Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling – Rule 7

Hey there!

I just love talking about storytelling, and how important it is to your VO career to develop and hone your storytelling skills.

It’s essential.

So, every so often, I like to roll out items from this list from Emma Coats, who used to work at Pixar as a story artist, and who serially tweeted Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling.

I’m giving you one of these rules every so often as we move through the next several months, along with how you can apply the rule to your VO artistry.

Today, Rule 7…

Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

Working backwards through the script to get from the conclusion to the supporting story is an interesting exercise.

It helps you see what contributes to the sale in a commercial, the climax of an audiobook, the winning or losing of a video game, or the conclusion of a documentary.

Sometimes, the path is hard to pace and energize until you know where you’re going to end up.

But when you get there, if you fully understand your goal at the end, your path will be that much more precise and clean in performance.

You can’t telegraph where you’re headed, but if you know where the train’s tracks run, you can pilot the listener to it more expertly.

So make sure you know how to make the end sing. And your middle will fall into place.

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Next rule?

The best advice for the auditioning artist ever.

I’ll share that with you next time.