Your Script Is Missing This: Setups and Payoffs

[Music] setups and payoffs are one of the key elements that makes a story feel alive intentional and interwoven they can make or break your story if you don't clearly understand how they work and why they are important you can fill your story with all sorts of thematic structural and expositional problems today I'm going to explain what setups and payoffs are common problems with setups and payoffs and how you can build them into your screenplay let's begin let's start at the very beginning with chekhov's gun chekhov's gun is a concept from Russian playwright Anton Chekhov which

states if in the First Act you have hung a pistol on the wall then in the following act it should be fired otherwise don't put it there so if we see a gun in act 1 it better go off in act three sorry we're closed okay shot what he's saying is every element of your story should be important don't specifically add story elements that we never see again you can also invert this idea which is more useful if a gun goes off in act 3 we better have seen it in act one to put this

rule another way remove everything that has no relevance to the story don't spend time and effort describing objects character backstory settings or other information that doesn't actually play a role in the story this is a great way to think about your basic plot external pieces that are added to your story shouldn't matter and you should remove pieces that don't matter pretty straightforward now let's add one layer set up and pay off chekhov's gun is a rule that is often associated with setup and payoff and through chekhov's gun we can discuss a key rule of Storytelling

reusing an element that has already been established will always be more satisfying than introducing a brand new one when you constantly introduce new ideas to your story your audience doesn't really know what to expect the rules of your story's world are constantly changing they don't feel that any of the information you've given them matters because you can simply add a new idea that changes everything whenever you feel like it this makes your story feel dissatisfying not what we want a setup and payoff works like this you introduce something to your audience you bring that thing

back later changed in some way now there's one extra element to the setup and payoff formula the reminder a reminder tells the audience that what they have seen is important it's not until you see something twice that you really know it matters the reminder is also the middle state that place where change has begun but isn't complete let's look at some examples of setup and payout Mad Max Fury Road excellently uses setups and payoffs throughout its story here's one major example Max's blood in the beginning of the film Max is captured and he is given

a tattoo that shows he is a universal donor we see the importance of his blood when nux uses his blood to keep himself alive soon after we have our first reminder Max and nux crash in the desert and Max takes the needle out of him stopping the blood from leaving his body when Max furiosa and the Gang are in the Bog we catch a glimpse of the blood tube on Max's shoulder he is still carrying it and finally the payoff in the end of the film Max gives furiosa a blood transfusion to save her life

now I can't talk about this concept without mentioning Hot Fuzz Hot Fuzz is absolutely jam-packed with setups and payoffs and there is a video linked below that gives you tons of examples of setup and payoff from Hot Fuzz I recommend watching the movie and studying it now let's add one more layer theme setup and pay off plus theme equals Motif a motif is a meaningful symbolic story that is told throughout a larger story rather than set up and pay off simply being a plot device you symbolically tie an element to a character belief choice or

idea which adds meaning to the object Pixar's Up has some of the best interwoven motifs of any recent film I could spend the entire video breaking them all down but I will touch on just a few key examples first Ellie's Adventure book in the beginning of the film Ellie shows Carl her Adventure Book Adventure is out there the book is filled with empty pages of stuff she is going to do this ties to the theme both characters yearn for adventure then we get the reminder when Ellie is unable to have children Carl has the great

idea to finally go to Paradise Falls and have an adventure they are finally going to fulfill their dream of going on the adventure from the book second reminder Ellie gives Carl the adventure book as she is dying their desire for adventure is going unfulfilled Carl was unable to keep his promise and it seems hopeless and finally the payoff in the end of the film when Carl finally brings the house to Paradise Falls he looks back through the pages of stuff she is going to do and seize their life together and he realizes their life together

was the adventure adventure was not there it was right here it's beautiful and the meaning is clear another fantastic Motif is the grape soda pen in the beginning Ellie gives Carl the grape soda pen as he enters her Club then the reminder Carl wears the grape soda pin as an old man after Ellie's death and finally the payoff Carl gives the grape soda pin to Russell after their adventure together wow laughs settings objects lines of dialogue someone's job the place they get coffee these can all be linked to your philosophical dilemma and theme through the

use of motifs chekhov's gun isn't just about external plot it can show how our character goes from being staunchly non-violent to finally realizing they must do what is necessary takes the gun off the wall and uses it now let's look at some ways motifs can go wrong first no change no meaning in Suicide Squad we are introduced to the stuffed unicorn pinky it is referenced three times over the course of the film seemingly having a setup reminder and payoff however meaning is never attached to the unicorn and the Unicorn never changes or impacts the story

in a meaningful way therefore making this setup reminder and payoff useless to the story from a plot perspective and useless to the story from a meaning perspective if there is no change there is no meaning and if there is no meaning it is useless to your story second strange meaning wrong audience reaction just because there's a setup and payoff doesn't mean it works one of the most iconic examples of this problem is in Batman v Superman dawn of Justice Batman v Superman sets up the idea of Martha being the name of both Batman and Superman's

mothers but it is strangely added into the film at a point where the scene itself doesn't function and you can take a look at my fixing Batman v Superman video linked below for more on what's wrong with this scene the payoff is strange and the scene it's within already isn't functioning so the payoff ends up making the audience laugh rather than meaningfully paying off the setup The Coincidence of both Batman and Superman's mother is having the same name doesn't really mean anything so when the filmmakers try and force it to mean something through a scene

