Story is King

Andrew explains Pixar's "Story is King" philosophy, a principle easy to say but extremely hard to honor. It means being willing to keep hammering on a story until it's right. Pixar had the rare luxury of quality, time, and money thanks to Steve Jobs and Disney, allowing them to shut down and reboot entire movies when the story wasn't working.

He recalls the collective dread at Pixar when screenings went badly and everyone knew a director might be replaced. He cites Billy Wilder's claim that 80% of a picture is the writing and Spielberg's "if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage." The core message: no amount of technology or generative AI can save a bad story. Audiences will simply stop watching.