Film Courage: Margaret, in world building what do you mean by if you make it personal, you will make it universal?
Margaret Kerrison, Immersive Storyteller, Narrative Director and Writer: I think it’s so important to think about how you can make a story extremely personal and authentic to your voice for people to understand it in a greater context. I made the mistake when I first started out as a writer thinking that I would write something that everyone would love and looking at all my favorite movies and books and trying to find a story that is pleasing to everyone. Over the years I learned that it’s when you dive deep into yourself to find the stories that make you who you are in your own life and drawing upon those life experiences to make it feel genuine and personal in any story that you work on later in life. When I work on anything I draw on that personal experience because anyone, a visitor, reader, a spectator can feel that it’s not authentic or genuine if it’s something that’s fabricated. The more that you make it personal…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BUY THE BOOK – IMMERSIVE STORYTELLING FOR REAL AND IMAGINED WORLDS: A Writer’s Guide
BIO:
Born in Indonesia and raised in Singapore, Margaret Kerrison received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Her career spans television, film, digital media, games, brand storytelling, location-based entertainment, and immersive experiences. She has worked as a Story Lead, Story Consultant, and Writer for multiple projects around the world, including Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Star Wars: Launch Bay, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, Avengers Campus, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, National Geographic HQ, and the NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s Journey to Mars: Explorers Wanted. She was the writer for five projects that won Themed Entertainment Association (THEA) Awards. She has appeared in the Disney+ series Behind the Attraction, the Freeform television special Star Wars: Galaxy‘s Edge – Adventure Awaits, and the online educational program Imagineering in a Box. She was a Disney Imagineer from 2014-2021. She is currently a Sr. Experiential Creative Lead at Airbnb. Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds – A Writer’s Guide is her first book.
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