Click here to read “Pixar’s 22 Rules for Storytelling” by Joshua Cohen from Tubefilter on June 12, 2012.
For the writers amongst the readers and the readers who want to figure out something about their writers and all of us who love the hopping light in Pixar:
From Emma Coats, a writer for Pixar. She Tweets her 22 rules to write a script. These include: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes. 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. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front. 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. 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. You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining. What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
For more, read David A. Price, Pixar Touch.
N. Szajnberg, MD , Managing Editor