{"podcast":{"title":"Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast","slug":"draft-zero-a-screenwriting-podcast-770577","podcast_index_feed_id":770577,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/draft-zero-a-screenwriting-podcast","website_url":"http://www.draft-zero.com","image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/SNg7vlbjF99Iqt6O0suAq8ASob0lWK1CRClKin7a4gk/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS85NjRj/Yjg4ODAyMWYzZTBk/OGNiM2ZjNmEzZjBk/NWY3NC5qcGc.jpg","author":"Stuart Willis","episode_count":131,"summary":"Two emerging screenwriters – Chas Fisher and Stuart Willis – try to work out what makes great screenplays work. Discovering what it takes by analysing what successful writers put on the page.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/draft-zero-a-screenwriting-podcast-770577"},"episode":{"title":"DZ-119: Final Character Choices & Great Endings","slug":"dz-119-final-character-choices-great-endings","published_at":"2025-06-18T01:35:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/draft-zero-a-screenwriting-podcast-770577/dz-119-final-character-choices-great-endings","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/draft-zero-a-screenwriting-podcast-770577","url":"https://draft-zero.com/2025/dz-119/","audio_url":"https://media.transistor.fm/933b3163/ef3a69bc.mp3","summary":"Listen if you want to understand how to better dramatise a character's internal journey In this episode, Stu and Chas focus solely on the final choices made by protagonists and how that reflects their character journey and successfully, or not, dramatises the internal. We compare and contrast different uses of narrative POV in respect to these final choices. And in particular whether and when the audience is made aware of the options available to the character, the act of making the choice, and the consequences of the choice. We breakdown examples from DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES, FINDING NEMO, MICHAEL CLAYTON, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN and TALK TO ME. As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes. LIKE THIS EPISODE? Discuss with our Patrons on Patreon . Watch and comment on YouTube . Send us feedback. Thanks to our Patrons, especially Lily, Paulo, Alexandre, Malay, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis and and Khrob. → Read the transcript for this episode. ——— \"A character has to make the most difficult decision of their life, and it becomes the crisis because each alternative poses a loss as well as a gain. And so, therefore, characters have to weigh what really matters most to them.\" — Stu Willis @ 00:23:48 ——— CHAPTERS 00:00:00 – Opening 00:00:18 – Why Final Choices? 00:10:45 – DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 00:19:09 – FINDING NEMO 00:28:45 – MICHAEL CLAYTON 00:53:11 – PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN 01:16:38 – TALK TO ME 01:41:45 – Key Learnings 01:50:13 – Thanks awesome patreons! FILMS DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES (2023) — (w) John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, Michael Gilio (d) John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein FINDING NEMO (2003) — (w) Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds (d…","meta_description":"Listen if you want to understand how to better dramatise a character's internal journey In this episode, Stu and Chas focus solely on the final choices ma…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":6759,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/draft-zero-a-screenwriting-podcast-770577/episodes/dz-119-final-character-choices-great-endings/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/draft-zero-a-screenwriting-podcast-770577/dz-119-final-character-choices-great-endings.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}