I Am Not A Human.
When actors are stuck — when they can’t “figure out” or “discover” how to play a certain character at a certain moment — they are told, “Find the love in the scene.” Find what that character dearly loves and is trying to achieve, and let that guide you.
When a writer of commercials doesn’t know where to start, I say unto that writer:
“Find the story.”
Raise your hand if you like to hear commercials.
No, I don’t mean you advertising people. I mean the rest of the world, who view commercials as nuisances.
Not many hands up now.
Okay, now everybody:
Raise your hand if you enjoy hearing a good story. (By “good” I mean one that interests you. That diverts, excites, provokes, stimulates or inspires you.)
Oooh, lots of hands in the air now!
Guess what? Everybody likes a good story.
(They’ll disagree over what is good and what is “boring,” not realizing that by “boring” they really mean “not relevant to my experience.”)
You know how “experts” love to point out “the difference between humans and other animals”?
Well, they’re all wrong.
The difference between humans and other animals is:
Only humans tell stories.
Whether a history book or an adventure film or carefully a rehearsed line in a singles bar, it’s a story.
Dogs don’t tell stories. Has your dog ever shared one with you?
On the other hand, you have either heard or told at least one story about a dog.
(Don’t tell me your story about your dog, by the way. It’s not relevant to my life. But I can tell you a couple of great stories about my dog, if you like.)
Even a story about a dog really is a human story. At least, if it’s a dog story a human will pay attention to.
Example: When I was a teenager, my dog taught himself to stand on his hind legs and extend his right front paw to open the sliding glass door to the patio.
To me, that’s fascinating, because it was my dog and my house. But even to you, who knew neither, this story might at least elicit a brief, “Huh!”
Why? Because that dog was acting like…a human! (In writing terms, that’s called Personification — attributing human qualities to non-humans.)
But here’s another kind of dog story:
Rover woke up. Scratched a bit. Went back to sleep. Woke up again. Yawned. Rolled over. Scratched some more.
Not so interesting to humans.
Why not? We do all those things, right?
But….It’s 100% mechanical behavior, with no inner thought or emotion or desire expressed, exposed or implied.
Which means it’s not a human story.
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Is this the end? I liked it! So we write a spot that ties our product or service to the two-legged dog story?