Story Structure

Andrew introduces story structure as the skeleton that supports a narrative. He debunks the viral "Pixar rules" slide as not actually from Pixar, though some rules are valid. He explains the "man in a hole" archetype: someone gets into trouble and gets out again. He surveys multiple story spines: bad-to-worse, hook-meet-payoff, rags-to-riches, rebirth, and others.

He covers Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey (used in Wizard of Oz and Star Wars), noting that once you know the structure, you "see through" films. He shows Nolan's structure for Memento, alternating between black-and-white and color timelines that converge at the end. He focuses on McKee's five-part structure: inciting incident, progressive complications, crisis, climax, and resolution. He recommends McKee's book "Story" as essential reading.