How to Write HIGHLY QUOTABLE Dialogue (A DUMB TRICK) 

What's your all time favorite movie/tv quote?

Step 1: Write dialogue Step 2: Get it made into a meme

"Somehow palpatine returned" Truly one of the quotes of all time

Writing quotable dialogue is super easy, barely an inconvenience

They're taking the hobbits to Isengard. They're taking the hobbits to Isengard. Gard. Gard. Gard. Gard. The hobbits. The hobbits. The hobbits. The hobbits. To Isengard. To Isengard.

I also think this works so well because it shows the effects the characters have on one another - they're interacting, learning new phrases, remembering what each other has said. I think it helps the characters feel so much more fun and alive.

“A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” Sometimes I try to use this one. Doesn’t always work.

What I love about PoC is how dinamic the movies feel. Even the lines "change sides" each time the characters quote each other!

"I got a bad feeling about this." The quote that keeps on quoting

I'm still amazed that Curse of the Black Pearl exists. A genre that nobody thought would make a comeback winding up as one o the best movies Disney ever gave us 😊

Why is ‘I got a jar of dirt’ so quotable then?

My favorite quotable line that can be applicable in a wide variety of situations is "I will kill your infant daughter." Bravo Vince!

My favourite one of these is, when Elizabeth first see's will's medallion she says "you're a pirate!" And then the last line she says in the first movie is "no, he's a pirate." Kinda bookends the whole thing but I think flies under most people's radars as her quoting herself.

“The problem isn’t the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem” - Captain Jack sparrow

Best part about quotable dialogue like in Pirates? It shows character development from the character learning from each other, like a group of friends slowly getting to know each other's private jokes.

One more thing: when the characters are doing it between each other, it also helps to build and strengthen the connection between them, and between a character and the world, it grounds us, the viewers, in the reality of the language they speak

1st episode - Ekko: He paid in gold and didn't even haggle Last episode - Silco: The boy didn't even haggle

This is why callbacks are one of my favourite things. Whether its nostalgia, repetition, or a quote recontextualise, it's often the cause behind every organic payoff because it inherently demands a setup. But I've found what usually makes it good or bad depends on whether the thing is just reused (iconography without context, repetition to the point of annoyance) or actually advancing on what its bringing back. But it means when you remember a story, instead of trying to remember 20 random messy moments, you remember 25 moments with ease because they're really 5 moments that are creatively done differently every time.

I like the remark at the end that quotability is often a natural extension of an already good show. I don’t think Arcane was really meant at all to be quotable, but I still find myself saying things like Viktor’s “crank it” or Jinx’s “That’s me!” all the time 😭

Somewhat unrelated, but Pirates 1 is one of my favorite movies ever, and it took me until a recent rewatch to realize how much Captain Barbosa (and Geoffrey Rush's performance) carries the movie. None of Jack Sparrow's antics would land if he didn't have Barbosa as a legitimately charismatic, villainous foil.

"As you wish" in The Princess Bride. Great end sign off line. There's lots of other quotable, repeated lines in the movie too.

“One often meet his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it” - like you brilliantly said, it is a great quote because it has versatility and the cleverness solely lies in the circumstance I choose to use it in. It is surface level really funny, because you’re telling people that they are stupid and/or whatever bad happened is their own fault, BUT it also has a very deep meaning about facing the future and whatever unpleasantries that lies there. The great peach leaf turtle definitely also had some great quotes, even though they weren’t repeated that much

I think an important thing about the dialogue in these films is that characters are clearly listening to each other, that's the only way they can quote one another. Its refreshing since most tv shows and movies have characters talking at each other these days.

The Star Wars prequels have a lot of really quotable lines. "Hello there!" "This is where the fun begins." "DO IT." "Your move." "Oh, I don't think so." "So uncivilized." "Only a Sith deals in absolutes." "Master Kenobi, you disappoint me! Master Yoda spoke highly of you... Surely you can do better!" "This is getting out of hand! Now there are two of them!" "There's always a bigger fish." "I don't like sand. It's coarse, rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere." "Now _this_ is podracing!" "Army or not, you must realize you are doomed!" "If so powerful you are...why leave?" "I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new empire!" "It's treason then..." "I _am_ the Senate!" "Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?" "I'm in agony. I'm haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me. The closer I get to you, the worse it gets. I can't breathe." "That was some shortcut, Anakin! He went completely the other way!" "You wanna buy some deathsticks?" "You want to go home and rethink your life." "If you're suffering as much as I am, please tell me." "It's over, Anakin! I have the high ground!" "You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them!" "You are on this council... But we do not grant you the rank of Master." "UNLIMITED _POWER!_ " "What? How can you do this? This is outrageous! It's unfair!" "She went into the club, Master!" "That's...why I'm here." "There's no war here, unless you brought it with you." "But my lord...is that....legal?" "Take a seat, young Skywalker." "I killed them all... Every single one of them... And not just the men... But the women... And the children too! They were like animals! AND I SLAUGHTERED THEM LIKE ANIMALS! _I HATE THEM!!!_ " And my personal favorite: "So this is how liberty dies... With thunderous applause..."

