I am thinking about going to see the movie “John Carter”. The book, A Princess of Mars, is a very good read. E.R. Burroughs sold this story to All Story Magazine in 1911 for $400. It was his first novel and pretty good for a first try. He went on to write many more Martian novels and his Tarzan books, because of their movie success, made Burroughs a millionaire.

Adnrew Stanton is a good screenplay writer, although he mostly writes slight animated adventures for children. He is life long fan of the Martian books, though, and I am hopeful that he put together a good story. It seems that he used parts of the first three books to create a story that a modern audience could appreciate. I hope that he is right.

Here is a great talk at “TED” that Stanton did on the art of story telling. I may go see the movie this weekend.

Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story | Video on TED.com.