A four week live online class with the author of invisible ink. Learn the invisible structure behind every every lasting story. Starts November 6.
Brian is an expert at discovering a story’s theme—and at helping writers and directors at the world’s best brands tell clear, compelling stories.
You Are a Storyteller Podcast
If you’re already a listener of You Are a Storyteller, you know the importance of learning basic storytelling principles. This podcast episode shows just a preview of what you'll learn in this course.
Class Overview
In this storytelling class, Brian McDonald teaches the inherent value of storytelling and empowers participants to realize that everyone has the ability to tell stories.
By making people aware of the natural storytelling skills they already possess, Brian helps them structure their stories better. This class will enhance participants' communication skills, making them more effective advocates for their ideas. It provides a common language around storytelling, enabling teams to work more cohesively.
Regardless of one’s job, the ability to tell stories well is invaluable. While many seek to use storytelling to achieve goals, Brian reveals that the true power of storytelling lies in giving it as a gift, which profoundly impacts how people respond.
Starts November 6, 2025 – Live Online, 4 weeks!
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Brian is an award-winning screenwriter and director and has worked in film, television, brand development, interactive entertainment, and graphic novels. His expertise in the structure of storytelling spans writing, directing, consulting, and teaching.
"Brian McDonald has found yet another fresh and objective way to analyze how great stories function, and emboldens you to face the challenge of scaling whatever story mountain looms before you. If I manage to reach the summit of my next story it will be in no small part due to having read Invisible Ink."
If you want to write scripts, listen to Brian. The guy knows what he’s talking about. A very well-thought-out, easy-to-follow guide to the thing all we writers love to pretend we don’t slavishly follow—story structure.
Brian McDonald is an award-winning writer, director, screenwriter, graphic novelist, author, and cofounder of Story First Studio. For more than three decades, he has worked across film, television, comic books, and video games, bringing his expertise to companies such as Disney Feature Animation, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Cirque du Soleil, Sony Interactive, and Respawn Entertainment.
He is the author of the acclaimed books Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate—required reading at Pixar Animation Studios—and Land of the Dead: Lessons from the Underworld on Storytelling and Living. His graphic novel Old Souls was published by First Second Books. McDonald has also written for the Tarzan comic stripand the Predator comic book series.
A founding faculty member of the Red Badge Project, he helped veterans with PTSD tell their stories, and he previously served as Chief Storyteller at Belief Agency.
McDonald is the host of the award-winning podcast You Are a Storyteller and continues to teach and consult internationally, emphasizing the organic nature of storytelling as a fundamental human trait.