3 Storytelling Lessons from 3 Cold Dishes
Writing one strong lead character is difficult. Writing three lead characters whose stories must connect is even more challenging.
That is one reason 3 Cold Dishes is an interesting film for screenwriters to study.
Directed by Asurf Oluseyi, the multilingual thriller follows three women connected to Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Benin. After surviving human trafficking, they reunite years later to take revenge on the people responsible for their suffering.
The film moves through different periods and locations along the Abidjan–Lagos corridor. At the 2025 Africa Movie Academy Awards, it won the National Film and Video Censors Board Award for Best Nigerian Film. Ruby Akubueze also won the award for Best Young or Promising Actor.
Here are three important lessons writers can take from its ambitious story.
Lesson 1: Every Lead Character Needs a Separate Identity
An ensemble film should not feel like one main character surrounded by two assistants.
Each major character needs a clear identity, personal history, objective and method of dealing with problems.
When developing an ensemble, answer four questions for every lead:
- What does this character want?
- Why do they want it?
- What are they willing to do to obtain it?
- What is the one thing they will refuse to do?
The final question is especially important.
Three characters may share the same goal but approach it differently.
Imagine three women trying to expose a powerful politician:
- One wants to publish evidence through the media.
- One wants to blackmail him privately.
- One wants to attack him physically.
Their goal is similar, but their methods create conflict.
That internal disagreement prevents an ensemble story from becoming flat. The group does not merely fight an external enemy; its members must also negotiate their different values.
Give each lead character a recognisable voice as well. Their dialogue, reactions and decisions should be distinct enough that readers can identify who is speaking without constantly checking the character name.
Lesson 2: Use Different Timelines to Explain Cause and Effect
3 Cold Dishes moves between different periods to show what happened to the women and how those experiences shaped who they later became.
Nonlinear storytelling can be powerful, but only when every shift in time has a purpose.
Do not introduce flashbacks simply because they look sophisticated.
A flashback should do at least one of the following:
- Reveal information that changes our understanding of a character.
- Explain the origin of a present conflict.
- Show the emotional cost of something that happened earlier.
- Create tension by withholding an important part of the truth.
- Contrast who a character was with who they have become.
Before including a flashback, ask:
Does the audience need this information at this particular moment?
Information delivered too early can destroy suspense. Information delivered too late can confuse the audience.
A useful method is to create two separate timelines before combining them.
Write the past story in chronological order. Then write the present story in chronological order. After both are clear, decide where the two timelines should meet.
Scriptlayer’s scene organisation and story-development tools can help writers see these connections before production begins.
Lesson 3: Authenticity Is More Than Adding an African Location
The film crosses borders and includes different languages, cultures and environments. That gives it a broader African identity instead of presenting the continent as one uniform place.
Screenwriters should remember that “African” is not a complete description of a character.
A Nigerian character from Benin City may have different experiences from someone raised in Lagos. A woman from Côte d’Ivoire will not automatically speak, dress or behave like someone from Benin Republic.
Authenticity comes from details such as:
- Language and speech patterns.
- Religious beliefs.
- Family structures.
- Food and clothing.
- Local attitudes towards authority.
- Transportation and border movement.
- Social class.
- Regional history.
Research should therefore go beyond Google summaries.
Speak to people from the location. Work with cultural consultants. Listen to how residents actually communicate. Study the practical realities of travelling, working and surviving in that environment.
However, avoid filling every scene with cultural explanation. Characters should not repeatedly explain things that would already be normal to them.
Let the audience learn through action and context.
Handle Trauma with Responsibility
Because 3 Cold Dishes deals with trafficking, exploitation and revenge, it also raises an important responsibility for writers.
Trauma should not exist only to make a story appear dark or serious.
Characters who have survived violence need personalities beyond what happened to them. They should still possess humour, contradictions, relationships, ambitions, weaknesses and agency.
Before writing a traumatic experience, consider whose perspective the story centres. Ask whether the scene reveals something important or simply turns suffering into entertainment.
The most disturbing scene is not always the most meaningful one.
Final Takeaway
3 Cold Dishes demonstrates the possibilities of ambitious, cross-border African storytelling.
For screenwriters, its biggest lesson is that scale must be supported by structure. Multiple protagonists, countries and timelines can make a story exciting, but they can also make it confusing.
Build each character separately. Organise the timelines clearly. Research every location deeply. Then connect everything through one strong central conflict.
Developing an ensemble film or series? Use Scriptlayer to organise your characters, timelines, scenes and production information before the story becomes too complicated to control.