Are the 3 C’s an official rule?

No. It is a teaching framework, and different teachers use different words. The underlying ideas of character, obstacle and change appear in almost every approach to story structure.

Do the 3 C’s apply to TV writing?

Yes. They apply to scenes, episodes and whole seasons.

What Are the 3 C’s of Screenwriting?

The 3 C’s of screenwriting are a teaching shorthand, most often Character, Conflict and Change. A character wants something, conflict stands in the way, and the story changes the character or their situation. Some teachers use other versions, but all of them are tools for checking that a scene or script works.

Character: someone the audience follows who wants something.
Conflict: an obstacle that makes the goal hard to reach.
Change: by the end, something is different.

Character

Every story needs someone to follow. A strong protagonist has a clear want, often a deeper need, and a reason we care whether they get it. The audience engages through that character’s choices.

Conflict

Conflict is whatever stands between the character and the goal: another person, the world, or the character’s own flaw. Without it, scenes become conversations where nothing is at stake.

Change

Something should be different at the end of a scene and very different at the end of the script. A character may learn, fail, win or lose. If nothing has changed, the scene may not be needed.

Using the 3 C’s on your pages

Read a scene and ask three questions: whose scene is this and what do they want? What is stopping them? What is different by the last line? A scene that answers all three is usually doing its job.

Questions

Are the 3 C’s an official rule?: No. It is a teaching framework, and different teachers use different words. The underlying ideas of character, obstacle and change appear in almost every approach to story structure.
Do the 3 C’s apply to TV writing?: Yes. They apply to scenes, episodes and whole seasons.

Related course: Screenwriting 101