Got to say, you talking about quoting “this is getting out of hand, now their are two of them” with your brother is the most relatable thing I have ever herd

"What arr you doing?" "What are you doing?" "No, what arrr you doing?"

It's like poetry, it rhymes.

I think another aspect of this that is worth noting is that it’s entirely possible to overuse this and accidentally ruin it. A good example is the Mandolorian and it’s overuse of “This is the way.” Over seasons 1 & 2, it felt like a reverent prayer that meant something. But in Season 3, they used it so much that it started to feel more like something people just said whenever they agreed. It got so heavily overused that it killed the desire to quote it

You also gotta give some credit to the performances. I'll randomly say "My peanut" every time I see a peanut just because Johnny Depp has insane comedic timing.

Hey! I just wanna say that I absolutely love your content, I've seen like ALL of your arcane videos and I've learned a lot from you, so thank you! You've definitely made my love for movies and shows grow

It's also just treating key lines of dialogue as a "chekhov's gun" so if a character says something important, it will come into play later. Sometimes it's something funny, but there's still usually something important attached to it, like lore or insight into a characters development, or whatever. Even Jack's rum line is important in this way because it's showing his selfishness and lack of priorities, until later when he shows a change of priorities and becoming less selfish. So yeah, not only is it quotable because it's repetitive, it's also helping stick important bits of information into our heads by repeating them so we can keep track of the story more closely and get more invested in it. They could've easily had characters restate things in different ways, and had the same movie, but by repeating the same exact wording over and over it makes it easier to remember and draws importance towards those moments/quotes.

The first three POTC movies all have fantastic dialogue.

My first video of yours, loved it. Super quick and concise. Gets straight to the point, no filler whatsoever. Moves at a pace almost too fast, but that's what rewinding is for. Looking forward to checking out more of your stuff.

No one has ever told me "banter with us!" and now I feel really left out

There’s something to be said about powerful quotes that seem generic or insignificant without context. _“Happy Birthday, Ann.”_ from *Violet Evergarden* is a prime example of this.

After all this time people are still finding things to talk about Pirates of Caribbean. Really, a testament of how good it is.

One of my favourite quotes that no one else uses is from the villain in inFamous 2. He says “Conduits are not part of the divine plan. They are a product of science, and the devil whispering in our ear!”, and you can replace “Conduit” with just about anything and it still makes just about as much sense.

I would say good quota stand out more when they come from bad movies like "Do you think God stays in heaven because he, too, lives in fear of what he's created here on earth?" Like this is from spy kids 2

Knowing that schnee plays Magic makes me very, very happy

like in the godfather : the iconic "offer he can't refuse" is said three times i think : - when michael explains his father's tyranny to kay --> "he made him an offer he couldn't refuse" - by vito himself a bit later when talking to johnny fontane (i think, whatever the actor's name is) - and by michael while becoming as tyrannical as his father

One exception from PotC on what makes them quotable is the line "I've got a jar of dirt!"

I think your point about bumping up films a notch out of ten is actually really well said and definitely applies strongly to the first two Star Wars prequels, having bought them a massive about of additional longevity.

This happened in home alone too, with "Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal!"

Love the “win more” cards analogy, it’s perfect

Alternate title: "How to predict memes"

I'd love to see a breakdown of how to write good quippy dialogue in the same vein, as Firefly has very memorable dialpgue for that reason exactly.

relating this to the concept of "win more" was an unexpected but applicable twist

This works wonders in TTRPGs like D&D too, for both the players and the DM. Have fun catch phrases and use them, come up with new ones spontaneously when you're in the drama and the silly. It really makes things more memorable and easily engaging for all players at the table.

