Finally the truth! The latest issue of Creative Screenwriting has an article called “Inside Pixar’s Toy Chest” by Danny Munso. It features Toy Story 3 screenwriter Michael Arndt and the inside scoop on how Pixar does what they do: Make one great freaking movie after another!

First allow me to frame this post properly. Anyone who has spent more than two seconds on GITS knows that I am basically obsessed with Pixar, witness over 60 posts in about 2 years in my attempt to laser in on their story-crafting process. And frankly I guess I’m rather wonder-struck by Michael Arndt, too. I just did a search of the GITS archives and discovered I’ve done 8 posts on him, such as spotlighting this fantastic 1-hour video, featuring a Great Scene from Little Miss Sunshine, and including that movie’s script as one of the “14 Days of Screenplays, Version 3.0″.

So when I first picked up the latest issue of Creative Screenwriting, I sped directly to the aforementioned article, mopping my fevered brow in anticipation of what secrets I would learn about Pixar’s creative process from Mr. Arndt.

It starts with an interesting fact:

In a strange twist of fate, Michael Arndt found himself in a position enviable to any writer. The New York-based screenwriter was in Los Angeles for the production of his first screenplay, the indie dramedy Little Miss Sunshine. Unsure of his next career move, Arndt received a call from his agent with the surprising news that Pixar principals wanted to meet him. “It was like being summoned to Mount Olympus,” he says.

It turns out that Pixar’s story department head, Mary Coleman, asked Sunshine producer Ron Yerxa if he knew any great up-and-coming writers. Yerxa gave Coleman Arndt’s script and she was blown away. The amazing thing about this story is that despite the fact that Little Miss Sunshine would eventually go on to become a big indie hit — and win Arndt an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay — at the time Arndt was interviewing with Pixar, Sunshine didn’t even have a distributor.

Imagine that phone call. “Hello, Michael? Yes, this is God speaking. Would you mind popping up to No Cal for a meet-and-greet? Ta-ta!” But even here, we can see how the wheels of the Pixar creative machine work: They like to work with people who have talent. Shocking, but true! But wait, there’s more:

Toy Story 3‘s plot centers around the threat that Andy — who is Woody, Buzz and the other toys’ owner — could decide to dispose of his beloved toys now that he is all grown up. For several days, Arndt struggled with an early sequence in the film that sets up this threat for the audience. He kept toying with scenes in which the concept of disposing of old toys is discussed by the film’s human characters but Arndt ultimately felt it was too expositional — until his train of thought was interrupted by a loud alarm that signaled a fire drill at Pixar.

As the studio employees filed onto the front lawn of the Emeryville location, Arndt found himself standing next to [Andrew] Stanton [one of Pixar's principals and writer-director of Wall-E and Finding Nemo, among other Pixar films]. “So, kind of as a way to make conversation,” Arndt recalls, I explained my problem and he immediately suggested that I set up the threat from the toys’ perspective.” Stanton thought if one disloyal toy was freaking out and said, “Screw it! Andy’s grown up and I’m getting out of here before I’m thrown away,” that the threat would have greater impact. That simple idea led to Sarge delivering those lines as he jumped out the window with his Army men. “That’s a visual way of setting up the idea and having it take the form of a dramatic argument between two characters — Sarge and Woody — rather than a limp line of exposition from one of the human characters, “Arndt says. “And that was a problem I had been struggling with on my own for about a week that got solved in 10 second because you’re all in this building and you just get those happy accidents once in a while — that and the fact that Andrew is a really irritatingly smart guy.”

Okay, so what can we learn here? First, when you’re stuck creatively, have a fire drill… that happens to transport you to Emeryville… so that you’re standing next to Andrew Stanton… and he’ll solve your problem in 10 seconds. Got that?

Eleven films in, Pixar is very careful to not repeat itself and that adage certainly held true for the third installment of its landmark franchise. But if one is being held to the fact that these characters are only toys, their problems would seem to be limited. Arndt recognized this obstacle immediately, particularly when it came to Woody, the central character of all three films. Arndt explains Woody’s personal development by comparing his emotional progress in the films with that of a child. “In Toy Story, Woody is learning to share the spotlight with Buzz,” he explains. “He’s like a child who gets a new sibling and has to realize he doesn’t always have to be the favorite. That tracks emotionally with someone who is 5 or 6 years old.

