Origin & Source
Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, during a lecture at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. They explained that the secret to South Park's storytelling isn't shock value - it's structure. Their rule: between every two story beats, you should be able to insert 'but' (introducing conflict) or 'therefore' (showing consequence). If you can only say 'and then', the beats are disconnected and the story is dead.
The principle went viral when the lecture clip spread online and became a foundational tool in screenwriting, content marketing, and brand storytelling. It's now taught in writing workshops worldwide as the simplest test for whether a story has genuine causality or is just a sequence of events.
Trey Parker & Matt Stone - NYU Tisch School of the Arts lecture on storytelling.
Widely referenced in screenwriting education and content marketing frameworks.
Adapted into brand storytelling by numerous marketing educators.
The Framework
Fill in each step for your brand, product, or campaign.
1. Write the Events
List every beat in your story as simple statements. Don't worry about connections yet - just get the events down.
2. Test with 'And Then'
Read between each pair of beats. If you can only say 'and then' between them, the connection is weak. Flag these transitions.
3. Replace with 'But'
Where unexpected conflict, contradiction, or surprise connects two beats, use 'but.' This creates tension: 'We launched the product. BUT nobody bought it.'
4. Replace with 'Therefore'
Where logical consequence connects two beats, use 'therefore.' This creates momentum: 'Nobody bought it. THEREFORE we rebuilt the entire onboarding.'
5. Cut 'And Then' Beats
If a beat can only connect with 'and then,' either rewrite it to create causality or cut it entirely. Every beat must earn its place through but or therefore.
Why it matters now
Most brand content is 'and then' storytelling: we did this, and then we did that, and then we launched this. No tension. No causality. No reason to keep reading. But/Therefore is the fastest diagnostic tool for fixing flat content - and the simplest rule for ensuring every beat earns its place.
Ready-to-Use Templates & Examples
TV Ad Script - 60-second spot for an electric vehicle brand
A man fills up his gas car at a station. He watches the price tick up. $78. $82. $87. He sighs.
But across the street, a woman unplugs her EV from a home charger. Total cost on her app: $3.40. She doesn't even look at it.
Therefore the next morning, the man is on his phone. Browsing EVs. His wife leans over: 'You're serious?' He says: 'I just spent $90 on gas to drive to work.'
But the dealership tells him the waitlist is 4 months. He almost gives up.
Therefore he finds [Brand] - available now, delivered to his door. He places the order.
But the first morning, he forgets to charge overnight. He panics.
Therefore he checks the app. The car's smart charging kicked in at midnight - it's full. He smiles. Drives past his old gas station. Doesn't stop. [Brand logo]. 'It just works.'
B2B SaaS - Case study rewritten with but/therefore connectors
A 200-person company was growing 30% year-over-year.
But their customer support team was drowning - ticket volume had tripled but headcount hadn't changed.
Therefore response times went from 2 hours to 2 days. NPS dropped 20 points in one quarter.
But the CEO refused to hire more support staff - 'We need to solve this with systems, not bodies.'
Therefore they deployed [Product] to automate tier-1 tickets. 60% of volume resolved without a human.
But the support team initially resisted - they thought automation meant layoffs.
Therefore the company retrained the team for tier-2 and tier-3 cases. Average handle time dropped 40%. NPS recovered to its highest point ever. Nobody was laid off - they were leveled up.
Personal brand - Newsletter story about a failed product launch
I spent 6 months building a course I was sure would sell.
Therefore I launched with a big email blast to 5,000 subscribers.
But only 3 people bought it. Three. I checked the analytics 14 times to make sure it wasn't broken.
Therefore I emailed every subscriber who opened but didn't buy. One question: 'What stopped you?'
But the answers weren't what I expected. Nobody said it was too expensive. They said they didn't understand what it was.
Therefore I rewrote the landing page in one afternoon. Same course. Different positioning. Relaunched to the same list.
