Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting

by McKee, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780060391683
• ISBN10: 0060391685
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-11-25
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni.

Writers, producers, development executives and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience. In Story, McKee 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.

No one better understands how all the elements of a screenplay fit together, and no one is better qualified to explain the "magic" of story construction and the relationship between structure and character than Robert McKee.

Author Biography

Robert McKee teaches his Story Structure class regularly to sold-out auditoriums in Los Angeles, New York, London, and other European cities. A Ph.D. in cinema arts and a former Fulbright scholar, his credits include numerous television and feature films. In addition to writing and lecturing, McKee serves as a consultant to major film production companies such as Tri-Star and Golden Harvest Films and in 1991 was awarded the H.U.W. Weldon BAFTA Award (the British equivalent of the Emmy) for Best Arts Program for J'Accuse: Citizen Kane. He lives in Los Angeles and London.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix	(2)
Notes on the Text	xi
PART 1: THE WRITER AND THE ART OF STORY	3	(28)
Introduction	3	(8)
1. The Story Problem	11	(20)
PART 2: THE ELEMENTS OF STORY	31	(104)
2. The Structure Spectrum	31	(36)
3. Structure and Setting	67	(12)
4. Structure and Genre	79	(21)
5. Structure and Character	100	(10)
6. Structure and Meaning	110	(25)
PART 3: THE PRINCIPLES OF STORY DESIGN	135	(182)
7. The Substance of Story	135	(46)
8. The Inciting Incident	181	(27)
9. Act Design	208	(25)
10. Scene Design	233	(19)
11. Scene Analysis	252	(36)
12. Composition	288	(15)
13. Crisis, Climax, Resolution	303	(14)
PART 4: THE WRITER AT WORK	317	(104)
14. The Principle of Antagonism	317	(17)
15. Exposition	334	(12)
16. Problems and Solutions	346	(28)
17. Character	374	(14)
18. The Text	388	(22)
19. A Writer's Method	410	(11)
Fade Out	418	(3)
Suggested Readings	421	(2)
Filmography	423	(34)
Index	457