7 Things ‘White Lotus’ Can Teach You About Filmmaking

One of my favorite shows on TV is White Lotus. Created by Mike White, each season tells its own murder story at a different location of the resort worldwide.

Every year, I feel like I’m learning more and more interesting things by watching that show. There are so many delightful characters, stakes, and goals—not to mention the cinematography is excellent.

Today, I want to go over my top 7 filmmaking lessons from the show and share them with you.

Let’s dive in.

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1. Mastering Tone

The thing that set this show apart for me was that its tone straddles reality and satire. We believe in the grounded world, but we also leave open that wild things can happen.

To nail that, Mike White very carefully introduces us to the world and makes sure the humor comes to the forefront early, so we know to laugh.

2. Character-Driven Stories

This show really survives on its complex characters. Every year, we get new players, but a lot of care is spent making them all individual people. We understand their hopes and desires clearly.

When you cut between so many people, you always want to know what’s going on with them.

3. Setting As A Character

The actual idea of a five-star hotel chain being the location is so smart. Each season we have to adapt to a new culture, from Hawaii to Italy to Thailand, but the hotel stays the same.

We understand the kinds of people who work there and the kinds of people who can afford to stay there.

4. Visual Storytelling

The cinematography on this show is stunning. They make the most out of their exotic locations, but we also get a variety of long takes, close-ups, and other techniques to make the show feel cinematic. This helps with the scope of it as well.

5. Subtext

When you’re writing deep characters, they’re not going to be giving on-the-nose dialogue, everything in this show is told with subtext.

We’re figuring out whose marriages are not working, who is lying, and how certain characters feel about one another.

This subtext also works for clues when we’re trying to suss out the dead body that starts the season. We want to know who it is and what happened to them. And usually, the subtext lets us know who may be in line to be murdered and why,

6. The Score and Sound Design

Everyone gets made when the theme song changes, but I find the sound design and music of each episode to be exquisite. We get a balance of the jungle, the city, or life on a resort.

It plays with peaceful moments and it allows the music to make us feel something without being overbearing.

7. Time Locks

Each season usually takes place in around a week, which they set up with the structure of the show starting with a flashforward and the body of the show being a flashback.

This time lock makes sense because most characters are on vacation, and it helps keep the story moving. We can’t waste time, decisions have to be made now.

Wrapping Up

Those are all lessons that deeply affected me and opened my eyes to some new possibilities. But I’m sure they’re not the only ones that connect with people.

I want to hear about your main takeaways from the show.

Let me know what you think in the comments.