Story

Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting Hardcover – November 25, 1997
Author: Visit ‘s Robert McKee Page ID: 0060391685

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Writing for the screen is quirky business. A writer must labor meticulously over his or her prose, yet very little of that prose is ever heard by filmgoers. The few words that do reach the audience, in the form of the characters’ dialogue, are, according to Robert McKee, best left to last in the writing process. (“As Alfred Hitchcock once remarked, ‘When the screenplay has been written and the dialogue has been added, we’re ready to shoot.’ “) In Story, McKee puts into book form what he has been teaching screenwriters for years in his seminar on story structure, which is considered by many to be a prerequisite to the film biz. (The long list of film and television projects that McKee’s students have written, directed, or produced includes Air Force One, The Deer Hunter, E.R., A Fish Called Wanda, Forrest Gump, NYPD Blue, and Sleepless in Seattle.) Legions of writers flock to Hollywood in search of easy money, calculating the best way to get rich quick. This book is not for them. McKee is passionate about the art of screenwriting. “No one needs yet another recipe book on how to reheat Hollywood leftovers,” he writes. “We need a rediscovery of the underlying tenets of our art, the guiding principles that liberate talent.” Story is a true path to just such a rediscovery. In it, McKee offers so much sound advice, drawing from sources as wide ranging as Aristotle and Casablanca, Stanislavski and Chinatown, that it is impossible not to come away feeling immeasurably better equipped to write a screenplay and infinitely more inspired to write a brilliant one.–Jane Steinberg

Review

“… stimulating, innovative, refreshingly practical.” — — Lawrence Kasdan, Director

“…the best guide on writing you can find.” — Laurence Chollet, The Record, Northern New Jersey

“In difficult periods of writing, I often turn to Robert McKee's wonderful book for guidance” — — Dominick Dunne, Novelist

“McKee is the Stanislavski of writing.” — — Dennis Dugan, Writer, NYPD Blue

“[Story is]an excellent instruction manual on the craft of storytelling.” — Austin American-Statesman

“to the people who write, direct and produce for Hollywood – or desperately wish they did – Bob McKee is a cross between E. F. Hutton and Sun Myung Moon. The man speaks, and people start to take furious notes – he is now the undisputed screenwriting king… for the legendary screenwriting boot camp that he runs. Thirty-thousand aspiring screenwriters have already taken McKee’s 30-hour, three-day course…” — Newsday

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Hardcover: 480 pagesPublisher: ReganBooks; 1 edition (November 25, 1997)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0060391685ISBN-13: 978-0060391683 Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.4 x 9.2 inches Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #5,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #3 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Screenwriting #19 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Fiction #20 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Television
I’ve read many books on screenwriting, and Story is certainly one of the best. Its conservative, to be sure, espousing all the tenets of Classical Hollywood Narrative: Three act structure, strong active protagonists, inciting incidents, causal chain, action not words – y’know the drill.
McKee, however, is not a member of the Syd Field school. Field gives writers rules; McKee offers principles. This is a critical difference. McKee believes in the craft and art of screenwriting above all else. Consequently, Story has a different tone to Field’s Screenplay . If you look beneath the surface of Story, you’ll find that McKee’s principles and views are far more flexible than anything Vogler or Field has offered the screenwriter.
While primarily focusing on what he calls Arch-Plot (Classical Hollywood Narrative) he also accepts the existence of other, alternative, forms. He also hails the greatness of those alternative narrative films throughout the book. These alternative narratives are not, however, the focus in Story. McKee believes that an aspiring writing needs to master the classical story form before adventuring elsewhere. His goal in the sheer bulk of Story is to educate, not indoctrinate, the reader about all aspects of Classical Narrative.
For many readers this will come across as a conventional approach to screenwriting. That it is. Unlike many other (traditional) screenwriting books, though, this is underpinned by McKee’s belief in the craft above all else. He doesn’t want you to just absorb, but rather think. about what he is saying. If you don’t understand how a traditional story works, and how to tell one well, what chance in hell do you have of telling your multi-passive-protoganist, anti-plot, 2-act, time-jumping magnum work?
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