The Best Story Wins: How to Leverage Hollywood Storytelling in Business and Beyond

by Matthew Luhn

Overview

The Best Story Wins provides fresh perspectives on the principles of Pixar-style storytelling, adapted by one of the studio’s top creatives to meet the needs of entrepreneurs, marketers, and business-minded storytellers of all stripes.

Pixar movies have transfixed viewers around the world and stirred a hunger in creative and corporate realms to adopt new and more impactful ways of telling stories. Former Pixar and The Simpsons Animator and Story Artist Matthew Luhn translates his two and half decades of storytelling techniques and concepts to the CEOs, advertisers, marketers, and creatives in the business world and beyond. A combination of Luhn’s personal stories and storytelling insights, The Best Story Wins retells the “Hero’s Journey” story building methods through the lens of the Pixar films to help business minds embrace the power of storytelling for themselves!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642790207
Publisher:	Morgan James Publishing
Publication date:	10/16/2018
Pages:	164
Sales rank:	255,083
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Matthew Luhn is a writer, story branding consultant, and keynote speaker with over 25 years of experience creating stories and characters at Pixar Animation Studios and beyond. Matthew’s story credits include Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, Monsters Inc., Monsters University, Finding Nemo, UP, Cars, Ratatouille, and other films and TV shows currently in development. Alongside his story work in Hollywood, Matthew also trains CEOs, marketing teams, directors, and other professionals on how to craft and tell stories for Fortune 500 companies, Academy Award winning movies, and corporate brands grossing billions of dollars worldwide. Matthew attended the world-renowned Character Animation department at Cal Arts in Los Angeles and holds a BFA in Illustration from the Academy of Art Universityin San Francisco. He currently resides in Oakland, California.

Table of Contents

Introduction xii

Chapter 1 The Hook 1

You Only Get One Chance to Make a First Impression 3

Loglines and the Elevator Pitch 6

Chapter 2 Character Transformation 10

Character Arc 18

A, B, and C Stories 20

Chapter 3 Connecting 24

Universal Themes 31

Knowing Your Audience 33

Chapter 4 Authenticity 38

Memory Prompts 41

The Feeling Is the Message 46

Chapter 5 Story Structure 50

The Six Story Stages 52

The Story Spine 57

Chapter 6 Heroes and Leaders 68

What Makes a Story Unique 71

Heroes Are … 74

Chapter 7 Cast of Characters 82

Archetypes 85

Invoking Characters 91

Chapter 8 Inspiring Creativity in the Workplace 106

Physical Environment 109

Eliminating the Fear of Failure 111

Innovation 115

Keeping Good Employees for a Long Time 118

Chapter 9 Writing Tips and Techniques 122

Epilogue 128

Acknowledgments 129

About the Author 131