Curry Barker builds his scripts around a single rule he borrowed from the people behind South Park: link every beat with “but then” or “therefore,” never “and then.”
He laid out the approach on CBC’s Q with Tom Power around Sept. 25, 2026. Stringing scenes together with “and then this happens and then this happens” is “pretty boring,” Barker said. Instead, he wants each beat to be “consequential to the next thing.”
It’s a philosophy Trey Parker has described in nearly identical terms: if “and then” fits between two beats, the story is in trouble, and the writer should be reaching for “therefore” or “but” instead.
Barker points to the opening diner scene in his horror hit Obsession as the rule in action. Bear is rehearsing a speech about asking his co-worker Nikki out, but Ian cuts him off and says no — therefore Ian starts coaching him on how to actually do it.
Ian tells him he has plenty of time. Bear latches onto that, but then he gets home and finds his cat dead, therefore he’s grieving instead. Each turn pushes the scene somewhere new rather than simply piling events on top of one another.
“Everything should lead to the next thing,” Barker said. “You kind of learn these storytelling instincts.”
The method appears to be working. Obsession, which Barker wrote, directed, and edited, has grossed more than $519 million worldwide.
