// WORKSHEET · LESSON 01 OF 07

Write Your Emo Q

One sentence, two halves, and the audit that tells you whether the rest of the project is pointing at it.

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01THE TWO HALVES

An emotional question is an emotional need welded to a situational vector. Write each half on its own before you try to combine them.

Project

Working title, or just what you call the thing.

The emotional need

What does your character or subject need emotionally? This does not change across the piece.

The situational vector

What external pressure keeps forcing that need into the light? This is what changes.

02THE ONE SENTENCE

Now weld them together. If it takes more than one sentence, you have two questions and need to pick one.

Your emotional question

This is the post-it note. Write it so a stranger could read it and know what the piece is testing.

If someone read only that sentence, what would they expect to feel by the end?

It fits on a post-it note, in one sentence, with no semicolons.

03THE SIX-LAYER COHERENCE CHECK

Coherence beats perfection. For each layer, write how it reinforces the question. Anywhere you go blank is where the spell will break.

1 · Emotional spine

The question itself. Weak here and the piece feels pointless even when it is well shot.

2 · Story design

Contradiction, reveals, escalation. Weak here and it feels flat or repetitive.

3 · Directing and performance

Behavior, subtext, intention. Weak here and it feels performed.

4 · Cinematography

Framing, movement, composition. Weak here and it feels distant or confusing.

5 · Edit

Rhythm, contrast, breath, ordering. Weak here and it drags.

6 · Sound

Design, transitions, music, silence. Weak here and it feels cheap.

04THE 3-QUESTION AUDIT

Three questions. If any answer is no, you are not done. This comes back in Lesson 07 as the final checkpoint.

1 · Can you write the emotional question on a post-it right now?

If not, what is missing from it?

2 · Does the opening 30 seconds contain two truths that do not sit together?

Name both. Lesson 02 goes deep on this.

3 · Is there a scene you love that does not answer the question?

Name it. Then decide: cut it, or save it for a different project.

Built from the Playbook’s One Emo Q, the Six-Layer Stack, and the 3-Question Audit, plus the Operational Theme worksheet from the Scribble Worksheets library.

← Back to Lesson 01: Start with the Question: Why Every Great Short Film Begins with One Sentence