DZ-97: Ensembles 2 - Servicing Characters

Listen if you're writing ensemble stories and want to discover tools for giving all your characters adimension In Part 2 of our exploration into ensemble stories, Stu, Chas and Mel examine films whose plot and genre require a lot of characters. Thus we tackle a team sports film (PITCH PERFECT), a murder mystery (GLASS ONION), a slasher (SCREAM 2022) and a family holiday flick (THE FAMILY STONE). By looking at these films, we discover tools for writers to service characters and give them more dimension. These tools include: shifting group dynamics; the spectrum of private to public behaviour; breaking POV, and quintessential group introductions. Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode. As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes. LIKE THIS EPISODE? Watch and comment on YouTube. Send us feedback. Thanks to our Patrons, especially Casimir, Eduardo, Jennifer, Garrett, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis, Alex and Khrob. ——— CHAPTERS 00:00:00 – Cold Open 00:01:46 – Intro: Servicing Characters 00:14:40 – Pitch Perfect 00:37:54 – Glass Onion 01:09:20 – Scream 5 01:32:17 – The Family Stone 02:13:22 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up FILMS PITCH PERFECT (2012) — (w) Kay Cannon, Mickey Rapkin (d) Jason Moore GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY (2022) — (w) Rian Johnson SCREAM (2022) — (w) James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick (d) Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli Olpin THE FAMILY STONE (2005) — (w) Thomas Bezucha SCRIPTS Study the script: PITCH PERFECT (2012) — Kay Cannon, Mickey Rapkin Study the script: GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY (2022) — Rian Johnson Study the script: SCREAM (2022) — James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick EPISODES IN THE ENSEMBLES SERIES DZ-96: Ensembles 1 - What do we mean by an ensemble? DZ-97: Ensembles 2 - Servicing Characters DZ-98: Ensembles 3 - Character Function & Theme RELATED EPISODES DZ-09: Characterising Introductions DZ-43: Driving Sequences - Character and Plot Intensity DZ-96: Ensembles 1 - What do we mean by an ensemble? ——— 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/2023/dz-97/