GITS Script Reading and Analysis Series: “Toy Story 3″ — Structure

Welcome to Week 5 of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series. This week we will be analyzing the script for Toy Story 3. If you haven’t had a chance to read the script yet, you can go here.

As background, I will be posting excerpts from the Creative Screenwriting article [May/June 2010] titled “Inside Pixar”:

In a strange twist of fate, Michael Arndt found himself in a position enviable to any writer. The New York-based screenwriter was in Los Angeles for the production of his first screenplay, the indie dramedy Little Miss Sunshine. Unsure of his next career move, Arndt received a call from his agent with the surprising news that Pixar principals wanted to meet him. “It was like being summoned to Mount Olympus,” he says.

It turns out that Pixar’s story department head, Mary Coleman, asked Sunshine producer Ron Yerxa if he knew any great up-and-coming writers. Yerxa gave Coleman Arndt’s script and she was blown away. The amazing thing about this story is that despite the fact that Little Miss Sunshine would eventually go on to become a big indie hit — and win Arndt an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay — at the time Arndt was interviewing with Pixar, Sunshine didn’t even have a distributor.

Imagine that phone call. “Hello, Michael? Yes, this is God speaking. Would you mind popping up to No Cal for a meet-and-greet? Ta-ta!” But even here, we can see how the wheels of the Pixar creative machine work: They like to work with people who have talent. Shocking, but true!

Today we discuss the script’s structure. Once again you may choose to consider the story in terms of three-act structure with one of these iterations:

Aristotle: Beginning / Middle / End

Campbell [Hero’s Journey]: Separation / Initiation / Return

Hegel: Thesis / Antithesis / Synthesis

Jung: Invitation / Immersion / Integration

If anyone is into sequence theory, if you’d care to break down the script per its sequences, we would all laud and honor you.

See you in comments!

For Day 1 of our analysis of Toy Story 3, you can go here.

[Remember next week (10/9–10/13), we will be reading Pan’s Labyrinth. You may access the script here.

NOTE: THIS SERIES AND THE USE OF SCRIPTS IS STRICTLY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES!

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