I love the Pirates movies! Hope to see more analysis on Pirates of the Caribbean since they were so fun to watch :D

Oh, nice! Never thought about Jack's associative follow-up with Will's word use. "Leverage!" Thinking back on that scene, it seems Jack is not above learning something from Will. He watches ("listening intently") as Will exposits his proposed escape plan. Goes on to think of Will himself as leverage. Picking apart that third film and trying to isolate what elements of it make it iffy: I'm not sure of any reason Jack is telling himself to think like Will while pacing in the brig in that one scene. 🤷‍♂️ Then there's the question of if cell doors on a ship (3rd film) are going to be built the same way as cell doors in a holding cell at a seaside colony keep (1st film). 🤷‍♂️ (That's an honest research question to run past architectural historians.) If we isolate the part where Jack is just escaping from a cell, though, it works! No reason he wouldn't remember a principle he picked up from Will two movies ago! 😎

It also helps that this is a comedic format which is easily used in everyday life. There is plenty of fun to be had by throwing someone's own words directly back into their face

Could please do a video about writing terrifying villains or villains that are easily hateable the ones that are evil for being evil sakes (like the one in Puss in Boots 2) vs villains that more complex with more understandable motives.

"Surely you can't be serious?" "I am serious... and don't call me Shirley."

"A great anecdote doesn't leave people speechless it leaves some competing to tell the better version of the same thing" -Chuck Palahniuk author of Fight Club

This video is perfect! It gets straight to the point, it makes the important stuff visually available, and it completely lacks that "hi I'm a prof youtuber this is my setting" blabla I love this! Thank you so much!

I never even noticed that 😳 That's such a good writing hack great video as always

Loved hearing about this, I've never thought about how often the movies quote themselves! Seems like a fun version of set-ups and pay-offs

This kinda reminds me of Rings of Power's Galadriel quoting her brother's line about having to touch the darkness. Same method, but like you said, the story already needs to be good on its own for it to work...

It's mostly due to how the dialogue sets itself comedically. They are usually working on a rule of three.

My dad quotes “it’s more of a guideline” regularly, along with “so it may seem”

If you plan to make a video about Jack, try including the first three movies as a whole since it's a complete arc.

The repetition technique is definitely a reliable one. Though this is where my pessimism comes in, because I feel like a lot of subpar screenwriting will sorta use it as a way to shallowly inject false depth (ironic, lol) into the story. Like, "look, aren't we witty / poignant by calling back to this moment?", but as you saliently noticed it works in a good film. Also, I swear this wasn't me shoehorning this, but when I got to the end of the video and thought about highly quotable dialogue (and I suppose my contrarian/argumentative nature made me instantly think of something that opposes your rule), I thought of Community. Very quotable dialogue but all the lines I could think of as iconic quotable Community lines are original one-time-use, and not repeated in proximity to each other or used with a new subverted purpose. Now, part of its quotability might be that the meta-ness of the show necessitates a highly meta fanbase that is constantly sucking itself off and artificially creating these quotable lines, BUT I honestly don't think it's the case as a lot of the lines' reputation does feel pretty natural and worthy of the praise. Though I don't have much to say or conclude on this since I think in Community's case it's just that the dialogue is genuinely clever and there isn't a screenwriting (telewriting?) technique I could think of... I'm not sure where I was going with this other than hoping to subliminally influence you into thinking about Community more and therefore increasing the chances of you coming up with an idea for a video for it... hehe

i thought it was just me that i remembered "many bothans died..." but was surprised to find out that others remember the seemingly unimportant line too and it made me wonder what makes something stick out and if it can be done on purpose or is it just random

I love this analysis so much, how concise and to the point it is, full of supporting examples, the remark at the end on how to apply it and, of course, the fact that it only works in a few contexts. PotC took advantage of all these assets beautifully. Love your videos!

The Big Lebowski is built entirely around this concept It really focusses on the interpretation of the dialogue, even among the characters. The Dude being most notorious for constantly using the quirks and phrases of those around him, just to sound smarter or more knowledgable.

I think it makes viewers feel in on the fun because in real life we pick up phrases and speech patterns from people around us all the time, consciously or unconsciously.

It also helps differentiate characters, the same line is said in different ways by different characters which help us as the reader understand who they are and how they think.

It also seems like having other characters quoting each other gives the impression that they are learning from each other and helps develop a clear core identity to the world where things are realistically bouncing off of one another with key words or phrases that reflect the identity of the environment and setting

Internal allusion. In comedy, it's a callback - when you reference an earlier line in a new context. It's common in good banter with friends.

