The Screenwriting Life with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna 282 | In Your Dreams Writer/Directors Alex Woo & Erik Benson on Writing Animated Features
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Jan 27, 2026 Alex Woo and Erik Benson, talented writer-directors with a rich background at Pixar, dive into the art of animated storytelling. They share insights on the importance of collaboration and treating animated characters as fully realized beings. Discussion highlights include storyboarding as a crucial rewriting tool and how personal experiences shape family narratives. Alex reflects on the emotional core of their film, influenced by family dynamics, while they both tackle common pitfalls for new animation writers. Their passion for storytelling shines throughout!
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Giving Dreams Real Stakes
- Dreams are narratively hard because anything can happen, so stakes feel meaningless if events don't affect real life.
- Alex Woo and team solved it by tying dream actions to real-world consequences via the Sandman device.
Storyboard As Rewriting Tool
- Treat storyboarding as a phase of writing where images rewrite and deepen the script's ideas.
- Use boards to add character choices, movement, and dialogue, not just illustrations of text.
Board Straight Through To Discover Beats
- Board straight-through like watching the movie to discover unexpected beats and character choices.
- Use boarding to surprise yourself and test alternatives, accepting some messy experiments.
