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“Georges Méliès’s Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to The Moon) (1902) … is only sixteen minutes long but it contains everything film is, would and will be: an explosion of artistry, joy, imagination, craft, effect, design and beauty – and of course flawless structure. Everything that makes film perfect is can be found in its essence here.”
So begins the book I’ve been working on for the last ten years, and to which I pay tribute with the title.
If Into the Woods was about story structure, then this book is about story power. What makes a story resonate? Which ingredients make hits, and what does it take for a story to dominate or change the world?
I’m writing now in the fake calm that falls between signing off the text and publication. Ten years? Well, seven of watching, reading, researching; then three of actual writing, including a complete rewrite halfway through.
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