I've been doing this newsletter for (checks notes) 102 weeks now, and this was possibly the closest I came to not putting out an issue. Not because it was a very busy week training-wise (which it was, with 4 full training days out of 5). But because I'm fast approaching the deadline to submit the first draft of the book. And am frantically spending every available hour editing, refining, adding, modifying, deleting, and overall going nuts about the last few laps.

But whew, it's been a fun ride. Will miss it when I submit the draft (hopefully mid-next week).

And ya, didn't want to break the weekly promise, so here we go!

Welcome to the hundred and third edition of '3-2-1 by Story Rules'.

A newsletter recommending good examples of storytelling across:

3 tweets
2 articles, and
1 long-form content piece

Let's dive in.

𝕏 3 Tweets of the week

Think better, write better.

Interesting use of visual contrast. One issue: The graph does not indicate the quantum of impact. The left side might be complete job loss, while the right one might be some cost impact, leading to marginal job loss. Not a fair comparison without knowing that.

Hahaha, hilarious!

📄 2 Articles of the week

a. 'Bollywood's Fantasy of Control Is Failing Everyone' by Takshi Mehta (The Plank)

The Plank Mag is a promising new initiative co-founded by journalist Samarth Bansal.

This piece sheds some light on how Hindi cinema is going through a troubled financial model due to high star salaries.

The piece opens with some contrast - on how the poor staff of a recent big budget movie were not paid:

In April 2024, as crew members of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan went public about their unpaid dues, a focus puller named CH Ravi Kumar made frantic calls from his hospital bed. Bedridden for eight months, he had exhausted his insurance, borrowed money for medical bills, and was still owed around ₹1.5 lakh for his work on the film.

...even as the star was paid a humungous fee (surely it would have been success-driven?):

The film had everything that was supposed to guarantee success: two bankable stars in Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff, high-octane action sequences shot across exotic locations, and a proven commercial formula. Kumar alone was reportedly paid ₹100 crore—more than the film’s entire theatrical earnings of around ₹80 crore.

Bollywood seems to be stuck in a vicious cycle: Big budgets driven by big stars -- higher ticket and popcorn prices -- people coming to theatres less often -- producers forced to make big budget movies to entice audiences to come to movies:

What has changed is what it costs: going to the movies is becoming increasingly expensive. A Hindi movie ticket now averages ₹203 - nearly double what Telugu (₹110) or Tamil audiences (₹95) pay. Add in the soaring cost of popcorn and cola—now ₹132 per person, up from ₹72, according to PVR data—and a family of four might spend over ₹1,500 for one movie outing. At these prices, people are becoming selective. The fall in attendance is stark: from 34 crore tickets in 2019 to 23 crore in 2024. Empty seats multiply: PVR’s theatre occupancy has dropped from 34.3% to 25.6% over the past four years.

Star salaries seem to be the biggest driver of the cost increase. Even seasoned producers are complaining:

"I am so fed up," Karan Johar said at Film Companion’s Producers Adda in 2021. "I have seen actors’ prices rise through the worst period of cinema, for no reason. There was an X amount; three months later, it is here, three months later it is there. But, why? They have not had a release, their last release was a failure, their films have not taken off and yet they are just going on."

Star demands have also gone berserk:

One star insisted on having his driver transport his personal car to every city he flew to for shoots. Another demanded multiple hotel suites during outdoor shoots—one to stay, one for staff, a third just for getting ready. During a UK schedule, a star demanded his entire family be accommodated throughout the shoot in a villa. When they arrived, the production received an angry call—the mansion was perfect, but where was the tea pot?

Industry insiders blame the OTT platforms for spoiling the market:

The roots of this escalation trace back to the pandemic, when streaming platforms started paying unprecedented sums. Stars who charged ₹5 crore for theatrical films were reportedly offered ₹15 crore for streaming projects. Those rates became the new normal, even as theatrical returns remained uncertain—and streaming funds have now dried up.

Whatever the issues, it seems that something has to give for the system to reset to a new normal.

b. 'Saif Ali Khan: I don’t know how he missed my carotid and jugular' - Interview to the Times of India

(Looks like this week is a Bollywood special!)

I loved this interview with actor Saif Ali Khan about the harrowing attack by an armed assailant at his home.

While he heroically fought the attacker, he's pretty candid about how difficult it was:

I fought with him, but I couldn’t handle it after a while because because there were these two knives in action. And I was just barefoot, bare-handed in a kurta pajama. And I was just praying that someone could get this guy off me at some point. And my incredibly lovely househelp (Geeta) pulled him off me and shoved him away.

Even after such a traumatic experience, he is not bitter at the assailant and is pretty chilled out recounting the incident:

Taimur said that he should be forgiven because he believed that the guy was hungry. I also believe I would have forgiven him. I feel bad for him – till where that knife comes in and my spine comes in and the fact that he tried to kill me (laughs)

🎧 1 long-form listen of the week

a. 'What it's like to be a Stand-Up Comedian' by Dan Heath

(I'd kept this old episode in reserve for a rough week like this!)

Dan Heath (one half of the Heath brothers who wrote the classic storytelling book, 'Made to Stick') has a cool podcast where he interviews people from different professions - think a secret service agent, an ice cream truck driver or a marine biologist.

In this episode, he speaks to Chris Grace, a stand-up comedian. These guys are superb storytellers, and Grace shares some great tips that we can learn from.

If things not going well during a performance, Chris suggests that you should not ignore it - instead call it out:

Dan Heath: ...if you just sense that the audience is not with you or things are falling flat, what are the tools that you reach for in those moments? Is it the sure thing joke or something else?

Chris Grace: Well, that's why I'd love to have more of the sure thing jokes, but my main tool belt is that I never pretend that it's not going the way it's going. And I think this is a pretty common standup tactic, which is just to call out exactly what is happening in the room. I think the skill level here is how aligned you can be with the exact energy of you plus the audience. So if there is a certain tone happening or if there is a vibe, the closest you can get to accurately naming that vibe and building from there, it can help you unify the room sometimes.

They explore the idea of comedians as truth-tellers:

Chris Grace:...there is this whole thing where comedians, we want to be these philosopher kings where we're like, we're really speaking truth to power. And I know it's cringey and corny sometimes, but I say most comedians are presenting themselves as truth-tellers. So you get more currency, the more truth you can tell, and some of that is just the truth that's happening in the room.

In storytelling, I teach an idea called 'Point A' - you should begin from where the audience is, and not from where you are. Grace echoes that point when he says that at the beginning of joke, the audience should be nodding at you, not shaking their head:

Chris Grace: There's a thing I could talk about that's very classical standup joke structure, which is that the beginning of the joke typically, whether you call it the setup or the premise of the joke is the part where you don't necessarily need to get a laugh from somebody, but you kind of need them to be on board with you and not shaking their head right at the beginning.

That's all from this week's edition.

Ravi

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Ravishankar Iyer

Life of a Standup Comedian (3-2-1 by Story Rules #103)

𝕏 3 Tweets of the week

📄 2 Articles of the week

🎧 1 long-form listen of the week

Better questions = Better Conversations (3-2-1 by Story Rules #106)

Gladwell on Disordered Stories (3-2-1 by Story Rules #105)

The Two Kinds of English (3-2-1 by Story Rules #104)