SANTA ANA : Students Share Magic of ‘Aladdin’

Although Ted Elliott never rubbed a magic lamp, he did help conjure up the genie in the recent Disney hit “Aladdin,” as students at a local elementary school learned Tuesday.

Elliott, 31, who was one of the screenwriters for the animated film, visited his alma mater, Taft Elementary School, to describe how the movie was created and what part he played.

Wearing faded black jeans and a blue denim shirt with Aladdin’s genie embroidered over his heart, Elliott impressed the crowd with some of the perks of working in the movie business. He said those included meeting comedians Robin Williams and Gilbert Gottfried, who both starred in the movie, and going to Disneyland 50 times free.

Elliott told the class that “the most important thing in screenwriting is the story. If somebody pays (as much as) $10 to see a movie, they want a good story.”

More than 200 spellbound students, most wearing blue face paint in homage to the movie’s genie, listened as Elliott, who finished at Taft in 1973, described how the movie was painstakingly written, drawn, rewritten and inked. To illustrate the process, he showed a four-minute segment of film that included early animated stick-figure sketches of the film spliced with polished segments.

The students watched three television sets intently as the flying carpet helped rescue Aladdin and his greedy pet monkey from the dangerous cavern in which the lamp was hidden. When the film segment ended, the class let out a collective “awwwwwwww!”

Answering questions from students, Elliott said that those who wanted to grow up to work in animated films should “take art classes. Draw all the time and learn to draw everything.”

For those who want to be writers, he added, “the best practice is reading. If you’re going to be a writer, you’re a storyteller, and if you want to be a storyteller, you have to know what good stories are.”

Elliott, who lives in Costa Mesa, also said “Aladdin” had been under development for several years before he and his high school friend and partner, Terry Rossio, were called in to help rewrite it. In an earlier version of the film, Aladdin received an unlimited number of wishes and became a “wish addict,” but Disney officials decided the story was too long and unworkable.

After the presentation, students mobbed Elliott, seeking autographs for their “Aladdin” posters and books. “It was really exciting,” said Payman Sasaninia, 10. “It was a pleasure to have him talk about what he’s done. I think it’s kind of neat that he used to be a student here.”