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 6.

In the early days of Pixar, before we truly understood the invisible workings of story, we were simply a group of guys going on our gut, going on our instincts. And it’s interesting to see how that led us places that are actually pretty good. You have to understand that at this time in 1993, what was considered a successful animated picture Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King. So when we pitched Toy Story to Tom Hanks for the first time, he walked in and said, “You don’t want me to sing, do you?” And I thought that epitomized perfectly what everybody thought animation had to be at the time.

But we really wanted to prove you could tell completely different stories in animation. We didn’t have any influence then, so we had a little secret list of rules that we kept to ourselves. They were:

• No songs
• No “I want” moment
• No happy village
• No love story
• No villain

The irony is in the first year, our story was not working at all and Disney was panicking. So they privately got advice from a famous lyricist — who I won’t name — and he faxed them some suggestions. And we got a hold of that fax. And the fax said:

• There should be songs
• There should be an “I want” song
• There should be a happy village song
• There should be a love story
• And there should be a villain

And thank goodness we were just too young, rebellious and contrarian at the time. That just gave us more determination to prove you could build a better story. A year after that, we did conquer it. And it just goes to prove storytelling has guidelines, not hard, fast rules.

A few points:

• “We were simply a group of guys going on our gut, going on our instincts”: So much of the story-crafting process is about this. We learn what we learn, as we should, always pushing ourselves to read more, watch more, analyze more. At the end of the day, when you are writing a story, it’s just your those characters, that universe… and your instincts. Even and perhaps especially when you made big decisions like which story to write, what tone to pick, which ending to choose, you would be smart to be thoughtful about it, but always be mindful of what your gut says. In my view, that’s generally what is closest to your Creativity.
• “And it just goes to prove storytelling has guidelines, not hard, fast rules”: Ironic that Stanton uses the word “rules” to describe the original Pixar list of “no’s” — no songs, no villains, etc. The language can get a little confusing. Here’s my take: If by “rule,” we mean something akin to a law which we, as writers, can not break, then I absolutely agree: There are no rules. There are, as Stanton suggests, guidelines. There are, as McKee asserts, principles. There is conventional wisdom, common practices, formulas, patterns, paradigms, and all the rest. What all of that represents is the human endeavor to understand and wrangle an organic entity: story. To the degree any of them help us go into the story and find its essence, its peculiar shape, it’s unique characters, tone, feel, atmosphere, and so on, great. I don’t care what you call them as long as they help you write a great story. But all too often writers are taught to abide by these so-called rules when the fact is nothing… NOTHING trumps the story. For more of my thoughts on this matter, go here.

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.

Tomorrow: Part 6.