DZ-41: Theme and Worldview

Listen if theme feels abstract - we talk how how to make it visible through what characters believe.

In this episode, Stu and Chas tackle one of the more esoteric topics in screenwriting (and writing in general): theme! To help us tackle this topic, we decided to look at television pilots, because we felt that television requires the theme to be more explicit. Our zig-zagging (and long) discussion covers thematic engines, music themes, thematic loglines, punishment vs reward, and - perhaps most of all - the worldview of characters.

So we take a look at the opening and closing scenes (and middle scenes, too) of some of our favourite shows: HOUSE OF CARDS, CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, TRUE DETECTIVE, FARGO and TRANSPARENT. We also make passing reference to SPEC OPS: THE LINE, GAME OF THRONES (its Stu's new Star Wars), and BOJACK HORSEMAN.

In backmatter, we talk about the difference between the written scripts of these pilots and their released versions.

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

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CHAPTERS

00:24:33 – HOUSE OF CARDS
00:42:23 – CRAZY EX GIRLFRIEND
01:07:27 – TRUE DETECTIVE
01:52:46 – TRANSPARENT
02:01:05 – WRAP UP MATERIAL
02:21:29 – BACKMATTER

SHOWS

HOUSE OF CARDS 1x1 "Chapter 1" — David Fincher (d), Beau Willimon (w)
CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND 1x1 "Josh Just Happens to Live Here!" — Marc Webb (d), Aline Brosh Mckenna, Rachel Bloom (w)
TRUE DETECTIVE 1x1 "The Long Bright Dark" — Cary Joji Fukunaga (d), Nic Pizzolatto (w)
TRANSPARENT 1x1 "Pilot" — Joey Soloway (d), Joey Soloway (w)
FARGO 1x1 "The Crocodile's Dilemma" — Adam Bernstein (d), Noah Hawley (w)
GAME OF THRONES 1x1 "Winter Is Coming" — Tim Van Patten (d), David Benioff, D B Weiss (w)
BOJACK HORSEMAN 1x1 "BoJack Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Story, Chapter One" — Joel Moser (d), Raphael Bob Waksberg (w)
SIX FEET UNDER 1x1 "Pilot" — Alan Ball (d), Alan Ball (w)

LINKS

YouTube: Game Maker's Toolkit: Morality in the Mechanics
YouTube: Game Maker's Toolkit: Telling Stories with Systems
YouTube: SpecOps the Line - White Phosphorus Scenes
Read: Script: HOUSE OF CARDS by Beau Williamson
YouTube: Tyrion and Varys Discuss Power
YouTube: Rust & Martin Car Conversation
YouTube: Six Feet Under - Elephant Art vs Termite Art
YouTube: Lester Nygaard talks to Lorne Malvo about Sam Hess
Script: FARGO script by Noah Hawley

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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/2017/dz-41/

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