DZ-118: Adolescence and tension through questions

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

How do dramatic questions create tension?

In this episode, Stu and Chas delve into the cultural phenomenon of ADOLESCENCE. We try to find the craft tools that have made the show so compelling and such a catalyst for conversation.

In particular, we breakdown how the show’s emphasis on questions creates tension: not just tension through plot, but tension through character, and ultimately tension through theme.

We analsyse the show episode-by-episode, and discuss how the overall structure skilfully shifts from a plot-heavy police procedural towards a thematic-heavy melodrama and the impact that has on our experience.

We discuss how the decision to shoot the show in a series of “oners” affects the writing and what tools we can take from that to apply to our own writing (even if we’re not writing it to be a one-shot): POV characters, handovers, French scenes, emotional events, and more.

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

CHAPTERS

• 00:00:00 - Cold Open
• 00:00:10 - Why Adolescence?
• 00:09:32 - Episode One
• 00:32:03 - Episode Two
• 00:46:59 - Episode Three
• 00:57:47 - Episode Four
• 01:19:19 - Melodrama
• 01:23:32 - Scene-level tools
• 01:52:57 - Key Learnings & Wrap Up
• 01:58:33 - Thanks to our Patreons

RELATED EPISODES

• DZ-67: Writing “Passive” Protagonists & Melodrama
• DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith Weston
• DZ-101: Oners - Creating Immediacy & Anchoring Action on the Page
• DZ-70: Joker & Melodrama

LINKS

• Watch: Crafting Adolescence's Tense One-Take Episodes with Stephen Graham | BAFTA
• Watch: The Making Of Adolescence - The One-Shot Explained | Netflix

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.

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