This explains why I knew the whole second pirates of the caribbean by heart by just watching it once...

Another repetition was "I'm not sure I deserved that." and how it was set up, and then comes back in a surprising way later when you weren't expecting it.

As I was watching this right when the Mario Movie (someone had put it on in the background) came to the point where mario goes to the mushroom kingdom the line "We're not in Kansas anymore" came on. Truly applicable in every situation.

I LOVE learning about this sort of thing. When I used to write as a teen, I always struggled with dialogue. It always felt bland and fake, I could never get characters to talk organically. It's cool to learn about all these things that you analyze!

I was trying to come up with quotability in my D&D games and this might be a useful way to start. Thanks!

I think there's something to this, I seem to recall a video pointing out how Arrested Development does the same thing

I'm not sure how applicable "We would like to buy one child please" is, but I love it

I love these rather short videos that contain like, 1-2 theories or explained facts :D But I'm also very excited for the 30+ minutes of Arcane Season 2 video essays obviously...

schnee is casually teaching us how to write awesome stories

Archer does this this really well, many of the quotes are running jokes that go on season after season, some of them are even just one word.

I appreciate you so much for this video. Pirates of the Caribbean has been my favorite movie for most of my life, and it makes me so happy whenever someone gives it some well deserved attention :)

Another good example of this is Arrested Development. Pretty much every character will repeat the same line over the course of multiple seasons. They quote each other without even being present the original time

didnt you just get to 100k last week 😅 ... great content though, awesome to see your channel grow!

I want my writing to have this sort of energy most of, if not all the time. This video was super helpful, thanks!

This entire method PoC uses around quotable dialogue has one more positive point towards it: it makes the dinamic between characters extremely chaotic which is super funny

I started to re-read the second trilogy of the first law series. The beginning of “A Little Hatred” is a masterclass of setting through dialog. It starts with a conversation between two characters, and through that leverages tropes and tone to give the reader everything they need to understand the story. The lens of your analysis style took me over when I started it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

This is really similar to the dialogue in The Big Lebowski. The different way the lines are repeated in different circumstances by each character tells us a lot about them, their perspectives and their relationships.

This is fantastic, @schnee! Great suggestions broken down well. Succinct too - didn't drag this out at all. Great video!

Great video, surprisingly thorough and concise explanation of how quotability works in movies. Writing quotable script might seem like a daunting task and Pirates of the Caribbean does it exceptionally well.

Great video man. This isn't really related to the topic, but what do you think of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise on the whole? I can assume you really enjoy the first, but do you have any thoughts on the sequels.

Hey, great catch! I never thought about quotability as something that could be reasonably pinned down as a hyper-specific skill in script-writing....I wonder what exactly it is that makes The Princess bride so easily quotable??? I think it even outdoes Pirates in pop-culture.

This video is good! Like it's well explained and all the writing techniques mentioned along with parallel comparison with the card game mechanics. I think this channel has lots of stuff that I love! Subscribed for sure

Makes sense, this is not unlike some classic advice I had heard about making hit pop songs, where adding (and getting back to the) repetition of a catchy lyric can help keep a song in the public zeitgeist longer

Arrested Development is undoubtedly the king of this technique. So many quotable gags are characters referencing other character's (or their own) dialogue. Gotta give props to The Big Lebowski for this as well. The Dude speaks almost entirely by quoting others. "This aggression will not stand, man!"

I got nothing better to do than quote POTC from beginning to end no matter what part I see it at. All my fav movies I can quote start to finish

love this! had never thought of it like this, outside of like... sometimes characters have in-jokes or memes with each other. but in a technical sense this helps explain the secret sauce of a lot of Very Quotable properties that immediately came to mind (Seinfeld, Its Always Sunny, and Arrested Development all use more intellectual forms of humor like wordplay and topical setups, but are also famous for building in-world memes between characters that may last for an episode or across multiple seasons) youve opened my mine a little more to process!!

Comedians often use a similar technique. They will reference earlier bits or quotes in a new context to get a new laugh. It is one of the most effective techniques for all the reasons you mentioned. The audience and characters/comedians share an inside joke. Very effective.

aah yes now my charators can quote each other's badly written dialogue, AMAZING/jk

just the all the tobey spiderman movies

scott PARLEY! 0:16

Bro used Magic the Gathering card evaluating terminology as a metaphor. I love it.