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My Crash Course in Story


Disney Work in Progress Film Screenings and Roger Allers Story Pitches


We were invited to watch screenings of the films as a work in progress.

In Beauty and the Beast, the big musical number Be my guest was sung to Maurice when he arrived at the castle. It was moved to the middle of the story and sung to Belle instead. It was a big impact moment and needed to be later in the story for the arc to build. (Ask Kirk and Gary or Leon) we thought they’d ruined the film. 


Lion King I suggested no words in the opening , pantomime only. (Were there words originally? Ask Don Hahn) I didn’t like the goose stepping hyenas, I thought they were a problem uniwito humans, not the animal kingdom. I still think that I was right on that one. 


I owe Don Hahn  a lot. What I learned from my time at Disney were the components and structure of a good story. 


And I would put it to good use much later when I started playing with the idea of creating my own characters for a book series called Finny. My 4 1/2 years at Feature Animation were my master class in storytelling. characters and story.


Oh and did I mention that Don Hahn has a great book out on the creative process? It’s called Brainstorm. Check it out. 






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