“In Toy Story 2,” Arndt continues, “Woody has to deal with and accept his mortality. That tracks with a child who is 8 to 10 years old.” With the plot devised for Toy Story 3, Woody needed to progress to a more mature sentiment — that of a teenager — in order for the film to have the correct impact. “Woody learns about the impermanence of things and the necessity for letting go and moving on,” Arndt says. “So there’s an arc to his development across the trilogy. Even though there are common elements in all three films, I do think we’re telling a different story in each of them, as well as one big over-arching story that spans the trilogy.”

Awright, so apparently another secret to Pixar’s creative process is to hire super smart screenwriters who ponder things like “arcs” and a character’s “personal development.” Plus it helps if they can toss off words like “impermanence” in interviews.

But wait. I know what you’re thinking: “Hey, Scott, this is all nifty info and what-not, but I want to go deep inside Pixar, drill down into the heart of what it is they do to make their magical movies.” Say no more. Here it is. “The Pixar Process:

Arndt’s fondest memories of his Toy Story 3 stint involve his immersion into the so-called “Pixar process,” a collaborative effort between great filmmakers who make sure each of the studio’s release is up to part with its predecessors. Chief among these individuals is the Pixar “Brain Trust” — a group that includes [John] Lasseter, Stanton, [Pete] Docter, The Incredibles’ Brad Bird, Up’s Bob Peterson, animation director Brenda Chapman (whose Pixar debut The Bear and the Bow will be released in 2011) and Pixar sound designer-turned-director Gary Rydstrom, among others.

Every convening of the Brain Trust saw [Lee] Unkrich and Arndt presenting their film at various stages of completion; sometimes as an early draft of the script or later on as rough versions of animation with added dialogue called “reels.” Then notes were given, usually with amazing results. Arndt doesn’t mince words when describing his Brain Trust experiences, ” As a screenwriter, that’s just f***ing heaven on earth!”

“You have to remember,” he continues, “I spent 10 years sitting alone in Brooklyn working on my own scripts and getting dribs and drabs of feedback every couple of weeks. And suddenly, it’s like you’re crawling through the desert and one day you drill down and hit a geyser. Sitting in on those Brain Trust meetings have been some of the most exhilarating moments of my creative life.”

“I remember the first time I sat in on a Brain Trust meeting,” Arndt continues. “As soon as people started talking, it was like the Harlem Globetrotters in your living room.” The collective minds preset at such a meeting can certainly only improve an idea. The common protocol is for one member to throw out an idea while another follows up with a completion or addition to the original thought. Jokes are topped sometimes three times over. “The organic intelligence in that room is automatically higher than even the smartest person in the room,” Arndt says. “There are times when you feel like you’re in the presence of some super-intelligent story deity that has powers beyond that of any mere mortal.”

Oh, boy, now we’re getting somewhere. In order to replicate “The Pixar Process,” the first thing you do is get an office. Then inside that office you cram a shitload of really, really, really smart people who know really, really, really a helluva lot about movies. Evidently, too, it helps if their ideas seem to transcend “mere” mortality.

“People say that writing is re-writing,” he [Arndt] continues, “but that leaves out a crucial part of the equation: the feedback you get prior to your re-write. Pixar stories work because of the robustness of the story feedback system.” Arndt points to statements made by several key Pixar staffers who admit that, at some point in the process, every single film Pixar made was once the worst thing one might ever see. “It’s only by making the movie as a ‘reel’ seven or eight times, and failing repeatedly, and by applying the smartest and most ruthless criticism you can to the story over and over again, that the stories are able to take shape and come out feeling coherent and complete,” he says.

Arndt’s observations on his time at Pixar only confirm what many film pundits and fans have long suspected: Pixar’s films are such rousing successes because of the attention each individual at the studio dedicates to the screenplays. “Andrew Stanton’s rule of thumb is that it takes 10 man-years of labor to make a good screenplay,” Arndt explains. “Either two writers working five years or 10 guys working one year. For Toy Story 3, it was even more than that — probably the equivalent of 10 people working two or three years.”

“To me, this is what separates Pixar from almost everyone else,” Arndt concludes. “They realize how hard it is to come up with a great screenplay.”

“Failing repeatedly?” Boo-yah! Got that covered!

So there you have it! Pixar revealed!

The secret to a great movie is a great screenplay. And the secret to a great screenplay is hard work.

That… and a Brain Trust in Emeryville, California.

If you had to choose one Pixar movie as your favorite, what would it be?