Story Grid Showrunners

030: Ozark Season 1 - 6 Core Questions and Foolscap

Episode Summary

Parul and Randall use the Story Grid methodology to analyze the Netflix hit Ozark. Does the Story Work? The Story Grid knows!

Episode Notes

Did the Story Work?

Randall: Pretty good, some nice surprises, overall the story worked.

Parul: High stakes, constantly moving. The story worked as a thriller.

What are the Editor’s Six Core Questions?

It’s a great way to analyze any story and figure out if it works. Here are the questions. We’ll touch on them in this podcast, but the full notes can be downloaded afterward.

1. What’s the genre?
2. What are the conventions and obligatory scenes for that genre?
3. What’s the Point of View?
4. What are the objects of desire?
5. What’s the controlling idea/theme?
6. What is the Beginning Hook, the Middle Build, and Ending Payoff?

BEGINNING HOOK

We start with what appears to be a normal family: Marty is an accountant who appears to watch porn all the time.  The kids are pretty normal, Charlotte is a normal teenager with attitude and Jonah seems to be pretty normal too.  Then we find out that Marty knows his wife is cheating on him.  All of this sets the stage for the viewers, we see the family at home, work and play and we have a good idea what they are all about.

To see the rest of our show notes go to www.storygrid.com or www.sgshowrunners.com