Screenwriting : Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling by Bill Lonero

22 rules? God only had ten. Odin, nine. Luther, one. And the first Pixar "rule" (You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.) seems "woke" to me. I don't want to see every character get a participation award. I hope she means, try again and again so people don't give up ..the success needs to be defined and shown. It may not be success in $$$ terms, but there has to be a pay-off, even if it's 'lesson learned." Otherwise, I'm going to be disappointed as a movie watcher.

I think every character has a 'goal', but the goal they achieve in the end is rarely the one that they set out to do. The rule of admiring a character more for trying than for their successes is more about keeping them active and also how we get to know them in the beginning and middle. The entire second act of a film is the protagonist going after a goal and getting hit with setback after setback. I don't think it's about the third act not having a good ending or payoff to a film