Kevin writes:
... We’re suckers for stories, but only if they’re pretty good ones. ... When you’re setting up your own shots to animate, you’re the story teller; you’re the seller. You need to pull in your audience just like that guy at the flea market pulled in his customers, and sell them with entertainment value.
Find a fascinating, unexpected context. Give your characters enough specificity that you know exactly how they need to behave — make them be so unique and authentic that your audience can’t help but believe in them, and be interested in them.
Reading President Koch's post (and read all of it, not just the snippet above), I tripped back to compelling stories I'd witnessed over the years, either verbal tales, printed novels, or two-hour narratives on the silver screen.
At a Katzenberg-Eisner pitch meeting a quarter century ago, I watched Pete Young say: "My feature idea is Oliver Twist with dogs." Jeffrey and Michael immediately lit up. Pete didn't have to say anything else. The execs got it with a mere four words -- Oliver Twist with dogs. Dickens pre-provided the basic story, and Mr. Young added the fresh angle.
Then there was that movie I went to on the spur of the moment, over in Hollywood, in 1977. I plunked down in the padded seat at Mann's Chinese Theatre, the auditorium darkened, and there in wide-screen splendor was a big space-ship racing across a starfield. Then a few seconds later came a space-ship the size of a small planet chasing it, and a roar went up from the audience, and we were into some fascinating, unexpected context. And George Lucas, shortly thereafter, ended up a billionaire.
Finally there was that book that came out some years ago. You know, that story about a semi-abused boy going to a school for wizards? Wonder how that worked out for Ms. Rowling?
Compelling, fascinating stories. They're easy to see when they're in front of you, but sometimes a little difficult to create.
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4 comments:
I sure hope you're not comparing one of Disney's most embarrassing movies with Star Wars or Harry Potter. Pete was a great guy, but this was a very bad idea and much later JK would refuse a similiar idea Treasure Planet in Space.
Good story simply doesn't evolve from one-liners, no matter what Hollywood would like to believe. Finding a story is quite the opposite of a four word pitch.
Producers and studios love to spin things this way to mask their inability to know what makes a good story, or how to find one.
But what they do have the ability to do is mythologize their own involvement in a film - ie, spin a pitch they heard to sound like the beginning of something amazing. In other words, they can tell a good story about their own meaningless ten minute attachment to a successful project. And that's how these myths are perpetuated. The really sad part is that myths like these continue to give producers justification to continue to reduce the creative process to one-liners and high-concept twists, absolving themselves of the 'time-consuming' pursuit of true art.
Altman's The Player pretty much covers this.
I sure hope you're not comparing one of Disney's most embarrassing movies with Star Wars or Harry Potter. Pete was a great guy, but this was a very bad idea and much later JK would refuse a similiar idea Treasure Planet in Space.
I'm not. I'm saying you need to start with something compelling, some hook. Something to sell. That's the point of Kevin's story, and my asides.
The film was completed after Pete's death.
Treasure Planet was offered at the same pitch meeting.
...The film was completed after Pete's death....
It was barely started while he was alive. When Pete was still on it we were still screwing with a stolen Panda(?)
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