This was NOT a coincidence

Published: Mon, 02/08/21

In 1999, Pixar released Toy Story.

As the first feature-length CGI production, the movie revolutionized animated filmmaking and became a number one box office smash.

Over the next 14 years, Pixar proceeded to release one film a year.

Each of them hit number one at the box office.

Every. Single. One.

14 number-one movies in a row.

This was not a coincidence.

This was not luck.

As revealed in the incredible book Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull, Pixar leaders went out of their way to create a workplace that supported creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, and masterful storytelling.

Pixar writers, directors, and animators worked together to share and create storytelling tools, processes, and structures for excellence that could be applied to every story their company, and eventually Disney Animation as a whole, produced.

What if you could have a glimpse into those processes?

What if you could gain a better understanding of the storytelling concepts utilized by Pixar and Disney to tell number one hit stories that generate billions of dollars in revenue?

More importantly, what if you could learn how to apply those structures to the most challenging (and important!) aspect of your story: the opening act?

With those questions in mind, I am pleased to announce:

It Calls to Me: An Act One Seminar

It Calls to Me is a LIVE online seminar taking place on Saturday, February 20, 2021, from 1 to 4 pm Eastern time.

At the seminar, we’ll be undertaking an in-depth analysis of the hugely successful 2016 Disney animated film, Moana, which grossed $690 million worldwide.

By examining in detail each scene in Moana’s first act, you’ll learn exactly what goes into this film’s incredible opening moments.

I will reveal how and why the film’s writers ensured Act I of their story utilized Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, Christopher Vogler’s hero’s journey and related archetypes, as well as Shawn Coyne’s “5 Commandments of Storytelling.”

We’ll also review examples from the first act of other hit films, including Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone, The Matrix, Star Wars: A New Hope, and The Wizard of Oz.

This is a live seminar, so there will be lots of time for questions and interactions, and you’ll leave the seminar ready to apply these massively important storytelling concepts to the first act of your novel.

But I’m not abandoning you to do it all alone. . .

Instead, I am including along with registration in the workshop a personalized one-page written analysis of the first act of your current work-in-progress.

This means I will read Act I of your manuscript or outline personally, and then provide you with a document identifying what is working, as well as areas for improvement, so that you can apply what you learned in the seminar to your own story and craft the best opening act possible.

Registration for It Calls to Me is open now, so sign-up today.

Remember, it doesn’t matter if the rest of your book is excellent, if the reader never gets through Act I. It Calls to Me is your chance to learn how to hook them from page one.

I’ll see you on the seminar.

Your pal in writing,

Kevin T. Johns, writing coach