The Pixar Pitch

Who can tell a good story?

In a review of Daniel Pink’s book (“To Sell is Human”), Jay Conner writes, “In order to move others, we need to become much better at clearly stating what it is we want and where it is we want people to go.”

How can we tell our story? How do we get our message across? How can we combine those to make it stick?

Here are the 6 steps of The Pixar Pitch:

The Pitch

1. Once upon a time, there was …
2. Every day …
3. One day …
4. Because of that …
5. Because of that …
6. Until finally …

I was listening to a podcast where they were dissecting the Pixar Pitch and suggested it could be used for fiction or non-fiction, movies, screenplays, or even products. Let’s put it to use.

This post is an outtake from Repossible’s “Spark Campfire” course where an adult and a “younger person” write a book together (in a month).

Time for an Example

I’m going to use my niece’s current book we’re working on. I’m using mostly because I haven’t written it, it’s not even written yet, so I have to “pitch” the idea to myself (and my niece). Let’s see how this goes.

1. Once upon a time, there was … a teenager girl who couldn’t get to sleep.
2. Every day … she lay awake at night and her next day was tired, grumpy, and not very efficient at school.
3. One day … she took a long flight and on her seat was a travel package that had an eye mask.
4. Because of that … she slept soundly on the plane, woke up refreshed and ready to go.
5. Because of that … she used it at home on a regular basis.
6. Until finally … she realized that the eye mask was helping to get her to sleep faster, sleep more deeply, and her life was more enjoyable, she was less tired, and she only wished someone had told her about the wonders of the eye mask sooner.

I just did that in two minutes. What’s your idea? What’s your book or article or story or movie or … ?

Give it The Pixar Pitch and see how you do. It’s fun. I swear.

More from Others

• The Career Author Podcast: Episode 64 – The Pixar Rules of Storytelling There’s always something to learn by studying the masters which is what the guys do today as they dive deep into Pixar’s process.
• The Pixar Pitch! Telling your Story Crisply and with Clarity in order to Compel Action In order to move others, we need to become much better at clearly stating what it is we want and where it is we want people to go.
• Pinkcast 2.23: This is how to pitch your idea like a Pixar producer Daniel Pink tells us how it all works in a 3-minute video. How to pitch ideas for TV, stories, books, or, well, just about anything.