Just finished reading this article, interview with Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt, long but fascinating piece at Thompson on Hollywood, so a real delight to learn of this other interview.

Re why are they such good storytellers, you raise such great points, Scott, can't add much, but my two initial responses are true for both design (what I know) and scriptwriting: they never lose sight of the heart of it (the story, and the audience, whom they hope to move) and they are ruthless with editing.

That Pixar makes such a wonderful work environment for their people is surely also a factor.

Pixar story tellers are good, but the secret sauce is not storytelling genius, it's the ability to make Toy Story 3 internally 100+ times in a row. We only see the 100th time.

If you read the drafts of the film they go into production with, you would be reading some pretty bad stories. Fortunately, Pixar's process allows them to fix them without having to show the world all of the failed efforts in-between.

Pixar is the best because they care the most about writing quality screenplays and seldom settle for something less than perfect.

Other filmmakers and production companies make story decisions for a multitude of reasons. Pixar has one - to make the story as dramatically effective as possible. That's it. If a change does not benefit the *story*, then that change is not made.

Pixar makes the best films of modern times. It's ridiculously not even close.