What can Toy Story teach us about senior living? Find out on this episode of Bridge the Gap with Matthew Luhn, a former Pixar and Simpsons Story Artist who helped create the stories of classics like Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, and more. Learn everything from structuring stories to how to build trust, plus a few exciting details about future projects. 

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This episode was recorded at the NHI Symposium. 

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Produced by Solinity Marketing.

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Listen to more episodes here.

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Intro
Welcome to season eight of Bridge the Gap, a podcast dedicated to informing, educating, and influencing the future of housing and services for seniors. The BTG network is powered by sponsors, Aline, NIC MAP, Procare HR, Sage, Hamilton CapTel, ServiceMaster, The Bridge Group Construction, and Solinty and produced by Solinity Marketing. Bridge the Gap in three, two.

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00:41 - 00:58

Lucas McCurdy

Welcome to Bridge the Gap podcast, the senior living podcast with Josh and Lucas. We are here at the NHI Symposium in Nashville. We have a very special guest on today. We want to welcome Matthew Luhn, Disney Pixar storyteller, Fortune 500 consultant, and keynote speaker, today. Welcome to the show.

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00:58 - 01:00

Matthew Luhn

Thank you. It's my pleasure to be here.

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01:00 - 01:46

Lucas McCurdy

We are honored to have you on. You just finished your keynote. Everybody's like, grabbing you out of the door, getting pictures with you. We were blown away by how you crafted the story around your story. And for our audience, these are people who are, they are on the frontlines. They're inside the communities. They are doing tours.

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They are caring for older adults. They are on what we call a cruise ship on land. They are running the cruise ship on land every single day. And there are some amazing stories that are told. And so, we would love to hear, you gave some pillars some, some takeaways on how to craft a story that makes people really connect. What are your kind of principles around?

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01:46 - 03:18

Matthew Luhn

First, I would say storytelling is important for everybody, right? Entertainment business, the whole thing. But I can't think of anything that needs that extra story, personal touch than what you guys do, right? People are putting their future into your hands. You want to paint a picture for people, you know? Really, when you think about what is the meaningful, magical thing about stories is it makes information more memorable beyond the price points.

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Beyond the facts and figures, it's the story that acts like the glue that makes people remember what you said. And then, second, stories impact our emotions. They make us laugh. They make us cry. When you think about big and small decisions we make in life, they're made because somebody made us feel something. And then the third thing is the personal touch.

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Stories are personal. We end up making a better, authentic connection with people when we share a little bit of our lives. And I can't think of anything more than what you guys do to build that trust. When you're sharing your experiences, other people's experiences of how your life is better or your loved ones' lives are better because of being in a better community, you know, a retirement community or a community that you'll be in. So yeah, it comes down to it's memorable and impactful and personal.

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03:18 - 03:45

Josh Crisp

Well, you also kind of broke down the formula when you're writing stories, when you're approaching that. I thought that was really interesting. If you could break that down for our listeners a little bit, just sort of the flow of there's happy moments, there's sad moments, and it's sort of this up and down. And you've talked about how you can frame a story so that you really get someone in the first ten minutes, and they can't walk away from that. Could you just summarize how you do that? Because I think that's an interesting formula for our listeners.

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03:51 - 04:46

Matthew Luhn

Yeah. Just to kind of put an image in your head, it's like a roller coaster ride. We love a roller coaster ride that, you know, goes click, click, click, click, click, click up the tracks. The dopamine is being released. Oh boy. This is going to be either really exciting or really scary. And then there's the release, and then you go down.

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People love stories. When they're like a roller coaster ride with highs and lows, tension release. Those are our favorite movies or our favorite TV shows, or our favorite books. So when we're sharing a story, we're sharing information with people. We want there to be highs and lows, and we can do that through the release of dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins to create highs and lows that make the audience root for the characters on the screen or root for you, who's, you know, giving the pitch presentation?

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04:46 - 05:37

Josh Crisp

Well, you also and I don't even know if this was your intended, result, but something that spoke to me, and it was towards the end of your talk, you you mentioned you and your creative teams when you were writing some of these different mega-hits that we've all watched, probably many of us with our kids. Our kids were laughing and relating, but the parents were as well. And a lot of those stories were directly related to where you were in life.

