The George Lucas 3 Second Story Rule - Margaret Kerrison

BUY THE BOOK - IMMERSIVE STORYTELLING FOR REAL AND IMAGINED WORLDS: A Writer’s Guide

Born in Indonesia and raised in Singapore, Margaret Kerrison received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Her career spans television, film, digital media, games, brand storytelling, location-based entertainment, and immersive experiences. She has worked as a Story Lead, Story Consultant, and Writer for multiple projects around the world, including Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Star Wars: Launch Bay, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, Avengers Campus, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, National Geographic HQ, and the NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s Journey to Mars: Explorers Wanted. She was the writer for five projects that won Themed Entertainment Association (THEA) Awards. She has appeared in the Disney+ series Behind the Attraction, the Freeform television special Star Wars: Galaxy‘s Edge – Adventure Awaits, and the online educational program Imagineering in a Box. She was a Disney Imagineer from 2014-2021. She is currently a Sr. Experiential Creative Lead at Airbnb. Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds – A Writer’s Guide is her first book.

MORE VIDEOS WITH MARGARET KERRISON

CONNECT WITH MARGARET KERRISON

VIEWERS ALSO WATCHED

MORE MICHAEL WIESE PRODUCTIONS AUTHORS

(Affiliates)

BOOKS WE RECOMMEND

SUPPORT FILM COURAGE BY BECOMING A MEMBER

CONNECT WITH FILM COURAGE

SUBSCRIBE TO THE FILM COURAGE YOUTUBE CHANNEL

LISTEN TO THE FILM COURAGE PODCAST

Stuff we use:

AUDIO

*These are affiliate links, by using them you can help support this channel.

#film #movies #story

[filmcourage]

2:32 - George Lucas 3 Second Story Rule

[rileyhoffman]

It's one of the ironies of literary writing: the more specific the story, the more universally it will be recognized and, thus, understood. Truth!

[blackjackjonny]

8:07 - I think her bit about properly being bored is a much more important takeaway than the 3 second story rule.

[danielwilliams]

Just to clarify, the rule is that the average audience member spends three seconds assessing the given information before they decide if they're in or out. While you can't appeal to everyone, the best strategy is to honestly present something uniquely interesting to you and odds are good that most viewers will find the universal truths in it and become invested in the story. Conversely, trying to appeal to everyone leaves the world feeling lifeless and dull. Is that right?

[Hank-the-Writer]

Best advice ever. Why? When you meet someone for the first time, do you hope they're like every other person in the world or do you hope they're unique? That works in stories, too.

[nicolesudjono]

I’m a marketeer, and I bought her book to help me create video ads that is immersive, including creating my own projects on storytelling :) Its really helpful to find that immersive side, and this interview gives me even more perspective :D thank you and wish me luck!!

[MariWakocha]

This is why some movies have a so much deeper immersion than others. Some movies play it safe and can be quite okay, but can see how it was written and planned while you watch it, while others lets you forget that and just live in that world!

[SGresponse]

25 years ago I wrote in my notepad "Boredom is the manifest urge to create - Inspiration is just an extended version of Boredom.". Looks like my teenage mind was onto some good shit.
PS: This was coupled with a pencil sketch of a planet being ravaged by nuclear mushrooms. Teenage angst is just manifest irony I guess.

[AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE]

Part of the reason Disney failed at carrying on the Star Wars legacy... it just didn't feel like Star Wars anymore. As much as I enjoyed "The Force Awakens" upon release... there were so many moments that took me out of the film/universe... Finn saying "boyfriend" for one.

[shaunhall]

This isn't about Star Wars but more about how to approach your art. As an artist I focus on my work and once it is done I let go of it. I cannot control how others perceive it.

[geargeekpdx]

Lucas has an entire documentary about how he wrote Star Wars using ethnolinguist Joseph Campbell's "The Hero's Journey" template that is a 12 step applied storyform that was apparently a "universal myth" across disparate and disconnected ancient cultures

[icanrelate]

Having covid for 2 weeks forced me to slow down and brought me back to my creative nature instead of suppressing and rejecting it. I whole-heartedly agree with what she said about boredom.

[ksworld]

"The imagination needs moodling--long, inefficient happy idling, dawdling and puttering."
– Brenda Ueland

[klingonfan]

You cover a lot of different things on your channel which is awesome. I think you should look into covering the films of Shaun Rose. He's a no-budget filmmaker who directs, writes, acts, edits and I think he does the DP work too. He did one called Upstate Story and another called Toga. His stuff is pretty solid and he said in podcasts that he had a stroke while making one. very interesting story

[velvetbees]

Someone once told me that people need structured and unstructured time. Margaret explained that beautifully.

[sdjohnsononyoutube]

Ok, the 3-second rule got me. I remember SW concept designer Doug Chiang speaking on that. So, I had to click. I really like Margaret's musings. And, I like that the interviewer threw humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow in there. His work has been a great help for me.

At 9:06, she started to sound like Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay "Self- Reliance." Her observations immediately prompted me to think about a video or writing of author Robert Greene concerning the matter of "boredom" as well. Might I add, it was because of the downtime during COVID-19 in 2020, that my family and I decided to prep and record our 1st short movie in 1 month.

Returning to the 3-second rule in storytelling, I don't know how Denis Villenueve and his team did it, but twice I deliberately broke free from his story of "Dune" to monitor my eldest's reaction to the movie (I'm a bit protective when it comes to ratings). Yet, I always found myself entranced or hypnotized as if I was no longer an observing audience member, but one who was a part of that world. In other words, I emotionally and mentally left the theater and was transported to that story's reality without any mental or physical effort of my own. This was without IMAX. I have not had that experience since I was a child experiencing Lucas's and Henson's fantastic stories. It was like I was operating on theta waves or some sort of waking dream.

This was a great segment. Very tantalizing.

[peterfmodel]

While I agree personal experiences can be solid bedrock to build a good story-arc on, you have to have a very interesting personal experience to use, if this is going to be your main hook. This is why the great authors in history have experienced and seen significant tragedy, suffering and horror. If your life is a typical life in a 1st world country your personal experiences are not going to be of much interest to most people, unless you have suffered terrible abuse, or experienced drug addiction, or something along those lines.

When George Lucas created star wars he leveraged classic tales who contained the most raw and basic human experiences, which is what made the movie so great. It was not his personal experiences which made that movie great. A writer can certainly add some aspect of their own personal experiences into a character, but that is not the main pull of a great story-arc.

As for world building, the 3 second rule is good, but the more important point is you need to ensure you do not do anything to take people out of your world. The #1 reason why your audience may be taken out is a lack of credibility and continuity.


What I prefer an interesting and likable character, which have to overcome a challenge at great personal costs. I think that a classic and timeless character-arc. The story-arc can almost be anything if you get the character-arc right.

I totally agree with the comment on boredom. Great ideas come from bored people..

[spicsymane]

Luke saying "You fought in the Clone Wars?"

[whitezombified]

Love how people will quote and claim to admire Lucas, but will gladly take part in his creation's downfall lol

[Hannah_The_Heretic]

You cannot please everyone, and in trying to do so you may get a lot of people watching but you will make a lasting impact of your film on to people virtually impossible.
But if you write from experience you (usually) logically cant get that wide a range of audience acceptance, but if you did well there will be (admittedly less, but more dedicated) people that will remember your film and affect them for the rest of their lives.
Which is more worth it to you?