Replacing “then” with “therefore” or “but”: this might be the simplest and most powerful advice for bringing meaning and emotion to stories.
The power of logical connectors
To captivate the viewer’s attention in screenwriting, there are many techniques, many of which are revealed here. Here is one of the simplest, yet one of the most powerful: a method to anchor the story not only in the viewer’s emotion, but also in the very meaning of life.
These words may seem grandiloquent given the technical simplicity of my recommendation. Yet this tool remains remarkably effective. From scene to scene, from sentence to sentence, I suggest you abandon temporal connectors – “and then,” “next,” “the next day,” “the day before,” in favor of two other ways of linking your ideas, situations, scenes, chapters, or dialogue lines. These two connectors are, first, “therefore,” and second, “but”:
- The “therefore”: creating a world of consequences
When we connect two situations with “therefore” rather than “then,” everything changes. What follows becomes the logical consequence of what precedes. The world then acquires meaning, a coherence in which we are invited to participate. - The “but”: revealing dramatic tensions
As for “but,” let’s imagine it introduces the following situation. It immediately reveals oppositions, antagonisms, the complex tensions that govern relationships between events. This simple word plunges us into the heart of the world’s complexity, awakening emotions, questions, concerns, unexpected alliances, and plot reversals.
An anchoring in life
Let us never neglect the possibility of articulating our transitions with “therefore” or “but” rather than simple temporal markers. This approach will anchor our stories in the vital energy and depth of existence itself.
Reference
This principle was popularized by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, during a conference given at New York University (NYU) in 2011. In this presentation, they explain: If the words ’and then’ belong between your story beats, you’re in trouble. It should be ’but’ or ’therefore’.
Their method, also called the “But & Therefore Rule,” is now widely adopted in screenplay teaching as a fundamental tool for strengthening dramatic logic and narrative dynamics.
