What if the real battle in your story isn’t the war outside—but the fear of discomfort within?
For spoiler-safe listening: this episode’s first six lessons focus on the film’s opening ten minutes, so you can learn without spoilers. Around the 14-minute mark, Jake gives clear warning before discussing later plot developments. Run, don’t walk—you’ll want to see this movie for yourself!
In this special Sundance episode of the podcast, Jake shares ten lessons for screenwriters drawn from Andrius Blaževičius’s How to Divorce During the War. The film is a masterclass in visual storytelling, set in Lithuania as the war in Ukraine begins. It follows a once-promising filmmaker and his corporate-executive wife whose relationship fracture mirrors a broader social struggle between complicity and conviction.
In the spoiler-free first half of the episode, Jake analyzes the film’s opening ten minutes, showing how Blaževičius establishes theme—without exposition or speeches, revealing character through behavior and juxtaposition, while subverting expected structural beats—including an inciting incident that arrives just after the one we were expecting. Though the geopolitical conflict of the title remains largely offscreen, its moral pressure saturates every scene.
After the spoiler warning, Jake explores how the rest of the film escalates pressure on its characters—forcing them toward authentic action, punishing them for their right choices, and ultimately delivering a final sequence that reframes everything.
By the end of the episode, you’ll see how Blaževičius threads a single thematic engine—comfort vs. discomfort—through every act and scene, creating a story that feels intimate, political, and universal all at once.
You’ll Learn
- Why your first image should contain the DNA of your entire film
- How to build a screenplay around thematic tension—letting it shape every structural decision
- How non-intuitive cuts can replace exposition and keep audiences interpreting
- Why your title should carry not just premise—but emotional tone
- How Blaževičius twists expected beats to deepen theme and surprise his audience
- How to design a character arc around discomfort rather than desire
- Why you should punish characters for their right decisions to test real change
- How early visual setups can quietly forecast your ending
- What your final image reveals about what your story ultimately believes
LISTEN NOW to learn how theme-driven structure can elevate your scenes, sharpen your character arcs, and make your ending land with emotional impact.
