What Makes a Story Relatable?

Kristian Williams takes a quick look at Pixar's approach to storytelling and character development.

22 Story Lessons... from Pixar

Emma Coats is an animator who works for Pixar. Although she is a relatively low-level employee, she listens when the serious story-people talk. And when she hears something good, she writes it down. 

Early last year, she tweeted a series of “story basics”—guidelines she learned from her more senior colleagues—on how to create appealing stories. In May 2011, the Pixar blog (The Pixar Touch) published a story about Emma's lessons. 

Some of the Pixar crew, hard at work

For those who missed them first time around, here are Emma's twenty-two Lessons.  
(Note:  I was interested to see Brian McDonald's story outline method included on the list.)
________________________________________________________________________

• You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
• You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
• Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
• Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
• Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
• What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
• Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
• Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
• When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
• Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
• Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
• Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
• Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
• Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
• If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
• What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
• No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on—it’ll come back around to be useful later.
• You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
• Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
• Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
• You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
• What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

________________________________________________________________________

To finish, here's The Beauty of Pixar.

First posted:  15 June 2012

The Pixar list of recommended books for interns

I received a request for a link to the Pixar list of recommended books for interns, but failed to locate a copy on Google.
    So, I contacted Brian McDonald, who, I knew, has a couple of his own books on the list. And, prompt and helpful as always, Brian sent the following the next morning. The original version is numbered 1) to 25), but pairs the books by William Goldman together as one, and the same for Brian McDonald. I have given each book it's own number.

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1) The Art of Dramatic Writing, by Lajos Egri

2) On Film-making, by Alexander Mackendrick

3) On Directing Film, by David Mamet

4) In the Blink of an Eye, by Walter Murch

5) Adventures in the Screen Trade, by William Goldman

6) Which Lie Did I Tell?, by William Goldman

7) Hitchcock, by Francois Truffaut

8) 20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them, by Ronald Tobias

9) The Visual Story: Seeing the Structure of Film, TV and New Media, by Bruce Block

10) Film Directing: Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen, by Stephen Katz

11) Invisible Ink, by Brian McDonald

12) The Golden Theme, by Brian McDonald

13) Making Movies, by Sidney Lumet

14) Conversations with Wilder, by Cameron Crowe

15) Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, by Steven Bach

16) Comics and Sequential Art, by Will Eisner

17) Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud

18) Cinematic Motion, by Steven Bach

19) The Five C's of Cinematography, by Joseph Mascelli

20) Film Editing, by Karel Reisz

21) The Conversations, by Michael Ondaatje and Walter Murch

22) Trickster Makes This World, by Lewis Hyde

23) A Short History of Myth, by Karen Armstrong

24) On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King

25) The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp

26) The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim

27) The Writers Journey, by Christopher Vogler

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If you haven't read these, take advantage of the commercial Xmas season to buy yourself a present. (Maybe buy a different book for a friend who writes. You can swap later and get double the value.) I'd recommend reading them all, starting with the book covers shown, in sequence. If you don't know Invisible Ink, you'll be out of the conversation at any number of screenwriting get-togethers. Buy it now.

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IMDb | Interview | Website | Wikipedia

ROYGBIV: A Pixar Supercut

Tony Zhou pointed this one out. A minute and a half supercut examining (and celebrating) Pixar’s use of color.

Six years before 'Toy Story'...

In 1989, Pixar Animation Studios made this short film.

IMDb   YouTube    

22 Story Lessons... from Pixar

Emma Coats is an animator who works for Pixar. Although she is a relatively low-level employee, she listens when the serious story-people talk. And when she hears something good, she writes it down. 

Early last year, she tweeted a series of “story basics”—guidelines she learned from her more senior colleagues—on how to create appealing stories. In May 2011, the Pixar blog (The Pixar Touch) published a story about Emma's lessons. 

Some of the Pixar crew, hard at work

For those who missed them first time around, here are Emma's twenty-two Lessons.  
(Note:  I was interested to see Brian McDonald's story outline method included on the list.)
________________________________________________________________________

• You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
• You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
• Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
• Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
• Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
• What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
• Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
• Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
• When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
• Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
• Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
• Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
• Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
• Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
• If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
• What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
• No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on—it’ll come back around to be useful later.
• You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
• Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
• Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
• You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
• What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

________________________________________________________________________

To finish, here's The Beauty of Pixar.