The Pixar Theory

Bloop Animation is an animation learning channel offering video tutorials for aspiring animators and visual artists.

What if I told you that all Pixar movies are connected? That all the characters in those movies actually live in the same universe, only in different times? How is that possible, watch this video and you'll find out.

Based on "The Pixar Theory" by Jon Negroni. Narrated by Evyatar Gour.

Robin Williams - In Motion

Tony Zhou says, 

Robin Williams was a genius, but he was also a dedicated craftsman who explored how an actor could express character through movement. Join me in honoring this tiny facet of his work.

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Preston Sturges and the first screenwriting royalty deal in Hollywood

It was Walter Wanger who got Preston Sturges into movies in the first place, hiring him off his Broadway success to "dialogue" some movies at Astoria in 1929. Sturges thought little of the work; there's no Pulitzer Prize for film, he'd say. He traveled to Universal in 1932, finding the usual vale of tears.
    Sturges shouldn't be lumped with the decade's angry, rebellious screenwriters; he was too droll and self-mocking for that (his autobiography is titled Between Flops), but still the studio system offended him—it was

so stupid, wasteful. "Four writers were considered the rock-bottom minimum required. Six writers, with the sixth member a woman to puff up the lighter parts, were considered ideal."
    It was also indifferent to his ambitions. Taking the system on, he began, in 1933, by doing something unorthodox—he wrote an original screenplay. Common now, screenplays done on spec, on the writer's own time, were seen, in the system's halcyon days, as a sign of weakness, something done as a calling card by a writer too young to snare a contract or the product of a failing writer desperate to hold on. Eleanor (Sturges, his wife at the time) had told Sturges the story of her father fighting his way to the top of the cereal trust, and he thought he might turn it into a movie. Because she'd told him the story out of order and over time, he decided to structure his screenplay the same way, starting at the end with a suicide and a funeral and flashing back over the life of his hero, seeing him through the eyes of different characters, his affairs, his mistakes, showing how an American success story could add up to a sour nothing in the end (a structure that clearly influenced Citizen Kane and one that neither Welles nor Mankiewicz ever acknowledged). He'd written a third of The Power and the Glory when he ran into Jesse Lasky's story editor at a party and mentioned what he was working on. Impressed, the editor set up a meeting with his boss. Lasky heard the story and was impressed as well, offering to buy it as a treatment, a summarized ten pages or so. Sturges balked—he was too far along on the real thing—but he offered instead to sell Lasky a complete screenplay, ready to shoot, when it was finished. Lasky was amused— Sturges was clearly new at this business. A month later he received

a complete screenplay of proper length, complete in every word of dialogue, the action of every scene blueprinted for the director, and including special instructions for the cameraman and all departments... I was astounded. It was the most perfect script I'd ever seen... I wouldn't let anyone touch a word of it.

Lasky wanted to—he held a three-hour meeting with his story department looking for something in the script they didn't like, but they could find nothing to change. This was unheard of, one writer accomplishing everything by himself. Lasky sent for Sturges, and they dickered. Here Sturges held an advantage over other screenwriters—he'd been a businessman of sorts, having managed his mother's cosmetics branch. He pointed out to Lasky that there was no Hollywood precedent for paying a large amount for an original screenplay and suggested he offer him a percentage of the gross instead.  Starting a new contract at Fox and desperate for material, Lasky couldn't let the script get away from him. In their final agreement Sturges got 3.5 percent of the first $500,000 of the gross, 5 percent of of the next $500,000, and 7% of anything over a million, plus a $17,500 advance, a screenwriting royalty deal, the first in Hollywood history.
                                                   Marc Norman, What Happens Next

Common mistakes made while pitching

Stephanie Palmer is a consultant, development executive, and the author of Good in a Room. She was a studio executive at MGM and has been featured on the Today Show, NPR, and the LA Times. In 2005, she founded a consulting company and blog that helps professionals inside and outside the film industry learn to pitch and advance their projects.
   This article first appeared in SSN Insider.

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A great meeting gets off to a strong start. Unfortunately, even professionals occasionally make these seven “rookie” mistakes in the first few minutes of the meeting.
    Luckily, once you know what they are, these mistakes can easily be avoided.

