{"id":293,"date":"2011-06-09T13:11:03","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T13:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/?p=293"},"modified":"2024-12-09T18:17:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T18:17:58","slug":"remember-the-golden-rule-of-three-for-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/remember-the-golden-rule-of-three-for-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember the Golden “Rule of Three” for Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know some of you writers out there \u2013 yes, you know who you are — don\u2019t like rules and formulas and are ruthlessly resistant to following any kind or paradigm in your script writing efforts but the simple truth is that patterns and methods exist in life and art and often it is the artist\u2019s task to present them in such a way so that they enhance the drama but do not stand out like a sore thumb.<\/p>\n

Even Gene Kelly<\/em> used technique.. He didn\u2019t just wake up one morning and do a back flip but he was such a master at his craft that he made every dazzling move look seamless and effortless through years of practice and applying technique to creativity.<\/p>\n

The job is the same for the writer.\u00a0 To create a story that has technique and intention yet uses tried-and-tested screenwriting<\/a> devices where necessary and the writer\u2019s skill to present the events that unfold in an organic way so that we, as an audience, hook into the plot and the characters that inhabit the depicted fiction world before us.<\/p>\n

So with that in mind, you, as a screenwriter<\/a>, must learn that the \u201crule of three\u201d doesn\u2019t just apply to telling jokes.\u00a0 That\u2019s right, you don\u2019t have to be a comedian (but it sometimes helps) to use this technique in your own scripts to make your narrative and character development have more impact.<\/p>\n

In order for an audience to remember an important piece of information or to fully understand and identify with your screenplay’s clever third-act twist, you first have to set it up, then you remind them (usually in a subtle way) and then you make that jaw-dropping pay-off!\u00a0 And it doesn\u2019t just apply to your overall act structure but also to scenes and the dialogue within them.\u00a0 Just as a witty one-liner may have a beginning, middle and end, so does a monologue, a heated dialogue exchange, a fight and a car chase.\u00a0 The rules appear everywhere to varying degrees.<\/p>\n

A crude example would be your hero entering a trendy club and noticing an ornate bowl of nuts<\/strong> on the bar.\u00a0 He takes one as he asks the bartender some questions.\u00a0 Then during the middle of the scene a seductive woman approaches him and they exchange some dialogue.\u00a0 He\u2019s not interested but as she departs she mentions how the nuts<\/strong> he\u2019s eating contain germs since people don\u2019t wash their hands.\u00a0 As we approach the end of the scene, the hero comes face to face with the person that has been following him all day and they have a fist fight while everybody around them watches on.\u00a0 The hero ultimately wins by reaching behind him, grabbing the bowl of nuts<\/strong> and slamming it across the guy\u2019s head.. maybe even ending the scene with a witty retort about how the woman was right and that the nuts are bad for your health.<\/p>\n

Setup. Reminder. Pay-off.<\/p>\n

Now, would the scene work as well with only the first and last visual of the nuts?\u00a0 Or perhaps just the last? No. One \u2013 Two \u2013 Three. Simple yet extremely effective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know some of you writers out there \u2013 yes, you know who you are — don\u2019t like rules and formulas and are ruthlessly resistant to following any kind or paradigm in your script writing efforts but the simple truth is that patterns and methods exist in life and art and often it is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[88,23,98,94,11,99,86],"class_list":["post-293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dan-bronzites-script-tips","tag-creative","tag-creative-writing","tag-rule-of-three","tag-screenwriter","tag-screenwriting","tag-technique","tag-writing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions\/684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}