The Art of Story, Dialogue and Character with Robert McKee (Free Masterclass)

Join Robert McKee's Legendary STORY Seminar LIVE in Los Angeles, New York & London
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Our guest today is the well-regarded screenwriting lecturer, story consultant, and eminent author, Robert McKee. Reputable for his globally-renowned ‘Story Seminars’ that cover the principles and styles of storytelling.
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McKee’s work has shaped the way Hollywood movies have been written for years. Particularly, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, written in 1997. A very resourceful guide for screenwriters. In Story, he expands on the concepts he teaches in his $450 seminars (considered a must by industry insiders), providing readers with the most comprehensive, integrated explanation of the craft of writing for the screen. More than 100 big-name screenwriters have benefitted from his seminars at one point or another.
Many of you might have been introduced to McKee's work in the film Adaptation, where the great Brian Cox portrayed him. This is how I began my journey into McKee's game-changing book Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting.
Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald (Nicolas Cage). While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep), Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman, Orlean's book, become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the others'.
My interview covered discussion on McKee’s latest book which is linked below, Character: The Art of Role and Cast Design for Page, Stage, and Screen. And a combination of his other books Dialogue: the Art of Verbal Action for Stage, Page, and Screen, and Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World, which are both linked in the show notes.
This interview felt like a free pass to one of McKee's sold out seminars --- packed with knowledge bombs.
Enjoy this conversation with Robert McKee.
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#screenwriting101 #screenwriting #robertmckee

[@rebeccaoliver7977]

up to 9:20 - story 9:40- two mistakes new screenwriters make (cliches and not telling the dark truth) 15:55 - how is conflict created - 25: structure - does is it free or limit 36: purpose of dialogue - (37: subtext - 39: there's always another layer. The mistake in dialogue is writing the inner action into the dialogue. The character should confess rather than beg forgiveness. If they're begging, there has to be a layer underneath it. 42: Writing descriptions in scenes. 44: Writers rely on adjectives and adverbs rather than more exacting language. (spike rather than big nail). Use concrete nouns without adjectives. Active verb without and adverb (Saunters rather than walks slowly) 45: Eliminate "is" and "are" in script. "There is a big house on a hill" becomes "A villia sits with a spectacular view" 47: Every writer finds their own way. 49: Do you start with plot or character? Roles vs Character. 52: minor role's are best with a trait to give that character more dimension (cashier - when customer doesn't have the funds - sympathetic or impatient.) Actor hasn't something to hang their character on. 55: Character has multiple dimensions and therefore needs characters with whom each dimension can be illustrated when interacting with a different character. Every character services every other character -- solid world created. 58: Write the genre you love 59: After seeing a bad story - figure out how to fix it.

[@lawrencegress9831]

McKee is a gift to us all. I took his class years ago, his words are still ringing true. What a great interview. Thank you for this.

[@DAMON409]

Let us know when he actually writes an actual script.

[@film_magician]

Alex, I gotta say, I don't know how you're doing it but you're getting BANGERS for guests now. You've come such a long way from when I listened to the podcast. Can't believe you got McKee, that's amazing. Keep hustlin!

[@IndieFilmHustle]

I appreciate that!

[@JulianNemo]

After 20 plus years of making my living as a screenwriter, I gotta say this: There is one issue McKee doesn't understand, because he is not a writer himself. There is a profound difference between analyzing a script and "finding" a structure AND writing with a structure in mind. So what exactly do I mean...? The brain has many different parts. One is the neo cortex the cerebral part of the brain, broadly speaking where logic sits. You are using this part, if your are thinking about a structure. But this part is not where creativity lies. Nor poetry. Nor art in general. When you are using the process McKee describes in the beginning, going back and forth between flow and critic, that simply doesn't work. Because what flow imperatively needs is trust! Trust in yourself. And critic is the opposite of trust. So if you work along the lines of what McKee suggest (which I've done for almost two decades) your are invariably killing your flow. If your are killing your flow, your are killing your TRUE creativity, the alchemy of art. So Andy Kaufman was damn right to flee the room... Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a structural overhaul of a finished draft. But you HAVE to keep it separate. At any time. At all cost! Write, dream, flow. Then take a step back - and see how much structural work might need to be done. Everything else just leads to generic results BECAUSE you are using the wrong part of your brain and you can't just switch between flow and critic at will... So... wanted to get that out of the system for quite some time, got longer than I thought, but anyways, hope it helps some of you folks out there... Took me half a life to figure it out. (yes, I might be a bit on the slow side...: )

