THE «YES» SESSION

Attended by three directors (Fritz Freleng, Bob McKimson and me), three writers (Warren Foster, Todd Pierce, and Mike), and the production chief (Johnny Burton), and – often, sadly – the producer. (The layout men did not ordinarily attend the jam session. It was felt best to bring them in on completion of the storyboard, coincidentally working with the director as he does the character layouts.)

This session was, I believe, an event unique to Warner Bros. Unique at that time, perhaps anytime. Because this was not a brainstorming session in the usual sense, it was a «yes» session, not an «anything goes» session. Anything went, but only if it was positive, supportive, and affirmative to the premise. No negatives were allowed. If you could not contribue, you kept quiet. For want of a better term, I have always called it THE «YES» SESSION. Again, the «yes» session is not a brainstorming session: repeat, it is not a session in which anything goes. The purpose is to advance an idea or ideas, not an emotional outburst for the emotional benefit of the participants or as a story man's confession of a buried affair with a girl's track shoe. The «yes» session only has one objective: to write a story.

The «yes» session imposes only one dicipline: the abolition of the word «no». Anyone can say «no». It is the first word a child learns and often the first word he speaks. It is a cheap word because it requires no explanation, and many men and women have acquired a reputation for intelligence who know only this word and have used it in place of thought on every occasion. The «yes» session lasts only for two hours, but a person who can only say «no» finds it an eternity. Negative-minded people have been known to finally inflate and burst with accumulated negatives and say something positive, because it is also true that a person who here-to-fore can only say «no» is also a person who must say something.

A «no» is defined as any negative: «I don't like it.» «There must be a better way.» «I don't like to criticise, but ... » «I've heard that one before.» «I don't know.» Or: «Oh, for Christ's sake, Chuck.» All are roadblocks impending the advancement and exploration of the value of an idea and are forbidden.

Of course, all story ideas are not good or useful, and if you find you cannot contribute, then silence is proper, but it is surprising how meaty and muscular a little old stringy «yes» (which is another name for a premise) can become in as little as fifteen or twenty minutes, when everyone present unreservedly commits his immedate impulse and positive response to it.

Excerpt from «Chuck Amuck: The autobiography of Chuck Jones»