Therefore 47 people bought in the first 48 hours. Same product. Same audience. The only thing that changed was how I explained it.
Quick-Start Prompts
Answer these to fill the framework for your own story.
Write your story as a sequence of events. Now read the gaps - can you say 'but' or 'therefore' between each one?
Find every 'and then' in your content. Is there a causal link you're missing?
What's the first 'but' in your story? That's where it gets interesting.
Chain three 'therefore' beats in a row. Feel the momentum?
If you removed one beat, would the next beat still make sense? If yes, cut it.
When to use
Editing any content that feels flat - apply the but/therefore test to every transition
Case studies and customer stories that read like timelines instead of narratives
Pitch decks where slides feel disconnected - each slide should but/therefore into the next
Social media posts and email sequences that need momentum between beats
When NOT to use
Purely informational lists where sequential order is the point (how-to guides, instructions)
When the story genuinely has parallel events that don't cause each other
Highly emotional content where the connector should be felt, not stated explicitly
Legal or compliance copy where causation claims could be problematic
Related storytelling techniques
Pixar's Story Spine
The Story Spine's 'Because of that' is a 'therefore' - use But/Therefore to add conflict between the Spine's cause-and-effect beats
Story Mountain
But/Therefore connectors are what make the Rising Action actually rise - each 'but' adds tension, each 'therefore' adds momentum
Promise, Progress, Payoff
Use But/Therefore to create tension within the Progress phase - the payoff lands harder when the path wasn't smooth
Story Roller Coaster
The roller coaster's drops are 'but' moments and the climbs are 'therefore' moments - combine for maximum emotional impact
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the But/Therefore rule?
A storytelling principle from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone: between every two beats of a story, you should be able to say 'but' (unexpected conflict) or 'therefore' (logical consequence). If you can only say 'and then,' the beats are disconnected and the story lacks momentum.
How do I know if I'm using 'and then' storytelling?
Read your content and mark every transition between beats. If most of them are 'and then' (this happened, and then this happened), your story is a list of events, not a narrative. Good stories have a mix of 'but' (70%) and 'therefore' (30%) - the tension/consequence ratio keeps the audience engaged.
Can I use both 'but' and 'therefore' in sequence?
Yes - and you should. The most powerful sequences chain them: 'We launched (therefore) customers signed up. But retention was terrible. Therefore we rebuilt onboarding. But that broke the signup flow...' Each connector forces the next beat. The chain creates unstoppable momentum.
Does this work for non-fiction and B2B content?
It's actually more powerful for B2B than fiction. B2B content is plagued by 'and then' storytelling - flat case studies, disconnected slides, sequential emails. Applying But/Therefore to a case study or pitch deck transforms it from a report into a narrative that the audience can't put down.
Should I literally write 'but' and 'therefore' in the text?
Not always. The connectors can be implicit. 'We launched successfully. The next quarter told a different story.' That's a 'but' without the word. The test is: could you insert 'but' or 'therefore' between the beats? If yes, the causality is there even if the word isn't.
Related Creative Techniques
Analogy for the Problem
Equate your product to the sweet relief of something universally awful, like untangling headphones or finding a matching sock. Suddenly, you're not selling features, you're selling salvation from the everyday bullshit they already hate. Nail this, and your campaign becomes the one everyone talks about.
Gamification
Points, badges, leaderboards — turn your brand into a digital casino and watch those dopamine receptors light up. Exploit the human weakness for shiny things and manufactured status, because the industry already is, so why not you? Nail this, and your campaign becomes the one everyone talks about.
Conduct a Product Trial
Give away the cow to sell the milk - a limited-time product trial. Get them actually *using* the damn thing, not just staring at a login screen, and they'll be addicted before the month is up. Nail this, and your campaign becomes the one everyone talks about.
Retell a Known Story
Take a story everyone knows and tell it from a new angle - the forgotten perspective, the untold side, the what-if. Familiar stories retold hit different.