Stories Mean Business - Nick Warren

Yesterday, I talked about the importance of the "want" in storytelling.

Without the 'want', there's never a story.

In Roxanne – still a joy after 35 years – Charlie wants love.

Specifically, he wants the love of the smart and beautiful Roxanne.

But let's be clear...

That's NOT the story, it's just the ENGINE of the story.

Hitchcock famously called the engines of his films "muguffins" because he wasn't that bothered about the specifics.

In North By Northwest, Cary Grant and James Mason chase across America after 'the microfilm' ... but at no point does anyone ever say what it contains.

Because it doesn't really matter.

What matters is the desire ... the desire that sends characters out into the world to fight for something – to make choices under pressure.

For Charlie, the path to Roxanne is strewn with challenges and obstacles:

• his nose

• his self-doubt

• the handsome (but fantastically dumb) firefighter she's falling for

But of course, it's smashing up against these things that changed Charlie into the man Roxanne wanted.

They made the story.

So here's the question. What are you smashing up against?

(It's okay. I'll go first.)

In 2016, I knew I needed a change.

I stepped back from running my agency to try writing a thriller. It was a huge gamble, equal parts terror and excitement.

Like Charlie, self-doubt was constant whisper in my ear. Questions of talent, focus and worse.

But by the time I'd finished Execution is Everything, I knew I was hooked.

The engine got me started, but it's the challenges that forced me to tell a better story ... in every sense.

Nick

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This is one of 30 riffs on #Business #Storytelling. Follow me to get the series.

At the start of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, our hero tells us EXACTLY what he wants:

At the start of Casino Royale, M reads Bond the riot act:

Ferris wants a day off and James Bond wants to stop a terrorist network, but really we could do this all day:

Every great story – whether on page, stage or screen – is about the quest for something.

But what do you notice about the list?

There are two kinds of wants. The desire for some specific thing (e.g. a great day off), or the return of something lost (e.g. peace and security)

In either case, the want is the ENGINE that drives the story forward.

So if you are telling your business story, start with what YOU wanted.

The clearer you make it, the stronger foundation your story will have.

When I stepped back from my agency in 2016 ... I wanted to write a novel ... but that was only part of it.

More tomorrow.

Nick

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This is one of 30 riffs on #Business #Storytelling. Follow me to get the series.

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My favourite lines from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves comes (of course) from the scenery-chewing Sheriff of Nottingham:

Moments later, when his dim, witted, cousin questions his choice of cutlery, the peerless Alan Rickman, answers with a snarl:

"BECAUSE It's blunt, you idiot. It'll hurt more!"

Funny, as these lines are, there's no hidden meaning here. They are puddle deep. The Sheriff intends to cut Robin's heart out with a spoon because it will hurt more.

That's it.

But contrast them with Rickman’s final line as Severus Snape, 20 years later. He’s on the verge of death, looking up into Harry Potter’s face.

As the audience will learn, these five words contain the depth of Snape's entire life and motivation.

In other words, they have subtext.

There are books about subtext in storytelling, but in business, we can start with a two-step process.

1. What do we want our audience to think, feel or know?

2. What do we need to tell them so that they can work that out FOR THEMSELVES?

Here’s a dumb example.

After I sold my first business, I felt insecure about the weird loss in status. I wanted people to know that I had done it, but how..?

Option one:

Option two: Start a story.

The first is clear, but sounds needy (which I was). The second is smoother, inviting the audience into a story, and letting the subtext begin the work.

What do you want your audience to know?

Now, work backwards.

Nick

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This is one of 30 riffs on #*Business #Storytelling*. Follow me to get the series.

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We all know that Love Actually is a political, instructional film.

Among other things, we learn what drives the UK’s foreign policy:

The entire emotion of Hugh Grant’s Prime Minister speech is captured and channelled through the simple, penultimate word.

Um.

But he’s not alone. The movie is brim full of characters (mostly British men of course) who are unwilling or unable to say what they actually feel...

To put it another way, Love Actually is a movie all about subtext.

And subtext is a mark of great storytelling:

As I’ve mentioned before, great stories engage when they bring an audience into the telling.

When Andrew Lincoln tells Keira Knightley that he’s taped over her wedding video, he’s really saying something completely different:

The scene is powerful and engaging because we have to work to understand the truth.

And when it lands, it lands DEEPLY.

Most business communication lacks drama, but almost all of it (outside of advertising) lacks subtext.

Clarity matters of course, but when we want people to lean in and pay attention, subtext can a powerful tool.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at ways to create it.

Nick

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This is one of 30 riffs on #Business #Storytelling. Follow me to get the series.

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In Toy Story 2, Jessie forces Woody to face a terrible truth – that he will be abandoned by the child he loves.

Speaking as a parent, it felt pretty brutal:

Except, as Jessie says … there IS something that Woody can do about it.

In this series, we've seen how character is revealed by action, by choices people (or toys) make under pressure.

But where does the pressure come from?

Most choices in life are actually pretty easy. To oversimplify, we "choose" to move away from pain or towards pleasure.

That’s it.

So how do storytellers create the choices that build real audience attention?

...

They create dilemmas, forcing their characters to choose between equally weighted goods or equally awful evils.

Toy Story 2 is a perfect example. As Jessie says:

And that’s Woody’s dilemma. He can live forever, preserved but unplayed with in a museum … or he can stay with Andy, in the sure knowledge of eventual abandonment and loss...

Both paths will lead to pain, and the choice he makes in this moment of genuine pressure will show us who he really is.

Nick

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This is one of 30 riffs on #*Business #Storytelling*. Follow me to get the series.

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In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, it takes 80 seconds to drop Arnie into the steel.

Let's talk about why...

Because during that time, director James Cameron gives us a little #masterclass on #storytelling.

In an on-set report, a journalist at the time talked about Cameron's ability to hold two things in his head at once – the big picture and little picture.

• Where do we want all the extras in this wide shot?

• But also ... how much blood do we want on this specific extra’s hand?

I call this "Nailing The Scaling" – it's a critical skill in storytelling, business and life.

Most humans tend to default to one scale or another.

They naturally Zoom Out to BIG PICTURE THINKING:

• Strategy

• Context

• Perspective

Or they naturally Zoom In to obsess on the detail:

• Critical actions/reactions

• Key emotional beats

• Tension (when we know something is wrong beyond our view.)

But to tell great stories (or live great lives) we need to push through our defaults and master both.

In this moment, I'm geeking out about a sci-fi movie. In the future, I'm compiling all these riffs into an ebook I can give to people who care about storytelling in business.

For inspiration, watch the end of Termintor 2. In 80 seconds you'll see how Cameron mixes the wide shots that establish jepardy with close ups that reveal emotional impact.

Down.

Down.

Down.

Down.

Down.

Gone.

Gon

Go

G

.

.

.

There's no words. No crying. No wailing or tearing of hair.

Just the slowest and most emotional section of a Terminator movie ever.

And we can't look away.

Nick

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This is one of 30 riffs on #*Business #Storytelling*. Follow me to get the series.

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My business is built on the foundation of simple, powerful idea:

People who tell better stories, get better lives...

Like most simple ideas, it scales well, from day to day decision making to ... yes, becoming a movie star:

In 1976, Sylvestor Stallone created one of cinemas most enduring characters. Yes ... Rocky lost the prize fight, but he won the girl (and the Oscar for Best Picture) so I guess he came out on top...

My favourite line from the movie hints at a classic rule of storyelling.

Here it is:

All I wanna do is go the distance.

I LOVE that.

But here's the crucial insight. It doesn't matter what Rocky says, it only matters WHAT HE DOES.

Does he go the distance?

In great stories, character is REVEALED THROUGH ACTION.

And as in stories, so in life.

Stallone's use of storytelling to market Rocky was as powerful as anything in the movie itself.

Legend says that he was broke when he wrote it. He finished the script in three days. He turned down a fortune to star in it himself.

And ended up on stage at the Oscars.

Which brings us to a foundation strategy for telling a better business story...

See you tomorrow,

Nick

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This is one of thirty riffs on #Business #Storytelling. Follow me to get the series.

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