"It doesn't work if the bad guys kill his mother's uncle's friend's neighbor's pet dog. You've got to make the stakes high"

This quote by Steven Seagal is describing the value of creating high stakes in a story. In order for a story to be reliable, the stakes should be high. If the bad people kill a pet dog that is a neighbor of a good friend of an uncle of the lead character's mom, the stakes are low enough. The audience will not be mentally invested in the story and the protagonist's journey. The stakes should be high in order for the audience to be engaged and for the story to be efficient. This could mean that the bad people are threatening the protagonist's family, or the whole world is in risk. Whatever the stakes are, they must be high in order for the story to be reliable.