DZ-66: The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker - Audience Knowledge vs Character Motivation

Explicit content warning

03/17/20 • 105 min

How does audience knowledge affect your character’s motivations?

Chas and Stu are joined by special guest - filmmaker Mel Killingsworth - to talk all things Star Wars. Well. Focusing on The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker and wherever else our tangents take us.

Our primary lens is look at how both shows handle “fan service” — but really its about how you handle character motivations when your audience has more knowledge than your characters, especially knowledge from outside the show itself. To that end, we discuss the characters of Poe, Rey, Kylo, and Palpatine in depth. We also discuss the Watchmen TV Show, Mind-hunter, Jojo Rabbit, Snowtown and Zodiac.

SPOILERS ABOUND. Excerpts used for educational purposes. Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode.

RUNNING ORDER

Introduction: Fanservice
Poe's Backstory (@ 4:03)
The Mandalorian (@ 11:40)
The Rise of Skywalker (@ 23:01)
Rey Palpatine (@ 24:24)
Palpatine's Plan (@ 38:27)
Rey Skywalker (@ 46:05)
Ben Solo - Depressive Demon Nightmare Boy (@ 52:12)
Palpatine's Return & Watchmen (@ 01:07:27)
Rose Tico (@ 01:15:54)
Fake-Outs (@ 01:19:15)
The Mandalorian (Revisited) (@ 1:26:08)
Wrap Up & Key Learnings (@ 1:30:38)

EPISODE LINKS:

READ: Wikipedia - Fan Service
READ: “The Rise of Skywalker: Memorabilia without Memory, a Misunderstanding of Hope” by Jeanette Ng
READ: “The Force Belongs To Us: THE LAST JEDI’s Beautiful Refocusing of Star Wars” by Film Crit Hulk
LISTEN: Fatman Beyond http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FatManOnBatman/~3/grl4sApz4cE/271-the-rise-of-skywalker-spoiler-show
FOLLOW: Mel Killingsworth https://twitter.com/mehlsbells?s=20
WATCH: https://www.b-windmedia.com/

DZ RELATED EPISODES:

lease considering rating or subscribing to us on Apple Podcasts! or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners. We are @stuwillis and @chasffisher on twitter. And you can find @draft_zero on Instagram and Twitter.

Many thanks to all our patrons but particularly to Theis, Jesse, Jack, Chris, Khrob, Sandra, Nick, and Matteo. They’re good humans.

BUY DRAFT ZERO MERCH via TeePublic

How does audience knowledge affect your character’s motivations?

SPOILERS ABOUND. Excerpts used for educational purposes. Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode.

RUNNING ORDER

Introduction: Fanservice
Poe's Backstory (@ 4:03)
The Mandalorian (@ 11:40)
The Rise of Skywalker (@ 23:01)
Rey Palpatine (@ 24:24)
Palpatine's Plan (@ 38:27)
Rey Skywalker (@ 46:05)
Ben Solo - Depressive Demon Nightmare Boy (@ 52:12)
Palpatine's Return & Watchmen (@ 01:07:27)
Rose Tico (@ 01:15:54)
Fake-Outs (@ 01:19:15)
The Mandalorian (Revisited) (@ 1:26:08)
Wrap Up & Key Learnings (@ 1:30:38)

EPISODE LINKS:

READ: Wikipedia - Fan Service
READ: “The Rise of Skywalker: Memorabilia without Memory, a Misunderstanding of Hope” by Jeanette Ng
READ: “The Force Belongs To Us: THE LAST JEDI’s Beautiful Refocusing of Star Wars” by Film Crit Hulk
LISTEN: Fatman Beyond http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FatManOnBatman/~3/grl4sApz4cE/271-the-rise-of-skywalker-spoiler-show
FOLLOW: Mel Killingsworth https://twitter.com/mehlsbells?s=20
WATCH: https://www.b-windmedia.com/

DZ RELATED EPISODES:

Many thanks to all our patrons but particularly to Theis, Jesse, Jack, Chris, Khrob, Sandra, Nick, and Matteo. They’re good humans.

BUY DRAFT ZERO MERCH via TeePublic

Previous Episode

DZ-65: Collaborating with a Director - The Snip

What changes in your writing and development when collaborating with a director?

This episode, Chas steps down as co-host (kinda) and is interviewed by Stu as a guest, alongside director Ben Mizzi, about the short rom-com that Chas wrote and Ben directed & produced. The episode covers taking an idea from pitch to screen, working with a director, directing performance on the page, and marketing and distribution strategies for short films.

If you are thinking of producing your own content, well worth a listen!

And if you want to watch The Snip - a 16 min rom com about a guy who gets a vasectomy without telling his wife - here it is: https://youtu.be/_iBdDFKqqbs

Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode.

RUNNING ORDER

Introduction: The Snip
Working With a Director (@ 3:44)
How did you go from pitch to script? (@ 13:16)
Short films and audience expectations (@ 22:19)
What expectations can you have of the end product? (@ 26:41)
How do you "direct" performance on the page? (@ 39:05)
How do you direct performance from a writer? (@ 46:03)
What are some marketing strategies for short films? ( @ 52:28)
What is your online release strategy? (@ 58:22)

EPISODE LINKS

WATCH: The Snip - https://youtu.be/_iBdDFKqqbs
LISTEN: Screen Director with Jeremy Saunders on Key Art - http://www.screendirector.org/post/2015/8/14/jeremy-saunders-key-art

Please considering rating or subscribing to us on Apple Podcasts or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners.

Many thanks to Chris, Sandra, Jack, Jessie, Nick, Khrob and Theis for being top-level patrons. They’re good humans. Consider joining their ranks and supporting us on Patreon!

Next Episode

DZ LiVEsolation Annoucement

How does Draft Zero cope with lockdown?

LINKS

Facebook: http://facebook.com/draftzeropodcast/
Patreon: http://patreon.com/draftzero/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIEz5b9FMNa7Tj8DkcJQWRA

Dear DZ Listeners,

We hope you are all staying healthy and safe. Due this difficult time of lockdown, Chas and Stu have decided to “regularly” do special live-streamed episodes (via YouTube Live) of Draft Zero that we are calling LiVEsolation.

They different from (and in addition to) Draft Zero ClassicTM as you’ll be able to interact with us as we record: asking questions, prompting for clarification, and making observations that come part of the discussion. You’ll also be able to see video of our us (👎) while also seeing video of the scripts and scenes we are discussing (👍). After they’re streamed, recordings of the livestreams (including the chat!) will be on our YouTube channel for later viewing.

LiVEsolation episodes that we particularly like will also be cleaned up and put out through the traditional podcast feed... but not always. Because our priority is doing these regularly, they'll be looser - like a great live gig. We are aiming for once-a-week and at the same time... but that won’t always be possible due to... well...life. We are also having special guests and will need to work around their schedules and timezones.

So how do you keep up wth our shifting schedule?

We recommend you like our page on Facebook. Our livestreams will be created as events so you know what streams we will be doing and when... in your timezone!

We are also making PUBLIC posts on our Patreon page (i.e. ones you don’t have to pay for if you don’t have the coin during these trying times), so if you follow us there you’ll get something like an email newsletter with announcements about what’s forthcoming. Oh, and if you are a Patreon you’ll get priority access to the online chat (when appropriate) and also get to vote on forthcoming topics.

Meanwhile, Draft Zero ClassicTM episodes will continue as scheduled. All of the above is in addition to what we already had planned, driven entirely by isolation and a need for community right now.

We hope to see you on the livestream soon!

— Stu and Chas.