storytelling: what can we learn from hollywood?

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Storytelling-What can we learn from Hollywood?

Find me on twitter via

@eliasveris

At a funeral, most people would rather be the man in the coffin,

than stand up and give an euology... (J Seinfeld)

Public speaking is one of the number 1 fears. That’s why insights in the structure of a story can be a life-saver.

Ever wanted to become an actor?

If you did answer yes to that

question, I’d reply with “you lack

ambition”.I didn’t want to

become an actor, I wanted to become the boss of actors:

the director.

There is only one place that really matters for directors with

ambition: Hollywood.

Hollywood = storytelling paradise.

Hollywood is loaded with people that spend their life in search of the

perfect story. Motivated by love for the craft… and the possibiliy of lots of

dollars.

Stories are with us from

the beginning

Because a good story resonates with everyone.

Stories are what we learned from when we were

still kids, stories are what we

humans love and thus what we are willing to pay for.

1 minute story pitch

To get back to Hollywood: In

Hollywood, story pitches exist,

where the idea of a story is sold. Just

the idea.Isn’t it damn

ridiculous to pay a lot of money for

just an idea?

This is how the pitch went:“A cranky, rude man has to relive the worst day of his life over and over again until he gets it right. When he does, he finds true

love.”

Groundhog Day was pitched in one of those

storypitches

Google Bob Kosberg if you

want proof.

Insert ideaTake story

This idea of pitching only works if there

is an oiled machine that can transform raw materials (ideas) into

real stories…

…And that machine exists.

It exists because people in

hollywood have spent ages crafting

and refining the secret formula to transform ideas in

great stories.The formula goes

like this:

P (2CL1CL) + PR = P5

P (2CL1CL) + PR = P5

The protagonist P has a second choice life (2CL). He drinks too much, is lonely, has a boring job,… He wants to progress to a first choice life (1CL),

has a dream of a better life, but no urgency to act upon it yet.

P (2CL1CL) + PR = P5

At a certain moment, he’s activated. He encounters a problem (P); falls in love with a girl, gets kidnapped,… He tries to solve the problem by means of a

plan, but he will need up to 5 plans (P5) to solve it.

His one but final plan will teach the protagonist that he will need to get rid

of his second choice life before

being able to solve the problem. He

will reach the point of no return, where

it seems that he will never get the girl/beat the bad

guy, but then finds courage for his last,

succeeding plan.

Let’s take an example in this guy, BDS.

*(person actually present during the presentation)

Say he falls in love with this lovely young

lady, KDCShe loves him

too, end of story, zero tension, BORING.

Don K.A.

We need tension.Say BDS leads a second choice life as a member of a criminal organisation

lead by Don K.A. BDS isn’t a real criminal by nature, but he never felt the urgent need to get

out of the organisation either…

Up till now that is.KDC has her principles, and will never ever start an affair with a criminal. No

sir!

So after a couple of plans to meet eachother (3), he asks her to run away with him. When she almost says yes, Don K.A. gets him back by brute force, and all

seems to be lost. Point of no return.

The Don must Die.

So BDS has to come up with an extreme

plan, breaking with his

criminal life forever to be

able to get his girl. The only

way is to kill the Don…

So he does succeed in the end, and they live happily ever after.

2e CL PR

P5

Remember: tension comes from a second choice life (your audience should feel this), a problem (your audience needs a sense of urgency) and 5 plans

(you need to build up tension before resolving)

Concepts to use in a presentation:

Presentation = NarrativeTo make a long story short...

The Rocky Road towards a great presentation

Some concrete tips…

Spencer Silver: 1968

Arthur Fry: 1973

Post-it: 1980

The post-it is your friend. Writing down your core ideas/examples/cases before going to powerpoint allows you to shuffle your storyline around until you’ve

reached the perfect structure.

Good artists copy, great artists steal

Everything has been tried before.

Every story has been told. Re-use,

reshuffle, steal and transform.

Michael Jackson: 1983

David Bowie: 1974

Marcel Marceau: 1940After all, Michael

Jackson stole his world-famous moonwalk from David Bowie, who stole it from a mime student

of Marcel Marceau. Who cares about that? No-

one does.

Creativity comes through versatility

Be versatile. If you talk business, think about what your Monday-

evening dancing class taught you. Or what you can use from that book about directing movies

in hollywood…

Capitalize on what you already do

Use the books you read to draw analogies, the music you listen to to build storylines, the

presentations you gave in the past to inspire you.

Steal from yourself. A lot.

But customize

…But always customize to your public and to the message you want to get across. Use tweets from less than 24hours ago to

illustrate something, or pictures from people in the audience to

create a connection. A presentation is never a standard

offering.

& Passion

The purpose of your presentation should be

crystal clear after you gave it, as should be the need you answered with giving it.

Mine was to show you the relevance of crafting a real

story when presenting.

Tell stories (with Post-its) while

stealing versatile

content from yourself, that

you customize in order to reach a purpose.

Wrap-up:

To the guys I stole from, and will steal from again.

Find me on twitter via

@eliasveris