What is Chekhov’s Gun — How Knives Out Perfects the Setup and Payoff

What is Chekhov’s Gun? A lesson from Knives Out on “setup and payoff.” Chekhov’s Gun — How To Setup and Payoff in Screenwriting ►► Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 00:17 - What is Chekhov’s Gun? 03:21 - Knives Out Introduction 04:26 - Example 1 — The Blood Stain 06:19 - Example 2 — The Baseball 07:52 - Example 3 — The Knife Sculpture 09:42 - Takeaways Chekhov’s Gun isn’t about guns, it’s about setup and payoff. Less a screenwriting technique and more a principle of storytelling, there’s a lot we can learn from Anton Chekhov’s gun. In this video essay, we’re going to investigate Knives Out, written and directed by Rian Johnson, as a case study in how Chekhov’s Gun works. In this tightly constructed murder mystery, where everyone is a suspect and everything is a clue, Johnson shows us the power of “setup and payoff” and the fun we get watching a master at work. When considering how to implement Chekhov’s Gun into your own screenplay, there are three considerations you should make. First, there’s