that's supposed to be highly dramatic it just doesn't work now let's look at setups as Exposition rather than waiting until the halfway point of your story to slam the audience with tons of exposition begin giving important pieces of information before the audience understands its importance for example we return to Mad Max and the warboy spray early in the story we see a warboy spray chrome paint on his teeth after being mortally wounded then jumping onto a car exploding it and killing himself in the process this explains a key piece of the world through the action

of the story while also setting up this element that comes back later now later in the story when we see nux spray chrome paint over his teeth we know what is about to happen you can use setups and payoffs to interweave key plot elements before the audience understands their importance in the very first scene of get out we see a black man getting kidnapped by a man in a mysterious car this sets up the tone of the film from this scene we now get an understanding that this will be a horror Thriller but it doesn't

simply stop there the character who was kidnapped returns halfway through the film tying the seemingly Standalone opening scene back into the story at a key Point rather than giving the audience tons of information about this character halfway through we are given bits and pieces of information over the course of the story this helps to avoid Exposition dumps a massive mistake movies make is giving Exposition in hindsight characters solve a problem using an idea that hasn't been set up yet then you have a character explained in hindsight why the solution was possible so essentially you have

a payoff with no setup then a bad explanation for why the event happened The Last Jedi is riddled with these kinds of expositional mistakes for example as the resistance runs from the first order the idea is suddenly thought of to use small transports to escape the first order Fleet but this doesn't make sense because how would the first order not see the ships then Leia comes in to conveniently explain kodo knew the first order was tracking our big ship they're not monitoring for little transports so rather than setting up the story rule first then using

it later the story solves a problem by introducing a new concept the audience doesn't understand and then Explains It Away afterwards this is bad writing here's a new rule for exposition that you can use it is much better to set up an element earlier through Exposition and then use that element later in the story rather than give Exposition after the element has been used this also ties into flashbacks and why they suck let's return to up what if the up Montage was a flashback what if rather than telling the story linearly where we see Ellie

and Carl fall in love and Ellie eventually die the story started with Carl an old man who decides to take his house to Paradise Falls for reasons that aren't quite emotionally clear then over the course of the story we get flashbacks about his wife and the meaning of going to Paradise Falls this would be awful and this is why most flashbacks are awful we are given the information after the meaningful moment has happened it's only meaningful that Carl is traveling to Paradise Falls because we already know that it was Ellie's dream to go Man of

Steel makes this exact mistake in the beginning we see Clark Kent saving people as a fully grown man then later we flash back to Young Clark struggling to decide whether or not he should use his power publicly to save people but we already know what he's chosen so the flashback doesn't matter the drama isn't real because we already know the payoff we know the answer this is also why non-linear stories suck and you should stop trying to write them especially if you've written less than five screenplays now let's take all of this information and look

at how to practically build setups and payoffs into your screenplay number one write your first draft and build setups and payoffs after if you are struggling to brainstorm good setups and payoffs for your story here's what to do write your first draft now that you have a first draft search your story for different important set pieces objects that are important to your characters and key plot elements that move the story forward where do these elements come in for the first time do we not see them until the second half of the story find a way

to set the element up in the first half is your ending a deus ex machina great take that final piece and look at ways you can build a setup in act 1 and a reminder in Act 2. do you give the audience information in the first half of the story that never ends up being important see if you can bring the element back in the second half and if not cut it from the story if you have a functioning setup and payoff what is the elements meaning in the story is it simply plot or does

it mean something if it is simply a plot device how could you change it to hold meaning for the story and create a motif number two setups in the first half payoffs in the second here's a general rule once you cross the halfway point of your story minimize newly introduced characters set pieces objects and plot devices when you're in the rewriting stage look at your second half and find any newly added ideas ask yourself if you can swap out this new thing for something you have already used something you can expand upon in the second

half or if you can't get rid of this new thing you've added follow the inverted chekhov's gun rule find a way to introduce and set up that element in your story's first half therefore weaving the story together number three avoid Exposition dumps through setups and payoffs rather than stopping the story to give your audience information they did not expect set up key elements before the audience realizes their importance that way you can hint at where the story is going without the audience noticing and you can avoid massive Exposition dumps that bore your audience and make

your story less engaging number four use setups and payoffs rather than dialogue show the change in relationships between characters based upon returning symbols rather than clunky dialogue I want to return to Mad Max Fury Road with the boot Motif to explain this idea in the beginning of the story in the storm Max's boot is taken by slit after the storm is over Max steals nux's Boot and finally we get to pay off in the Bog Max steals a boot from the bullet Farmer's gang and Gifts it to Knox showing that Max forgives Knox and he

is now a part of the team this ends up creating a motif around forgiveness now imagine if this scene was our two characters sitting and Max says hey you know what you're a good guy I forgive you and nux goes thanks bro that means a lot this would feel out of character for Max as well as simply being a boring scene find moments in your screenplay where characters have long conversations about their relationship to one another and find a way where you can show this change through action through an object and through a motif okay

so I know I've thrown a ton of information at you so here's the bullet points one more time Chekhov told us that if we see a gun in Act One it better go off in act three you can invert this to be more helpful if a gun goes off in act 3 we better have seen it in act one next setups and payoffs are important because reusing an element that has already been established will always be more meaningful than introducing a new one and don't forget the reminder set up reminder pay off it is key

in creating change in the symbol or motif and attach your setups and payoffs to your theme as much as you can this is a motif all motifs are setups and payoffs but not all setups and payoffs are motifs and don't give Exposition in hindsight set up key information before that information becomes valuable to the audience and put your setups in the first half and your payoffs in the second thanks for hey I hope you enjoyed the video and if you're interested in fixing your feature-length screenplay with me then click the top Link in the description

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