Film Sack

Film Sack episodes are about one hour long. Starting with a sound bite from the item being covered and a greeting by the hosts, a synopsis of the film will be read by voice-over actor Scott Fletcher. The panelists cover the content of the film or television episode, often discussing trivia regarding the film. If an actor or director has been covered in an earlier episode, this is usually noted. The hosts will occasionally answer audience emails, or interact via chat with the audience listening to the show while it is being recorded. Johnson plays clips taken from the film, sometimes for comedic effect, or to demonstrate important parts of plot, or to point out bad editing. To conclude the podcast, the co-hosts will sum up their feelings of the film with a 140-character "Twitter post". A short selection of Scott Fletcher-voiced film quotes will follow. These are followed by Scott summing up what he learned from the film to comedic effect.[2]

Tropes are usually pointed out by the four hosts, such as sassy black female characters, wise-cracking sidekicks, false introductions, etc. These "trope alerts"[9] are signified by the blaring "red alert" sound of Star Trek's Enterprise.

The panelists will frequently remark upon the connection between the Star Trek universe with the film being reviewed, in the manner of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. These connections are normally an actor that has appeared in any of the Star Trek series (from the Original Series to Enterprise) or any of the eleven films. Crew members of the films that have worked behind the scenes on both the film and in the Star Trek universe have also been mentioned. The hosts will occasionally read submissions from the podcast audience listing such connections.

Beginning with Episode 12, the host started "The Film Sack Checklist". [10] These are film tropes[9] that seem to occur on a regular basis with the films they have watched for the podcast. The checklist included at its introduction: bad guy with a theme song or sound, barfing, boobies, decapitations, stereotypes, urination/defecation, Kenobi archetype, animal/robot for comedy relief, and [a late addition], a cave that looks like a vagina.[10]

Beginning with episode 49, the Film Sack List became "The Film Sack Awards".[11] The awards are given to cast and crew members of the film and sometimes the film itself.[2] Awards given and discussed vary from episode to episode. Some awards are the "Wilford Brimley Moustache Award",[11] the "Baby Ruth Bodily Function Award",[11] and the "Sharon Stone Skin Award".

Along with the regular episodes they produce, the Film Sack crew occasionally release "Bonus Sacks". These episodes are full-length commentary tracks that are meant to be played along with specific films as an alternate sound track.[2] Similar to Mike Nelson's RiffTrax, the panelists will discuss the film as they watch it. Consequently, these episodes do not include the standard segments from the normal episodes.[12]