DZ-71: Treatments & Loglines - Development Tools 1

Listen to understand why a treatment isn't something to dread, but the plot-development tool that saves you months of writing. Stu and Chas are joined by fan-favourite, Stephen Cleary, to NOT look at what makes great screenplays work -- but what makes great "short documents" work. We draw on Stephen Cleary's wealth of experience in developing work with writers, as a producer, as a script editor and as a former head of development. This recording turned especially epic and so we have divided it into three parts that can be listened to in any order. Part 1 (this part) explores the short documents and tools you can use to develop your story’s PLOT before going to script, including the Premise, the Logline, various synopses, character documents, and - of course - the dreaded Treatment… But also looks at development tools that aren’t written like: script reads, mini-shoots and animatics. Stay tuned for : Part 2 (DZ-71) which delves into documents that develop your story’s theme; and then Part 3 (DZ-73) where we look at how to write short documents differently when your objective isn’t story development but rather selling your idea/project. As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes. LIKE THIS EPISODE? Send us feedback. Thanks to our Patrons, especially Theis, Jack, Chris, Khrob, Sandra and Matteo. ——— CHAPTERS 00:00:00 – Intro 00:13:32 – The writing gym 00:19:32 – Animatics & Script Readings 00:28:08 – Telling your story out loud 00:31:07 – Why Treatments suck 00:36:49 – The Premise 00:44:43 – Exploring WRITTEN short docs 01:04:29 – What about non-hero's journey? 01:14:36 – Using short docs to keep going 01:21:04 – Back to the Premise 01:24:37 – Moving from Premise to Logline 01:25:33 – Stay tuned for Part 2! EPISODES IN THE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS SERIES DZ-106: How do you know if you have enough story? DZ-71: Treatments & Loglines - Development Tools 1 DZ-72: Theme & The Story Synopsis - Development Tools 2 DZ-81: Pitch Decks & Look Books - Development Tools 4 DZ-73: Selling documents - Development Tools 3 ——— 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. Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2020/dz-71/