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Moving from the single workaholic perfectionist to the newly married to the parenting and all those cycles. And I just thought, wow, the relevance of that. That's not someone else's story. That's your story, but it's relatable. How do you think that translates to the importance of what we're doing in our storytelling?

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05:37 - 06:23

Matthew Luhn

Yeah, I think we've all heard the saying, write what you know. You're going to start writing a book, or you know, you're going to put together a pitch, write what you know. The reason why is, first off, we're most comfortable with our own story. On top of it, it's going to make it personal. And if it can be something that's universal, that everybody can relate to, then that's even better.

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And like I mentioned, those universal stories around love and, you know, taking care of the ones you love and protecting them, and then also being able to choose your own fate, your own future. Those are universal stories that can still be personal to you, but also relatable to everybody else.

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06:23 - 06:29

Josh Crisp

Lucas, you had some additional questions, I don't want to take all the questions here. As we've got just a few minutes.

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06:30 - 06:52

Lucas McCurdy

Well, you know, I thought it was brilliant how you actually wove your personal story into how to make a great story. And so at the very young age of 19, you were very successful working on The Simpsons, and then a new story came into your life, a very quick story that changed everything. Would you tell our listeners?

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06:52 - 08:20

Matthew Luhn

Yeah. So you know, the power of a pitch, right? That can change your life, change the course of your life. Maybe, you know, a job where you want to live. Who do you want to be with? When I was working at The Simpsons and I was an animator at The Simpsons, and I was 19 years old. Not a normal thing.

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I was very happy there, but I got a pitch for a movie that was going to be Toy Story. And the person who gave me the pitch was Steve Jobs and the director and the writer and the head of animation on this. And really, within a couple of minutes, I was so moved, not by what they were going to pay me, but actually by the story, which was, you know, a world of toys, you know, that come to life when people are not around.

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And the story of these two characters, you know, an old fashioned cowboy doll and a new futuristic Space man toy, they hate each other. They get lost and become best friends. I was so moved by the story. It changed the trajectory of my life. And I mean, that's what you guys are in the business of, right is painting a picture for people of what their future could be like in a new community. That is so inspiring and moving that they want to be a part of that story.

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08:20 - 08:29

Lucas McCurdy

That's powerful. That's powerful. So, before we let you go, are you able to tell us anything new that you're working on right now that's not out yet?

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08:29 - 08:32

Matthew Luhn

Oh, boy. That's a tough one, because I'm pitching to Netflix in a couple of weeks for an animated TV show that I've created, but I can't share.

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08:39 - 08:40

Lucas McCurdy

Okay.

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08:40 - 09:24

Matthew Luhn

I do have an animated film that I was a story consultant on that actually is going to come out on Netflix in November, and it's called In Your Dreams, an animated family film. And I had a big part in the story structure, the gags, the whole thing that I can tell you about.

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So that's going to come out, and then, you know, if you want to know more about storytelling, I do have, you know, books, you know, social, you know, you can find me on social media out there. And, the book is called The Best Story Wins. And it's not just for entertainment. It's for anybody in business or beyond who wants to learn to be a better storyteller.

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09:24 - 09:47

Josh Crisp

Well, and we're going to take that to our listeners and our growing group of listeners, because the information you shared today is very impactful, is impactful to each of us, and I think it will greatly help us in our industry be better. So thank you for taking the time for us here at the symposium, but also taking a few minutes to connect with our listeners, because we're going to connect all of our listeners directly to you.

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09:47 - 09:48

Matthew Luhn

My pleasure. Thank you guys.

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09:48 - 10:03

Lucas McCurdy

Thank you, Matthew, and to all of our listeners, you can find this content and so much more at btgvoice.com. Connect with us on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear your story as you connect with us in your journey. Thanks for listening to another great episode of Bridge the Gap.

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Outro

Thanks for listening to Bridge the Gap podcast with Josh and Lucas. Connect with the BTG network team and use your voice to influence the industry by connecting with us at btgvoice.com.

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