A 10-part series analyzing the Pixar writer-director’s TED Talk

Andrew Stanton is one of the key members of Pixar’s ‘braintrust’ whose screenwriting credits include Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Wall-E and Finding Dory which he also directed [along with A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo and Wall-E].

Back in March 2012, Stanton delivered a TED Talk: “The Clues to a Great Story.” Given his Pixar connection and the deep insights Stanton provided in his talk, I produced a transcription of the entire 19-minute presentation along with analysis of his comments.

Today: Part 7.

Another fundamental thing we learned was about liking your main character. We had naively thought that Woody in Toy Story had to become selfless in the end and you have to start from some place, so let’s make him selfish and this is what you get:

[Video of early Woody voiced by Tom Hanks in which he is mean-spirited]

How do you make a selfish character likeable? We realized you can make him kind, generous, funny, considerate as long as one condition is met for him, and that is he stays the top toy. And that’s really what it is. We all live life conditionally. We all play by the rules and follow things along, as long as certain conditions are met. After that, all bets are off.

A few things:

• “Another fundamental thing we learned was about liking your main character”: For almost all mainstream Hollywood movies, the Protagonist has to have personal qualities and/or backstory elements that create some sort of emotional resonance with a script reader. Likability is often a requisite, but even if the character is hard to like, they and their life circumstance to be explored in the story have to be compelling.
• “We all play by the rules and follow things along, as long as certain conditions are met”: That’s a really interesting insight into characters and an intriguing way to look at what generally transpires with the Protagonist in Act One, where some events happen that propel them out of their Old World into the New World of Adventure, and in Act Two where the Protagonist must face a new reality where their previous conditions are not met. That is another way of looking at the Deconstruction dynamic which usually comes into play in the first part of the Protagonist’s shift into the New World.

For Part 1 of Stanton’s TED Talk, go here.

For Part 2, go here.

For Part 3, go here.

For Part 4, go here.

For Part 5, go here.

For Part 6, go here.

Tomorrow: Part 7.