This transcription features an interview with Ken Adams, inventor of the "story spine," a storytelling exercise that uses eight pre-planned sentence starters—such as "Once upon a time," "Every day," "But one day," "Because of that" (repeated three times), "Until finally," and "Ever since then"—to generate condensed story outlines. Adams explains that the tool, created in the late 1980s for middle school students and improvisational theater, can be applied to any story, from *The Great Gatsby* to *Star Wars*. He demonstrates by applying it to *The Wizard of Oz* and *Toy Story*, with the host successfully retelling the latter. The story spine gained popularity when Rebecca Stockley, a founding member of a San Francisco improv company, taught it to Pixar writers. Pixar has since used it in their films, including *Toy Story 5*. Adams reflects on why the structure works: he believes the beginning-middle-end framework is deeply embedded in human DNA, as we experience it daily from birth. He argues that storytelling helps people impose order on a chaotic world, providing hope and a sense of control over randomness and adversity. The interview concludes with Adams discussing the human need for narrative structure to combat life’s uncertainties.
This next story, well, it's a story about stories, specifically about the structure of the stories we tell. My guest on this adventure is Ken Adams. I'm the artistic director of Synergy Theatre in Walnut Creek, California. And an adventure of sorts. Yes, I am. I invented the story spine, which is an eight-sentence exercise, and the beginning of the sentences are pre-planned, and then the remaining part of the sentences are improvised or created by the storyteller. So those sentence starters are, once upon a time, every day, but one day, because of that, because of that, because of that, until finally, and ever since then. So using those sentence starting prompts and completing the sentences, you're able to generate a whole bunch of story spines, which are condensed versions of a well-tolled story. Adams says you can apply the story spine to any story from the great Gatsby to Star Wars 2, the Wizard of Oz. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Dorothy, who was whisked away to the magical land of Oz. "How defeating we're not in Kansas any more." Every day, she went on a journey to find the wizard in order to get sent back home. But one day, the wizard told her she would have to destroy the wicked witch of the West in order for him to send her home. Because of that, she had dangers and adventures. Because of that, she destroyed the witch and went back to the wizard in order to be sent back home, as he promised her. Until finally, Toto jumped out of her arms to go chase a cat. And because of that, she missed her opportunity to get sent home, and ever since then, she was rescued by Glinda instead. As for how Ken's invention blew up and why we're talking about it today, well, that's a story, too. It starts once upon a time back in the late 1980s. "I was working with an improvisational theater company in New York City, called Freestyle Repertory Theater, and we were performing what's known as short form improvisation, short comedic sketches based on suggestions. And at the same time, I was leading a middle school workshop in creative writing. So I needed some type of tool for the kids to use in order to outline their work. And then one day, I sat down and figured out, okay, how do stories work? Basically, it's this beginning middle and an end. And what is the most condensed version of that I could create?" He rolled it out with the middle school students and in his improv work. It really worked very well in both situations. "Because of that, Ken was invited to participate in improv festivals all over the country. And because of that, there was a woman who was one of the founding members of the San Francisco company named Rebecca Stockley. And when I was out there, I taught a workshop, and Rebecca was in the workshop, and I taught the story spine." "Because of that, Rebecca started using the story spine as she taught." "Until finally, Rebecca got hired by Pixar to teach improvisation to their writers. And so she went in and taught them a whole bunch of stuff, including the story spine." And ever since then, story spine has been deeply immersed in all the movies that Pixar makes, including this summer's much anticipated Toy Story 5. "I do not, for one minute, think Pixar would be any less successful if this didn't happen. And so this takes nothing away from that, at all. The fact that an organization on that level finds value in something I created, I think, is awesome." "I just happened to live with an eight-and-three-year-old and I've watched Toy Story 6,000 times over the past year. So can I do it, and can you correct me if you think I'm doing it the wrong way?" "Yes." So I would say once by the time there's a toy named Woody, he's a sheriff, he lives in Andy's room. "Sair Woody!" Every day he plays with Andy, who he loves very much, being Andy's favorite toy is the center of his world. But one day this new toy shows up named Buzz Lightyear. "Buzz Lightyear to Star Command, Command Star Command." Suddenly Andy is much more excited about Buzz. Because of that, Woody gets jealous of Buzz. "You stay away from Andy." Because of that, Woody tries to push Buzz aside. Because of that, Buzz gets in trouble and leaves the house and ends up in the house across the side of the fence where a kid is really mean to his toys. "He tortures toys just for fun!" Because of that, Woody feels guilty and tries to rescue