[@AlicanErenKuzu]

Think it depends on how you write. I find structure to be very helpful to ask the right questions before writing the script. Often I have ideas for many parts of my story but the challenge then is, to write my way to these ideas and make them work at least as good as they popped into my head. Very often they contradict each other. Especially the third act and the ending is a whole other situation. Just writing it down always drags me in the scene to scene writing towards logic instead of meaningful & radical action that truely twists things.

[@Mr.Monta77]

The last ten years or so of neuroscientific research has greatly increased our understanding of the interconnectedness and interdependency of the various parts of the brain. The view that logic ‘resides’ in specific part of the brain, intuition and creativity in another, is basically a very reductionist view long since abandoned by neuroscientist, so please don’t state this as ‘facts’ because they are not.

[@JulianNemo]

@@Mr.Monta77 Might be true. I’m not a neuroscientist. Although it of course doesn’t change my experience - and that of many other professional writers I personally know - that it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to switch rapidly between states of „logical“ thinking and „intuitive“ flow while trying to create something meaningful and/or sublime. Therefore I recommend to trust yourself more. The wonderful and amazing thing hereby: your subconsciousness knows more than you think. Literally. And it’s even much more fun! But you have to forgo the illusion of control (valuable life lesson anyway). And you might need some basic form of sensitivity or maybe talent to make this happen. Nonetheless I fully acknowledge that many beginners find some form of help in McKee and the likes. But never forget, to reverse-engineer a film/script is by no means the same as creating one! It’s like recognizing the almost mathematical structure in a piece by J.S. Bach and then thinking one could therefore compose like him. You have to feel it to get there. That’s the truth. At least my truth. Otherwise AI would have created great music for long… (…and again I’ve not used the perfect analogy and left an open flank…😉)

[@kimcaspar1388]

@@JulianNemo My point is that your argument is based on binary oppositions like logical/intuitive. It doesn't work like that. We know from many recent studies that thought processes are interdependent and highly complex. 'Logic' does not 'sit' isolated in one spot. We can have no 'true' experience of life and phenomena around us. We create our individual 'mind' through our senses and make order of these by interpretation and by placing impulses into preconceived categories and apply imaginary cause and effect-connections. It's all chaotic, individual and untrustworthy. I recommend that you trust yourself less. We don't know very much, and should doubt everything.

[@JulianNemo]

@@kimcaspar1388 Hi Kim, sorry if I offended you in any way. That was never my intention, but when I just re-read my reply, I get that one could feel that way. Mea culpa! Back to topic: if those studies say that the binary opposition doesn't work like that - so be it. I'm not referring to studies, but to my own almost 20 years of experience and that of the group of writers I know and work with (as I've clearly stated btw). And please don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that McKee et al are useless. It just took me really some time to "unlearn" what they taught me, or maybe shift it to a different, subconscious part of my brain (which you surely know better, as you seem very knowledgable in this particular field). If you want to go back to my original post, I clearly say that revising your script with structure in mind can be extremely helpful. But for me (!) it doesn't work at the same time - but needs to be strictly separated. I've written many, many hours of TV and I actually just stumbled across this video and wanted to see what McKee was like from a grown up perspective, as I attended a seminar of his in my early twenties. My original comment is what I would have wished someone would have told me back then. Would have saved me some years of struggle... If you have studies to counter that - go ahead! ; )

[@maxinejarrett7077]

I love the clarity of crafting he describes and the how and why they create story.

[@ComicPower]

I could listen to Mr McKee talk all day and I'm a sponge. I love this stuff.

[@DDumbrille]

Get help.

[@brettpilkington9539]

How can you type if you are a sponge?

