The One-Sentence Rule for Founders: Explain What You Do in a Single Sentence

The one-sentence rule for founders Imagine this scene. One evening, you go to the movies with a friend. You want to persuade them to see your favorite film. Your friend will certainly ask, “What is it about?” If your answer takes more than thirty seconds, your friend may lose patience before you finish. Their eyes will wander to other titles on the listings as they wonder, “Is there something else we could watch?” That is also the question every screenwriter fears most. In Hollywood, producers hear hundreds of script pitches every day. The time they give an individual writer may be only a few dozen seconds in an elevator. Screenwriters must therefore learn to explain in one sentence who the protagonist is and what happens to them. The “one-sentence rule”: you must be able to say what your story is in a single sentence. Look at successful films, and you will find that they can often be condensed into a one-sentence premise. For example: After a goalkeeper with poor skills is fired by his team, he is suddenly told that a huge inheritance awaits him. Hello Mr. Billionaire. A poor young man and a wealthy young woman fall in love aboard a ship, which later strikes an iceberg and sinks. Titanic. Yet many screenwriters leave the one-sentence synopsis until the end. As they write, they become immersed in their scenes and work out every detail, forgetting one simple thing: if you cannot state the core of the story in one sentence, you have not truly thought it through. A film’s one-sentence premise is like a book cover. A good cover makes you want to open it immediately and see what is inside. #救貓咪 [Save the Cat] ----- Robin, underlining the point: “Explain exactly what you do in a single sentence.” In Hollywood, producers hear hundreds of script pitches every day. The time they give an individual writer may be only a few dozen seconds in an elevator. Screenwriters must therefore learn to explain in one sentence who the protagonist is and what happens to them. Many screenwriters leave the one-sentence synopsis until the end. As they write, they become immersed in their scenes and work out every detail, forgetting one simple thing: if you cannot state the core of the story in one sentence, you have not truly thought it through. A film’s one-sentence premise is like a book cover. A good cover makes you want to open it immediately and see what is inside.