Disneyland: It’s the details

Last week I spent a couple days in Disneyland, immersed in the magical and impressive world of Disney stories, characters, and experiences. All of us marveled at the craft, the attention to detail, and the effort that went into making each ride and land an incredible experience. I was particularly blown away by Radiator Springs from Cars and The Rise of the Resistance experience from Star Wars.

So for this week, I’ve been thinking a lot about the full-stack craft of storytelling:

Pixar has these 22 rules of storytelling. Here’s what’s most applicable to my work:
- Rule #2: You’ve got to keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience. Not what’s fun to do as a writer. The two can be very different.
- Rule #5: Simplify. Focus. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
- Rule #7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously, endings are hard. Get yours working up front. [For us it’s have an objective, know where this goes]
- Rule #11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
- Rule #12: Discount the first idea that comes to mind. And the 2nd, and the 3rd and 4th and 5th. Get the obvious ones out of the way. Surprise yourself.
- Rule #14: Why must you tell this story? What’s the belief burning within you that this story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
- Rule #17: No work is ever wasted. If it doesn’t work, let go and move on. It’ll come back around and be useful later.
- Rule #18: You have to know yourself: the difference between being yourself and fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
For more on pixar, highly recommend reading Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull
For an amazing series on Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic, highly recommend this series on the invention and the craft involved.
On my upcoming list of books to read is Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler. You can also listen to a synopsis from the Founders Podcast here.
- Choice quotes/ideas:
  - Disney’s key traits were raw ingenuity combined with sadistic determination.
  - Disney put excellence before any other consideration.
  - Walt Disney seldom dabbled. Everyone who knew him remarked on his intensity; when something intrigued him, he focused himself entirely as if it were the only thing that mattered.
  - He seemed confident beyond any logical reason for him to be so. It appeared that nothing discouraged him.
  - A quote from Edwin Land that would apply to Walt Disney too: My motto is very personal and may not fit anyone else or any other company. It is: Don’t do anything that someone else can do.
  - He kept a slogan pasted inside of his hat: You can’t top pigs with pigs. (A reminder that we have to keep blazing new trails.)
  - It is the detail. If we lose the detail, we lose it all.

Starting the week of inspired.