[@nickdaniel3840]

This interview is invaluable! So much knowledge being shared every minute

[@pauricbrennan]

I did the Story course a few years back in London and it was brilliant. He broke down Casablanca on the last day and it really opened up how stories worked and how each story line interacts and works with the main thread. Fantastic course. Looking forward to this chat.

[@IndieFilmHustle]

Amazing!

[@Jimmy1982Playlists]

My favorite thing about his books is that his theories encapsulate every kind of great film, whether it be a mainstream blockbuster or an art-house classic, whether it be Jaws or The 400 Blows.

[@pauricbrennan]

@@Jimmy1982Playlists yeah the course opens all that up and expands on it too which is great. Three days well spent…

[@akhilraj7885]

Where can I find that course pauric ?

[@pauricbrennan]

@@akhilraj7885 you can find all the info here mckeestory.com/

[@veroniquemarie9037]

A pure blessing 😍 this dialog between these two great 😊 persons. Such a Master sharing his unique & brilliant approches, ideas 💡 and examples. Thank you ☺️ , thank you 😊 , thank you 🙏

[@daisyguerra2780]

Great interview!! Loved it!!

[@garykent5257]

Wow. I’ve watched hundreds of videos on writing and this is the best!

[@youngzombie6342]

Lov your book Mr. Robert ❤ thanks for sharing your wisdom ❤❤

[@LycanVisuals]

Have Story and Dialouge, looking forward to owning characters.

[@lvvry1855]

For all of us who dare think of how to write a great screenplay. Think of a Charlie Parker. He plays/improvises over a structure of chord sequences which outline a great tune/song. But hear what he does with it: he creates a new work of art, complete and satisfying in itself. That's what a great screenplay does. But first you need the story.

[@notadonna5983]

I'm a crossover viewer from your other channel, Alex. I'm so glad I found this. I have never studied writing, but am considering writing a book for kindergarden- aged children; one with more substance and beauty than I usually see. It's a fun idea and one with challenge for me. This is enlightening. Thanks!

[@njunge34]

This is gold. Great info here

[@RockWILK]

So awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[@jimjo8541]

Great information in this one. Thanks for posting it!

[@IndieFilmHustle]

Glad it was helpful!

[@apocalypse369]

Great interview his books have been a great help in my journey to learn the craft. ❤

[@djanitatiana]

Brian Cox is beyond awesome. Anyone who loves The Ring knows the truth of this.

[@eseoghenetv]

Thank you sir

[@barrycook6603]

Wisdom!

[@EMMandM1]

Great video But I still have this question that the subtext is only a text with hidden points and hints or it can be reffered to what characters do and how they act Thank you

[@JulianNemo]

I feel, at least to a certain extend, comedy comes from extremely huge cups... 😇 Like basins of tea cups!

[@IndieFilmHustle]

So true!

[@jonathanrascol]

. . . Bravo! Beautiful! Homages!⚡⚡⚡ JAR …

[@DenkyManner]

I agree with him that the third act of Adaptation isn't quite right, I wonder how bad it was at first

[@djanitatiana]

Did you know the master furniture builder craftsman Sam Malouf would build his buildings not only without a plan but also without a spirit level or plumb? (Im guessing he worked off a level subfloor or slab). The Steven King of construction!

[@jeaniecorrea]

He kind of totally missed the point of your question about three screenplays people must read! But you were genuinely gracious in how you handled it.

[@seanward]

Larry David is wrong. The handicap stall is there should a handicap person need to use it, and they can jump any line, but it's there for everyone to use if it's available.

[@ilovepavement1]

Wait, they didnt know who Brian Cox was? In 2003? Do these people even watch films?

[@oleksandrherasymenko3167]

His stories about Kaufman are hard to believe in.

[@DAMON409]

OMG. Why do these relics have so much influence? Would you go to a Dentist who only talks but has never pulled a tooth? A mechanic who has never changed a tire?

[@briansimerl4014]

You can't record the man correctly????

[@briansimerl4014]

Rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. At what point are you just Stanley Kubrick doing the same take a hundred times? Why is it presumed the story always gets better the more you change it?