Buzz. Because of that, they forge a friendship. Until finally, they work together to rescue the toys from Sid's house, "Do it, Finity, and Be on!" Make their way back to Andy's house and ever since then, they have been in peace with each other. "Wony Buzz!" "Oh great, you found me!" Both being Andy's co-favorite toys, all living together in Andy's bedroom. "Sgot, I could not have done that better myself." "I'm gonna take a bow." Do you think this works so well because this is the way to tell a good story? Do you think there's part of it that we have all been primed to look for these sort of beats and a story that sticks to them is gonna resonate more? Because we subconsciously or consciously know what we're experiencing, whether we're reading it or hearing it or watching it. I would say the story structure is inherent within us. This concept of a beginning in a middle and an end is something we experience every day from the moment we're born a million times. You wake up in the morning, you live your day, you go to sleep at night. So this concept of beginning middle end is just deeply embedded in our DNA. And because storytelling is our main source of communicating and satisfies so many needs and basic urges that we have, we apply this beginning middle and end structure to it because that's the way we understand life works. What do you think this need for a beginning middle and end? For this kind of structure, what do you think it says about us as humans? We live in a very chaotic world and sometimes it is very hard to see the cause and effect relationship between the events we experience and sometimes there is none. Sometimes good things happen to very bad people and bad things happen to very good people and accidents out of the blue come along and destroy your life. And I think when we create stories and we use our understanding of story structure to put events into a beginning and a middle and an end, it allows us some sense of ascendancy over the chaos that we face. So we use our ability to tell stories in order to somehow capture and restrain the chaos and best it so that we have hope that if we continue to live our best life, we will be successful and be able to overcome the relative chaos and meaningless that we combat each day. Can Adams is the author of How to Improvise a Full-length Play, the art of spontaneous theater. [Music]
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Ken Adams invented the "story spine," an eight-sentence storytelling exercise using pre-planned sentence starters (e.g., "Once upon a time," "Every day," "But one day") to create condensed story outlines.
The story spine can be applied to any narrative, from classic tales like *The Wizard of Oz* to modern films like *Toy Story*, as demonstrated by Adams and the host.
Adams developed the tool in the late 1980s for middle school creative writing workshops and improvisational theater, finding it effective for both settings.
The story spine spread through improv festivals and was taught to Pixar writers by Rebecca Stockley, becoming deeply embedded in Pixar’s storytelling process, including upcoming films like *Toy Story 5*.
Adams argues that the beginning-middle-end structure is inherent to human experience, helping people impose order on chaos and find meaning in a chaotic world.
Summary:
This transcription features an interview with Ken Adams, inventor of the "story spine," a storytelling exercise that uses eight pre-planned sentence starters—such as "Once upon a time," "Every day," "But one day," "Because of that" (repeated three times), "Until finally," and "Ever since then"—to generate condensed story outlines. Adams explains that the tool, created in the late 1980s for middle school students and improvisational theater, can be applied to any story, from *The Great Gatsby* to *Star Wars*. He demonstrates by applying it to *The Wizard of Oz* and *Toy Story*, with the host successfully retelling the latter.
The story spine gained popularity when Rebecca Stockley, a founding member of a San Francisco improv company, taught it to Pixar writers. Pixar has since used it in their films, including *Toy Story 5*. Adams reflects on why the structure works: he believes the beginning-middle-end framework is deeply embedded in human DNA, as we experience it daily from birth.
He argues that storytelling helps people impose order on a chaotic world, providing hope and a sense of control over randomness and adversity. The interview concludes with Adams discussing the human need for narrative structure to combat life’s uncertainties.
FAQs
The Story Spine is an eight-sentence exercise created by Ken Adams, with pre-planned sentence starters like 'Once upon a time' and 'Every day,' where the rest is improvised to form a condensed story.
Ken Adams, the artistic director of Synergy Theatre in Walnut Creek, California, invented the Story Spine in the late 1980s.
It uses eight sentence starters—such as 'Once upon a time,' 'But one day,' and 'Until finally'—that the storyteller completes to create a full story arc with a beginning, middle, and end.
Yes, it works for stories from 'The Great Gatsby' to 'Star Wars' and 'The Wizard of Oz,' as demonstrated with examples like 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Toy Story.'
Rebecca Stockley, a founding member of a San Francisco improv company, learned the Story Spine from Ken Adams and later taught it at Pixar, where it influenced their movies.
It taps into the inherent human understanding of beginning, middle, and end, which we experience daily and use to make sense of chaos.
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