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“Joel, I'm not a concept. Too many guys think I'm a concept or I complete them or I'm going to make them alive, but I'm just a fucked up girl who is looking for my own peace of mind. Don't assign me yours.” –Clementine, from ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND


How the heck do you get to write stuff like that? How far does one have to dig to find such words, such thoughts? Which chamber of the heart do I open to find the right story? Do I use a scalpel, a butcher’s knife, or a black Pilot V5 sign pen to stab my heart and make the right words spill out onto the paper? Is that how it works? How bloody does this story have to get? How do I make money out of misery? How do I make the right words splatter across the computer screen and not make people cringe and say, “Ick! He’s being sappy again!”? Which vein do I slice open that will let me spill the words into the page that will make people say, “Oh wow, that’s me. That happened to me. It’s like he’s writing about me. Damn. That’s my story.”?

One of the TV commercials that won in the Adfest was for a cellphone company called i-mobile. It showed a guy in his 30s come home to a dark apartment. Through out the commercial he’s on the phone listening to his mom rattle off advice and nag him about what he’s wearing and if he’s eating the right food. The mom reminds her son that if he needs anything, he should call her. A pre-recorded voice suddenly cuts in to say: If you want to hear that message again, press one. And the man presses one and listens to his mom’s litany again. We then see a picture of the mom and there’s a black ribbon tied-up around the frame. The screen fades to black and words CONNECT appears on screen, followed by the logo of the cellphone company.

After watching dozens of really funny commercials, that one just made everyone fall silent. Then applause filled the ballroom and I’m sure there were some teary-eyed people there as well.

It takes a brave company and a very bold client to approve an ad like that.

To tell stories that ring true, how do you do that?

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