Hey, welcome to the screenwriting life. I'm Meg Lafour. And I'm L'Orian McKenna.

We are professional screenwriters. We've worked together as a team and separately.

We've worked on studio and indie films, live action and animation, from my work on Inside Out and

Captain Marvel. To my work in Pixar Story Department on Up, Brave, and Inside Out.

We are here to share our insights on the craft of screenwriting and also the lights, how to not only survive the

ups and downs but thrive. We want to help you become the best screenwriter you can be and

to reassure you that you are not alone on this journey.

Hi guys, welcome back to the show.

Today we are chatting with one of America's most celebrated

writers and directors Andrew Stanton.

Andrew wrote and directed Finding Nemo, finding Dory, and Wally, all of which consistently

rank among the best films in this century and best animated films ever made.

In live action storytelling, he's become a critically acclaimed director working on shows like Stranger Things and Better Call South

Andrew is considered one of the finest storytellers working in our industry. He has given lectures for Ted and Google and he's here today to help us with our own understanding of story. So welcome Andrew to the show.

Hi. It's it's nice to be among friends and not strangers.

People that have seen the real me, the underside of me, the underbelly of me, the blue me

in all the meeting rooms, so it's gonna be all the answers should be a fun talk should be a fun

talk all the answers so should we get into advances in screenwriting are we yeah I'll

start I'll keep it brief I delivered a script yesterday I think congratulations

thank you and then I immediately fell into the black hole of hackatude right like oh Like, oh my God, what did I just deliver? And then I had to reread it. And then of course I found a big typo right in the middle of it. So I had to do that like, wait, not that one, this one. So that right yes yes so that was amazing and then I sat down and

came up with 10 of the worst ideas I could come up with because I feel like I'm really good at that and I needed to do something I'm really good at.

And so, and then I just ate way too many chips and got a stomachache and then I focused on that instead of the script I delivered.

...