Infinite Permutation | brandon hoe's blog

This great video from Toy Story 3’s screenwriter, Michael Arndt, gives you a step-by-step view of what it takes to set up a story properly. To summarize the steps, setting up Act 1 of a story requires you to:

1. Establish the character
2. Establish the world they live in
3. Establish the grand passion that they’re defined by
4. Establish their hidden flaw, which is a byproduct of their grand passion
5. Create the situation where the storm clouds are looming in the distance
6. Create the “bolt from the blue!” that changes their life and takes their grand passion away from them
7. Add insult to injury
8. Place the character at a fork in the road… then make them take the wrong choice (the right choice is boring for storytelling!)