What is the But and Therefore Rule in Screenwriting?

In every screenwriting class, you are going to learn about many rules. However, the most important one is always the same: give the story energy to keep the viewers engaged. Keeping an audience entertained is, after all, the entire purpose of a story.

However, everyone who has ever tried to write a script will have found themselves in a position where maintaining a constant engaging narrative that relates to the audience and has a logical flow to it is hard work.

Thankfully, there are some tricks and tips that can help writers out in such situations. In this article, we will be looking at the “but and therefore” rule. This is a method to ensure energy, continuation, and connection in a script.

To understand this rule and ensure a good grasp of how to use it we will follow three steps:

1. Identifying how the rule works and why it should be used.
2. How it has been used in the past by other writers.
3. How this will help in your own writing.

The “But and Therefore” Rule

Origins

Most screenwriters themselves get stuck at some point or another during the screenwriting process. From writers who create scenes on a spur of a moment act at 2 am when inspiration strikes them, to screenwriters who meticulously plan out each step of their script, everyone hits a wall at some point in their writing.

The same happened to professional screenwriters Trey Parker and Matt Stone, best known for South Park. When they hit their first success with South Park, they soon felt the pressure to live up to the hype. But when they had to develop more brilliant episodes they found themselves stuck.

So, the question was how to get out of this writer’s block and keep an engaging narrative. This is where the “but and therefore” rule comes into the story.

What is the But and Therefore Rule?

The rule consists of a simple approach of replacing the words “and then” with “but and therefore” in a story.

Here is a simple example to convey the idea.

• “James goes out for a run, and then it rains, and then he goes swimming, and his ex-girlfriend is there, and then he goes home.”
• What the rule does for us is to turn this boring event into a more exciting journey through James’ day by simply utilizing the but and therefore rule…
• “James goes out for a run, but it is raining; therefore, he goes swimming. But his ex-girlfriend is at the swimming pool, therefore he hurries home.”

As this example shows, the simple use of but and therefore creates tension and helps create a flow of circumstances and consequences in the narrative structure. The events that take place suddenly aren’t happening because of the writer’s desire. They happen due to a chain reaction from what happened previously in the story.

Why Use the But and Therefore Rule?

So the rule is a great trick to prevent writer’s block during the production of a script. Whenever there is a new event in the story, you can simply think of an obstacle that can come in the way of what the character wants. As a consequence, the character makes a decision or action to work through that challenge.

This can also help avoid dull and passive stories. In the process of writing a story, most people fall into the routine of writing in a list format. They write as if they were preparing an essay rather than a piece of entertainment.

Even though this makes a story clear, it is not always a useful approach as it dulls down the narrative structure and can leave the viewer uninterested after a few scenes. Parker and Stone’s approach facilitates achieving a lively and entertaining story. By creating obstacles to the character’s dramatic wants and forcing them to come up with clever solutions in order to achieve their goal, they produce an exciting story the audience wants to take part in.