Jeffrey Hirschberg on the 11 Laws of Great Storytelling:

Assume everyone has A.D.D.: we can argue there are certain external factors contributing to a population of diminishing attention spans (MTV, video games, text messaging, IM, and the Internet to name a few possible culprits), but it is safe to say that the attentiveness (or lack thereof) of the audience is directly related to its ability to make a successful emotional connection – and that connection must be made quickly, or you will lose your audience even more quickly.

He goes on to state the usual - grab the reader’s attention in the first ten pages, write for movie stars, three-act structure and so on. Except for the above quote, you’ve probably read it all somewhere before, but it’s worth re-reading (if for nothing else than to reinforce the “laws” because they are important I guess).

One big error though - Big Al is NOT the villain of Toy Story 2. He is not actively preventing the other toys from saving Woody. Stinky Pete is. Stinky Pete is the Antagonist of the film, even if it isn’t revealed until much later in the story. His efforts were always there, just hidden from us. Big Al is the Contagonist of the film, meaning he is the character who generally gets in the way, driven by the temptation of making big bucks off of the little toys.

In part one of a 70-minute review of the Phantom Menace, we learn the importance of the pro-teh-gun-izzzs and why you should be able to describe characters without speaking about their appearance, their clothing or the role (occupation) they play in the film. If the best description someone can come up with regarding one of your characters is “normal,” then you’ve got a problem.

(via kottke)