How does interweaving two timelines change how the audience feel?

Stu and Chas are joined by Mel Killingsworth to dissect interweaving timelines. Not anthology films. Not Cloud Atlas. But films where two plot lines featuring the same characters, but from different timelines, are woven together.

How do you manage stakes when you know a character's future? What questions does this prompt in the viewer? And how the hell do you orient the reader?

To answer these questions, it will take three episodes. In this Part 1, our intrepid team (and Mel's 42 pages of homework) tackle the 2018 film DESTROYER directed by Karen Kusama, written by Hay & Manfredi and starring Nicole Kidman.

Meanwhile, Part 2 will cover THE SOCIAL NETWORK and Part 3 will compare the 1994 Gillian Armstrong version with 2019 Greta Gerwig version of LITTLE WOMEN. Whew.

Stay tuned! SPOILERS ABOUND!

Audio quotations used for educational purposes only. Timestamps indicated below. Chapter markers included in the mp3.

Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode.

RUNNING ORDER

00:00:10 Intro
00:01:46 Interweaving Timelines?
00:14:54 Destroyer & Timelines
00:35:28 Indicating Timelines
00:39:21 Ordering the Key Events
00:51:50 Theme & Timelines
01:06:44 Questions prompted by the ending
01:20:58 Key Learnings & Wrap Up
01:37:37 Backmatter

EPISODE LINKS

WATCH: Destroyer (2018)
FOLLOW: Melanie Killingsworth – @mehlsbells on twitter
READ: "A Game Designer's Analysis Of QAnon"

RELATED EPISODES

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DZ-78: Interweaving Timelines 1 - Destroyer

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast