Story Fanatic is a publication completely devoted to investigating the wonderful world of story. From story structure to theory, analysis to writing, the articles on this site are an effort on my part to put into writing why I think some stories work better than others. A huge emphasis is placed on the actual structure behind a story. While I can enjoy a fun yet badly-constructed film as much as the next person, my favorites are those that keep me coming back to experience them over and over again.

I think there are superior stories. They usually end up on those top 10 Lists we see from time to time and with little exception end up on those Oscar clips during that yearly celebration. Hopefully I’ll be able to explore and explain why I think those stories deserve the recognition they get and in turn, maybe even inspire greater ones to fruition.

Why No Comments?

During the first four years of running this publication I welcomed and encouraged comments of any kind at the bottom of my articles. In this third incarnation I’ve turned them off for the sole egotistical reason that I want everything on this site to be mine. Having worked in the film industry for over 15 years now, I know first hand how rare it is to have something to show that is all “me.” And before you write me off as self-centered, know that I completely get that my work has only improved because of the input of others.

But this site isn’t about that.

Blogging offers a rare opportunity - the chance to communicate one’s vision to a mass and remote audience without the prerequisite of external input. Sure, I’ll miss the insights that others have brought to my previous articles, but it’s my hope that if they feel passionately enough about it that they’ll still take the time to email me their comments. Joe Hewitt sums it up quite nicely in his personal blog:

I think that I’ve self-censored a lot of potentially interesting blog posts because I didn’t want to get into arguments with readers in the comments. I’d like to blog because it helps me find clarity in my thoughts and improve as a writer, not because I want to entertain or persuade anyone.

The idea of hitting “Publish” and being done with an article is really really exciting to me. Hopefully I’ll be able to write even more because of it.

About the Author

Want to know something about me? Here is the always-strange-to-write third person view of my interest in story:

James Hull has been an avid fan of cinematic storytelling ever since his father first brought home several scripts from the TV series, CHiPs!

Since graduating from the CalArts Character Animation program in 1993, James has assisted productions in storyboarding (with the legendary Warner Bros. director Chuck Jones), direction (with Borat director Larry Charles on the Dilbert television series), and character animation. The latter is where he has spent a majority of the last decade - animating on Disney’s Tarzan and on Dreamworks’ Spirit, Shrek 2, and Madagascar films. In 2006 he worked with animator James Baxter on Disney’s Enchanted.

James also maintains two popular websites Seward Street - a site devoted to the art of character animation - and StoryFanatic - a site dedicated to exploring what makes great stories great. Accepting the premise that “story is always king,” this second site explores everything from story theory to film analysis. In 2008 James began offering script consulting services and has consulted on several independent film productions here and abroad.

In the Fall of 2008 James began teaching story development at the California Institute of the Arts.

In September of 2009, James sold his first story treatment to Dreamworks Animation. He hopes that someday it will be made into an actual film.

Colophon

This site has been and will continue to be an exquisite labor of love for me. Almost as important to me as the words I write, is the manner in which I produce them. For those who are interested, these are the tools that I wake up each morning looking forward to use.

First off is my 24” iMac - probably the greatest home computer I’ve ever had the joy of working on. For the longest time I wrote Macs off as being for children, silly expensive toys that only neophytes would bother using. Boy was I wrong. Especially when it comes to publishing on the web, pretty much all the latest and greatest programs are built specifically for using on a Mac. I love this computer.

My CMS of choice? Expression Engine. Without a doubt, hands down, the greatest publishing system out there. You can do literally anything your mind can conjure up. Anything. WordPress (my previous CMS) could do some of the same things, but only with constant hacking of “The Loop” and installations of several different Plug-Ins. EE can do most of what I want (which really isn’t all that much) straight out of the box. In addition, EE has something else called the Multi-Site Manager (or MSM). Basically you can run 3 different “sites” off of the one singular installation. So all three of my blogs, jamesrhull.com, sewardstreet.com and this, storyfanatic.com are really all running off of one installation of EE. This is particularly wonderful because when that rare moment comes up when I do need to install a plugin - I only have to do it once. Previously I’d have to install everything 2 or 3 times across my different installations. Now I install it once, and all three sites are updated. Wonderful. Thanks EllisLabs!

For coding I was using TextMate, but now I’m moving over to Espresso. Why? The icon is cooler and it’s made by the same people who make CSSEdit - a program that is so much fun to use that I often spend hours shifting blocks of text around on my site pixel by pixel - just to see what it would look like. While it does seem a little buggy around the edges I know from using their other products, that will eventually be the one for me. Uploading is done via Transmit.

I line everything up with Slammer.

I rip DVD clips with MPEGStreamclip and cut them together with iMovie ‘09. Screenshots are captured with VLC.

And my favorite part of the whole thing? The fonts, of course! All the great work you see here is the result of my favorite place for fonts, Mark Simonson Studio. If you want your publication to look fantastic, that would be the place to go.