A series analyzing Pixar writer-director Andrew Stanton’s TED Talk

“The Clues to a Great Story.”

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 my analysis of his comments.

Part 1: “Make me care.”

Part 2: The “pebble in a slingshot” approach to story structure.

Part 3: “Don’t give them 4. Give them 2 + 2.”

Part 4: “The character has an inner motor, a dominant inner goal.”

Part 5: “Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty.”

Part 6: “Storytelling has guidelines, not hard, fast rules.”

Part 7: “A fundamental thing we learned was liking your main character.”

Part 8: “That was the theme: ‘Who are you?’”

Part 9: “The best stories infuse wonder.”

Part 10: “That’s the first story lesson I ever learned. Use what you know.”

Here’s a visual summary of Stanton’s TED Talk from Matt Ragland.

Andrew Stanton: Wikipedia

Andrew Stanton: IMdb

TED Talks