Pixar's Rules for Phenomenal SR&ED Narratives

What do Pixar movies and SR&ED technical reports have in common? Both rely on compelling storytelling to connect with their audience—whether it’s a moviegoer or a CRA reviewer.

Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling, originally shared by Emma Coats, are a masterclass in crafting engaging narratives. While they were designed for filmmakers, many of these principles can be applied to SR&ED reports to make them more compelling and easier to understand.

While SR&ED reports are technical by nature, they don’t have to be dry. In fact, a well-told story can make the technical details more accessible and ensure that your project’s eligibility is crystal clear to the reviewer. SR&ED reports tend to follow a formula - describe the objectives, standard practices, technological uncertainty and so on. Translating these criteria to the elements of storytelling will help illustrate the challenges faced. Seeing the quest to reach your objective allows the reader how the events meet the criteria.

Key Pixar rules for SR&ED include:

1. You admire a character more for their trying than their success.

Focus on the project's failures. You don't have to succeed for a project to be eligible. The effort to overcome challenge is what you are claiming. By showing how hard it was and focusing on the failures , the successes make a stronger impression.

4. Once upon a time there was ____. Every day, _____. One day ____. Because of that, ____. Until finally ____.

Once upon a time, there was a manufacturing company facing rising production costs. Every day, they used the same process. One day, they hypothesized that a new material could reduce costs. Because of that, they conducted experiments to test its behaviour in their process. Until finally, they discovered an improved formulation advancing their understanding of material science.

5. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You'll feel like you're losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

Don't get bogged down in activities. You may feel the need to include everything that you are claiming. Simplify the story by distinguishing between support work and experiments. Support work needs to be done but doesn't directly address the eligibility. For example, setting up a trial. Focus on the key elements of the story, skip the detours and you'll be free to meet the word limits.

7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are HARD, get yours working up front.

Your ending is the advancement. This key criteria is often left out of reports. The result is not the advancement! Understand what was learned about relationships between variables. This is what you learned about the uncertainties, which was where you began. Then the middle, the work done, can be written to connect the beginning to the end.

If you are struggling with the ending rule #3 can help "you won't see what the story is about until you're at the end of it". Look at the trials, the results and where you started. Why did the changes work? Did you progress in determining if an idea what right or wrong? What did you learn about the variables involved. Asking these questions of the project can help determine what the technological advancement is.

Your SR&ED reports tell a story. Your team members are the heroes that face challenges to disrupt the standard practice. Each trial is a battle with a foe. Whether tragedy or comedy, your characters will learn what works and what doesn't. Turn your technical report into a movie script and the reviewers will give it a thumbs up.