Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story

http://www.ted.com Filmmaker Andrew Stanton ("Toy Story," "WALL-E") shares what he knows about storytelling -- starting at the end and working back to the beginning. (Contains graphic language ...)


TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate

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[boxiness]

Fantastic talk. He covered a lot of content so I made a summary:

- A story should start off with a well-told "promise", like a hook or sales pitch

- A story should give the audience the "2+2", not the "4"

- Characters should have "spines" & itches they're always trying to scratch

- Change is fundamental; life is never static

- "Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty"

- Know your rules and know when to break them

- Strong unifying theme

- Sense of wonder

[faithfuljohn]

don't read these comments before watching the video

[Avidcomp]

A social worker? - How would that quote work if we learned Pol Pot, Hitler or Starlin's story, would their stories once understood help us love them? Aside from the early reference to a social worker, this is a very good lecture.

[RADIOACTIVEBUNY]

Also, this was incredibly informative.  I might actually use the wall-e vibe to redo a story I've written. Over 100k words but I think it would be worth it.

[RADIOACTIVEBUNY]

I think I crapped myself at the beginning.

[cocoacoconuts24]

That lyricist he mentioned, who game him all the "this needs a song" rules. Could it perhaps have been Howard Ashman? He was the one who pitched those very same ideas to Disney, which gave birth to The Little Mermaid and the rest of the Disney Renaissance films...

[Marius Bonfeu]

lovely All the best..

[Katy St. John]

Love it. :)

[MrMattsung]

This is why teachers are storytellers. They give 2+2, but not 4.

[Minyoungyoo Yoo]

I like him ! Finding nemo is so fun ~

[Joseph Sy]

Loved this talk, I wish I could go to one of these talks one day

[Byrging]

can anyone type the ending of the joke he started with I didn't catched it. Thanks