Mistake #1: Assuming they remember you

Imagine….
    You’ve set a meeting with a network president or studio head.
    In the days leading up to the meeting, you probably think about it frequently. And on the day of the meeting, it’s probably your only meeting.
    For the decision-maker, it will be one of a dozen meetings they have that day, interspersed with (literally) a hundred phone calls as well as interruptions, time-sensitive crises, and more. So when you walk in the room, the decision-maker has a lot going on and often the first thought they have when they shake your hand is, “Who is this person and why am I meeting with them?”
    The solution is to help them out by introducing yourself, e.g.:

“Hi, I’m (your name). I met (person who got you this meeting) at (recent event).”
“Hi, I’m (your name). (Agent’s name) set this up so I could talk to you about (project name).”

Mistake #2: Pitching too soon

Building rapport and warming up the room should be your first priority in the meeting. If you haven’t established a warm rapport, the buyer is probably not listening to your pitch—he’s still gauging what he thinks of you.
    Build rapport first and when you start pitching you’ll have the decision-maker’s attention.
    Then, even if the decision-maker doesn’t want to buy your project, you’ll be more likely to get a future meeting—and the chance to pitch again.

Mistake #3: Not including everyone in the room

Occasionally, your pitch meetings will have more than just you and the executive in the room. Sometimes you’ll be pitching to a group.
    Even if you think you know who the most powerful person in the room is, introduce yourself to each person, make eye contact, and include everyone in the audience for your pitch.

Mistake #4: Putting yourself down

A common attribute of professional screenwriters is self-deprecation.
    A self-deprecating comment can show humility, humor, and can lower expectations—and sometimes, that’s useful.
    However, in the context of a pitch meeting (which is like a job interview) you don’t get credit for saying things like:

“I’m not very good at pitching.”
“I’m pretty inexperienced.”
“This is my first time pitching this.”

Buyers want to do business with professionals, not amateurs. Act confident, even if you’re not (yet).

Mistake #5: Starting by “pumping up” your project

Many writers start their pitch with the most common pitching mistake.
    Don’t use a “pump-up” preamble that contains sentences like:

“Everyone is going to want to see this.”
“The lead role has Oscar written all over it.”
“You’ll be laughing out loud.”

These sentences have the opposite effect. Instead of whetting the decision-maker’s appetite, it irritates them.
    Every dog owner thinks their pet is adorable. Every parent thinks their child is brilliant. It’s expected that you are a fan of your own work. Don’t say it in the room.

Mistake #6: Talking too fast

When you talk fast, you seem nervous.
    You may not think you’re talking too fast. But often people who talk too fast don’t know that they are talking too fast, and decision-makers aren’t likely to pull you aside after the meeting to tell you.
    Most writers are so eager to present their ideas (and have them be liked) that as soon as they start pitching, the decision-maker feels like they’re being firehosed with a spray of words.
    Remember, the decision-maker is hearing your pitch for the very first time. They need more time to absorb the awesomeness of what you’re saying.

Mistake #7: Talking too much

Often due to nerves, many people get “ramble-itis” when they get into the room.
   Instead of answering a simple question with a few sentences, they talk for three minutes without coming up for air. Anytime there’s a slight pause, they fill up the space. They give WAY too much detail, share personal issues, and go off on tangents.
    Keep your answers simple and focus on the best things you have to say. Remember, the more you talk, the less they hear.
    If you avoid these seven mistakes, you’ll get through the first few minutes of the meeting and be seen as a professional.
    Then, your pitch will get the attention it deserves.

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Eric Roth on screenwriting

Eric Roth is the writer of Forrest Gump, The Insider, Munich, The Good Shepherd, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and many others.

Here he takes viewers inside his creative process in an exploration of where ideas come from.



And here he is collecting the 2012 WGAW Screen Laurel Award.

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J.J. Abrams on filmmaking

J.J. Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness, Lost, Super 8) fills us in on balancing intimacy with hyperreality, why TV leaves room for surprises, and the best advice he's ever been given.

Writing sympathetic characters

How do you make a character relatable? Here's Steve Kaplan's perspective on the subject.