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Recordings

Catch up on over 30 years of video and audio exploration of Dramatica theory.

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Follow the YouTube channel for new releases and livestream announcements, then use the archive here for notes, Storyforms, and the rest of the narrative context.

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Latest recording

Watch the newest release before exploring the archive.

Dramatica Walkthrough: Story Expert

Inside NarrovaOctober 8, 202601:05:46

Follow The Last Elf, a fantasy adventure about the last source of magic in a world determined to possess it, from its first idea to a complete Storyform in Story Expert.

Jim Hull works through character dynamics, plot decisions, and the Four Throughlines, using film examples and Storytelling from the developing Story. The walkthrough explores a Steadfast Main Character, sources of Throughline conflict, and Obligation in an unlikely friendship, then opens the finished structure in Storyform Builder to show how 11 choices reveal 103 inferred Storypoints, including Signposts.

Past recordings

Reverse chronological order following the featured replay.

It Was Just An Accident - Dramatica Users Group Analysis

It Was Just An Accident - Dramatica Users Group Analysis

Dramatica Users GroupSeptember 9, 2026

How certain do you have to be before you take revenge—and what would it actually resolve?

In Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, a chance encounter brings former prisoners together around a man they believe tortured them. Chris Huntley, Jim Hull, and the Dramatica Users Group examine how that shared search for certainty connects to Vahid’s personal struggle and the film’s unsettling ending.

The discussion works through the Four Throughlines—Objective Story, Main Character, Influence Character, and Relationship Story—and tests those choices in the Storyform Builder and Theme Browser. It explores Knowledge and Thought, Truth and Evidence, and why achieving the Story Goal can still leave the Main Character’s personal anguish unresolved.

Recorded September 8, 2026. Full-film spoilers, including the ending.

YouTube01:37:29
The Relationship Story

The Relationship Story

Introduction to DramaticaJune 20, 2026

This Introduction to Dramatica lesson explains the Relationship Story perspective.

The video shows how the relationship between Main Character and Influence Character creates its own line of conflict and meaning, helping writers keep the bond itself distinct from either person's individual perspective.

Replay available on our YouTube channel.

YouTube00:05:46
The Influence Character

The Influence Character

Introduction to DramaticaJune 12, 2026

This Introduction to Dramatica lesson explains the Influence Character perspective.

The video shows how the Influence Character applies pressure to the Main Character by presenting an alternative way of approaching the story's central inequity, helping writers keep influence distinct from opposition, advice, or simple supporting-character behavior.

Replay available on our YouTube channel.

YouTube
F1

F1

Dramatica Users GroupJune 10, 2026

In this Dramatica Users Group session, we work through F1 The Movie and test how the film's racing spectacle organizes into a complete narrative argument.

The conversation follows the Objective Story pressure around competition, team performance, and risk, then looks at how personal drive, mentorship, and second chances shape the larger Storyform. If you joined us live on June 9, 2026, this is the full recording. If you missed it, this is the complete walkthrough.

YouTube
The Objective Story vs. the Main Character

The Objective Story vs. the Main Character

Introduction to DramaticaJune 6, 2026

This Introduction to Dramatica lesson distinguishes the Objective Story from the Main Character perspective.

The video shows why the external conflict everyone can observe is not the same thing as the personal point of view through which the audience experiences the story, helping writers keep Dramatica's structural perspectives clear.

Replay available on our YouTube channel.

YouTube
The Four Throughlines

The Four Throughlines

Introduction to DramaticaMay 30, 2026

This Introduction to Dramatica lesson explains why a complete story needs four distinct Throughlines.

The video introduces Objective Story, Main Character, Influence Character, and Relationship Story as four perspectives on the same central inequity, giving writers a compact way to see why a story can feel incomplete when one perspective is missing or blurred.

Replay available on our YouTube channel.

YouTube00:04:04
Between Us: The Relationship Throughline Unveiled

Between Us: The Relationship Throughline Unveiled

Inside NarrovaMay 29, 2026

In this Inside Narrova recording, we look at the Relationship Story Throughline as its own source of dramatic pressure inside the Dramatica Narrative Platform.

The walkthrough focuses on the bond between Main Character and Influence Character, showing how Narrova helps writers keep relationship conflict distinct from personal change, influence, and the larger Objective Story problem.

Replay available on our YouTube channel.

YouTube00:56:27
Players and Perspectives

Players and Perspectives

Introduction to DramaticaMay 28, 2026

This Introduction to Dramatica lesson separates the Players audiences see from the Perspectives that carry a story's structural meaning.

The video shows why a character's visible role is not always the same thing as the point of view or function they represent inside the Storyform, helping writers avoid flattening Dramatica into character labels alone.

Replay available on our YouTube channel.

YouTube00:03:45
Inside Narrova: Story Drivers and Signposts

Inside Narrova: Story Drivers and Signposts

Inside NarrovaMay 22, 2026

In this Inside Narrova recording, we look at how Story Drivers move a plot from one Signpost to the next inside the Dramatica Narrative Platform.

The walkthrough follows an adventure story example through Objective Story Signposts and Driver moments, showing how Narrova helps writers connect structural theory to practical story development.

Replay available on our YouTube channel.

YouTube00:56:50
Inside Narrova: Players and Narrative Functions

Inside Narrova: Players and Narrative Functions

Inside NarrovaMay 15, 2026

In this Inside Narrova recording, we look at how Players connect to Narrative Functions inside the Dramatica Narrative Platform.

The walkthrough shows how Narrova helps separate visible story participants from the structural functions they carry, so writers can reason about character movement, Objective Story pressure, and the deeper Storyform without flattening everything into plot summary.

Replay available on our YouTube channel.

YouTube00:43:11
Introduction to Dramatica

Introduction to Dramatica

Introduction to DramaticaMay 13, 2026

This Introduction to Dramatica lesson gives new writers a quick orientation to Dramatica as a model of complete story structure.

The video frames Dramatica as a way to understand how plot, character, theme, and emotional meaning work together as one coherent argument.

Replay available on our YouTube channel.

YouTube00:05:04
Thunderbolts*

Thunderbolts*

Dramatica Users GroupMay 13, 2026

In this Dramatica Users Group session, we work through Thunderbolts* as more than a team-up film. The conversation looks at how the story pressures damaged people into contact with one another, then tests whether that pressure organizes into a complete Storyform.

We track the Throughlines, examine the ensemble's shared crisis, and look at how recovery, identity, and mutual responsibility shape the film's argument. If you joined us live on May 12, 2026, this is the full recording. If you missed it, this is the complete walkthrough.

YouTube01:35:19
One Battle After Another

One Battle After Another

Dramatica Users GroupMarch 11, 2026

Some films move like a chase. Others move like a reckoning. One Battle After Another keeps asking what happens when political pressure, old loyalties, and unfinished history refuse to stay in the past.

In this Dramatica Users Group session, we work through Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film as more than a conspiracy thriller with art-house texture. The conversation digs into how the story organizes generational fallout, competing allegiances, and the lingering force of prior choices into a narrative argument that feels both expansive and deeply personal.

We look at the Throughlines, test the Storyform, and follow the way consequences echo through every relationship on screen. If you were in the room Tuesday night, this is the recording. If you missed it, this is the full breakdown.

YouTube01:40:21