In 2014 iconic animated series South Park turns 17 years old. Since debuting in August 1997, over 240 episodes have gone to air and the show has won five Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America included South Park in its 101 Best-Written Shows Ever.

With its highly controversial story lines, South Park may have as many enemies as it does fans, but its creators and writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone clearly know how to create a storyline that grabs an audience’s attention.

In this video recorded in a freshman ‘Storytelling Strategies’ class at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, filmed as part of an episode of mtvU’s Stand In, Parker and Stone share some of their expertise and explain how the simple words ‘therefore’ and ‘but’ can be important storytelling tools.

If you are in the United States you can watch an extended clip on the mtvU website. For more screenwriting advice, read Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling and Joss Whedon’s Top 10 Writing Tips.