connections_line = "John is connected to Bryant, Debra, Walter.John likes to play The Movie: The Game, The Legend of Corgi, Dinosaur Diner."

def connections(lst):

    # start with an empty graph
    graph = {}

    # split the input string to individual words
    split_line = connections_line.split()

    # grab the first item in the list(the user) and assign it to a variable
    key = split_line.pop(0)

    connections_lst = []

    # iterate through the split list
    for word in split_line:

        # if word doesn't match the ones in the 'if' condition, append word to empty connections_lst
            if word != "is" and word != "connected" and word != "to" and word != "likes" and word != "play":
                connections_lst.append(word)

    # assign connections_lst as value to user
    graph[key] = [connections_lst]
    return graph



print connections(connections_line)