor vs Obi-Wan. Yup, Star Wars is the new Die Hard. Get over it.

FYI we recorded this episode with both of us in the same room (for a more casual atmosphere )but that means there’s more technical gremlins like crosstalk. Our apologies in advance!

Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode. <3 Chris!

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

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→ Read the transcript for this episode.

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CHAPTERS

• 00:00:09 – Cold Open
• 00:00:39 – What's Coming in 2023
• 00:05:56 – › Ensemble films and efficient character tools
• 00:10:28 – › Fictional podcasts and audio drama as minimum viable product
• 00:14:50 – › Monologues, rhetoric, and characters speaking to the audience
• 00:25:42 – Are First Acts Getting Shorter?
• 00:27:03 – › Streaming, audience patience, and the pressure on early pages
• 00:32:10 – › Cold opens, inciting incidents, and buying time for character
• 00:40:09 – Balancing New Projects Against Current Work
• 00:43:55 – › Cognitive load, burnout, and finding the space to write
• 00:48:05 – › Sunk cost, paid work, and protecting time for new material
• 00:49:48 – Maintaining Hope in a Fickle Industry
• 00:51:22 – › Action over optimism: hope as a process not a feeling
• 00:54:21 – Lessons from 2022
• 00:56:41 – ANDOR vs. OBI-WAN KENOBI
• 00:56:56 – › What Kenobi got right despite its problems
• 01:00:17 – › Plot armor, scale, and why Obi-Wan never felt under genuine threat
• 01:05:10 – › How ANDOR earns tension by surrounding the known survivor
• 01:09:49 – › Thematic scenes, characters alone, and what rebellion costs
• 01:14:38 – Thanks to Our Patreons!

SHOWS

• ANDOR — (w) Tony Gilroy
• OBI-WAN KENOBI

LINKS

• Read: LISTEN: Starship Q Star

EPISODES IN THE BACKMATTER SERIES

• DZ-17: Where's my gold-plated ensuite?
• DZ-36: Backmatter - Time Risk and Fixing Movies
• DZ-47: Backmatter - A Lost Jedi, White Knighting, and Writers-On-Set
• DZ-57: Backmatter - Aesthetics and Forgiveness in Writing
• DZ-64: Backmatter - Controlling your Work, Treatments, and Writing Styles
• DZ-77: Backmatter - Prioritising and choosing projects
• DZ-86: Backmatter - Minimum Viable Product
• DZ-95: Backmatter - Building and Maintenance

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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/2022/dz-95/