Podcast: You Are a Storyteller
Executive Summary
Creators frequently fail in their craft because they attempt to execute ("do") narrative techniques before mastering the ability to recognize ("see") them in existing works and real-world human interactions. Hosts Brian McDonald and Jesse Bryan break down how deliberate repetition, studying narrative mechanics across ancient and modern media, and observing real-life communication allow storytellers to move past surface-level style to deliver deep, life-saving survival information.
Key Vocabulary & Unique Concepts
- Learning How to See: The foundational discipline of recognizing, analyzing, and identifying structural narrative mechanics before attempting to execute them in one's own writing or directing.
- Hangar Flying: An aviation tradition where pilots gather after flights to recount operational crises and solutions—illustrating how professionals collect narrative survival information to prepare for future emergencies (e.g., Captain Sully Sullenberger drawing on extensive crash investigation knowledge during the Hudson River landing).
- Talent as Hard Work: The realization that what audiences perceive as natural genius or innate talent is simply the visible output of countless hours of deliberate practice, repetition, and observation ("Talent is what hard work looks like from the other side").
- Scott McCloud's Idiom Level: A concept from Understanding Comics describing the deepest level of artistic understanding, moving beyond surface aesthetic style ("shiny elements") to the core human utility and intrinsic purpose of a medium.
- Medicinal & Healing Narratives: The function of storytelling as psychological and emotional medicine (e.g., Ayurvedic practice of prescribing stories to contemplate solutions; 12-step programs sharing trauma stories; a child with Mosaic Down syndrome using the X-Men to reframe his identity and internal strength).
- The Brer Rabbit Subversion: The historical practice of marginalized communities (such as enslaved African Americans) encoding survival strategies inside trickster folklore to pass down methods for outsmarting more powerful oppressors.
Deep Dive: The Progression of Narrative Sight
Developing true narrative sight requires moving through four distinct stages of observation and practice:
1. Surface Observation (The "Shiny" Layer)
- Mechanics: Beginners observe only visual flourishes, camera moves, witty dialogue, or surface aesthetic style.
- Function: Captures initial interest, but fails to teach the creator why a story functions or how it moves an audience emotionally.
2. Deliberate Repetition & Deconstruction
- Mechanics: Consistently re-watching, re-reading, or re-listening to the same narrative multiple times (e.g., Brian McDonald audio-recording sitcoms as a child to analyze timing, or studying audience reactions across multiple theater screenings).
- Function: Strips away novelty, enabling the creator to observe structural setups, character clones, and emotional pacing.
3. Recognizing Mechanics in the Wild
- Mechanics: Identifying storytelling principles within everyday human communication, casual conversations, and real-world crises.
- Function: Proves that dramatic principles are not academic or artificial film-school concepts, but organic human mechanisms designed for survival.
4. Internalization & Service (Idiom)
- Mechanics: Transitioning from self-conscious execution to intuitive service, using story to deliver genuine survival information and emotional healing.
- Function: Enables the storyteller to execute craft effortlessly without calling attention to their own ego or surface tricks.
Key Storytelling Principles
Seeing Must Precede Doing
Attempting to write a first act, construct subtext, or build character contrast without first recognizing those mechanics in existing work leads to confusion. Creators must give themselves permission to observe repeatedly until structural principles become second nature.
Repetition Is Not Homework; It Is Anatomy
Rewatching classic films or studying foundational texts with a new set of analytical eyes is not redundant—it is how craft is internalized. Age and experience change a creator's perspective, revealing structural choices that were invisible on a first view.
Stories Are Built for Survival, Not Distraction
Reducing storytelling to mere "entertainment" (distraction) ignores its evolutionary purpose. Stories exist to give human beings the benefit of an experience without requiring them to undergo the physical or emotional lethality of the actual event.
Classic Stories Transcend Formal Literature
Whether in ancient fables (Aesop), folklore (Brer Rabbit), or modern comic books (X-Men), stories provide a shared framework for identity and resilience. A well-constructed story meets people where they are and provides the exact emotional medicine they need.
Notable & Reference Quotes
"People always want to know... how do I write a first act, how do I write subtext... it's always how do I do it without having learned how to see it. If you don't recognize it when you see it, how are you gonna do it?" — Brian McDonald
"Talent is what hard work looks like from the other side." — Brian McDonald
"If you're a doctor, you learn a lot of chemistry, biology, anatomy... but probably some of the best things you learn are the stories of when something went right and when something went wrong." — Brian McDonald & Jesse Bryan
"There's an easy way and a hard way... The easy way is listening to people's stories." — Brian McDonald
Practical Applications Outside Screenwriting & Arts
- Organizational Learning & "Hangar Flying": Establish formal debriefing sessions after key projects or operational failures. Frame post-mortems as narrative sharing, allowing teams to build institutional memory from past crises.
- Skill Acquisition & Deliberate Practice: Isolate individual competencies (e.g., public speaking framing, active listening, strategic argument) and practice them deliberately until they become second nature before layering on new operational complexity.
- Leadership & Crisis Management: Use narrative examples from past industry downturns to prepare teams for market turbulence, providing concrete survival frameworks rather than abstract directives.