Techniques Reference — Rockstar Agent
Dialogue mechanics, scene structure, mission DNA, and pacing rules.

## Dialogue Mechanics

### The Subtext Rule

Characters almost never say what they mean directly. The real conversation runs underneath.

Bad (too direct):

## Michael: "I feel guilty about selling out my crew." Franklin: "You should, man."

Good (subtext):

Michael: "You know what I love about this town? Nobody asks you where you came from." Franklin: "That's 'cause they too busy running from where they came from."

The real conversation (guilt, complicity, American self-reinvention) happens in the gap between what's said.

## Contradiction as Character

A character is most alive when they contradict themselves with complete sincerity.

The contradiction formula: [What they claim to want] + [What they actually do] = Character

Trevor claims he wants respect. Destroys every relationship.
Michael claims he wants peace. Calls Trevor.
Franklin claims he wants out. Takes the job.
Every good Rockstar scene catches a character mid-contradiction.

## Specificity Over Generality

Generic writing tells you the category. Specific writing tells you the character.

Generic	Specific (Rockstar)
"I live in a bad neighborhood"	"I grew up on a block where the liquor store and the church had the same parking lot"
"He's a criminal"	"He runs three legitimate businesses and one real one"
"She's rich"	"She has a therapist, a life coach, a nutritionist, and a spiritual advisor, and none of them know she's paying for them all with the same credit card"

## Rhythm Rules

Short sentences hit. Then another. Then the long one comes and carries you somewhere you didn't expect — like a sentence that mirrors a night drive across a desert with the radio on and nothing resolving, which is the entire emotional texture of every GTA protagonist's life.

Use rhythm to:

## Short sentences = anger, certainty, threat

Long sentences = monologue, deflection, the character talking themselves into something
Interruption = power. Who cuts off who tells you everything about status in the room.
Silence (stage direction) = Franklin's specialty. The beat before the line.

## The Quotable Line Formula

The best lines are quotable because they're true, not because they're clever.

Test: could this line appear on a billboard out of context and still land?

"Surviving is winning, Franklin. Everything else is just makeup." ✓ "I'm not a bad man, I just have a flexible relationship with the law." ✓ "I told him to stop, and then I stopped telling him." ✓

## Scene Structure

- The Cutscene Arc (Short Scenes, 1-3 mins)

HOOK (5-10 seconds):

- — Something visual, specific, and slightly wrong
- — Establishes the world's current state immediately

ESTABLISH THE PROBLEM (character-level, not plot-level):

- — What does this scene expose about who these people are?
- — The job/mission is the surface. The relationship is the scene.

THE COMPLICATION:

- — Someone says or does the thing that makes it complicated
- — Comes from character, not coincidence

THE LANDING:

- — One beat past where you expected it to end
- — Funny OR devastating, preferably both

## The Monologue

- Used when a character has to talk themselves into or out of something.

Rules:

- Start somewhere unrelated to the real point
- Circle toward it
- Almost arrive
- Say something else instead
- The audience has already understood the real thing

Michael is the master of this. He will discuss his childhood, cinema, the state of America, and his relationship with his kids — and never directly address the fact that he's about to do something terrible.

## Mission DNA

Every GTA V mission has a 4-beat structure:

BRIEF: Who's giving it, what they want, what they're not saying ENTRY: Something goes slightly wrong immediately, establishing the mission's tone ESCALATION: The situation becomes exponentially more complicated in a direction that feels logical given the characters EXIT: Either satisfying (the job works) or more interesting (the job half-works and the fallout is the real story)

## Mission Briefing Template

The best briefings establish: location, objective, what-will-go-wrong, and ONE specific detail that makes the world feel real.

Example structure (Trevor voice):

"Okay. [LOCATION]. [OBJECTIVE]. [ONE DETAIL THAT MAKES IT WEIRD]. Don't ask about [THE THING THEY OBVIOUSLY SHOULD ASK ABOUT]. The important part is [DEADLINE/STAKES]. Any questions? Good. I don't have answers anyway. Go."

Example structure (Michael voice):

"So here's the thing. [PROBLEM]. I tried the [REASONABLE APPROACH] and — look, it doesn't matter what happened, the point is it didn't work. So now we're doing [THIS APPROACH INSTEAD], which, I'm aware, sounds insane. But [RATIONALE THAT SOUNDS OKAY BUT ISN'T]. We do this, we're clear. [BEAT]. Probably."

## Heist Planning Scene Structure

The crew around the table is one of Rockstar's signature formats. Rules:

- Everyone wants the same outcome for different reasons — the plan is unanimous; the motivations are incompatible
- Someone's plan is bad but might actually work — the dumbest idea in the room always gets airtime
- The competence gap is visible — one person who actually understands logistics, one person who thinks they do
- The tension is relational, not operational — the scene isn't about the plan; it's about these people having to trust each other
- One small detail foreshadows how it goes wrong — plant it early, don't call attention to it

## Pacing Reference

Scene Type	Pace	Sentence Length	Humor Level
Action briefing	Fast	Short	Dry / dark
Character confrontation	Slow	Mixed	None to low
Satirical monologue	Medium	Long	High
NPC ambient	Instant	Very short	High
Emotional beat	Very slow	Short	Zero
Heist planning	Variable	Mixed	Medium-dark
The emotional beats in Rockstar games hit harder because everything around them is moving fast. Earn the slow moments.

## The RDR2 Upgrade

Red Dead Redemption 2 represents the maturation of everything in GTA V. When writing with RDR2 DNA:

- Less cynicism, more tragedy — Arthur Morgan is not ironic about his situation. He's in it.
- Nature as character — The environment speaks. Silence means something.
- Loyalty as fatal flaw — The code everyone lives by is the thing that destroys them
- Humor is quieter — Fewer one-liners, more situations that are absurd because real life is absurd
- The ending is always already happening — In RDR2, Arthur knows. In GTA V, Michael pretends not to know. This is the tonal difference.
- Use RDR2 register for: slower, more melancholic content, redemption arcs, characters confronting consequences. Use GTA V register for: fast, satirical, urban, chaotic, cynically funny content.
