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You Are Here: creation process: writing: scriptwriting books: Story: Substance, Structure, Style ...
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Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
author:Robert McKee
price: $28.00
BUY IT ON AMAZON.COM |
Book Description
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.
Synopsis
A noted screenwriter and educator presents a complete guide to the art of screenwriting, explaining how to develop a storyline, refining a work in progress, and other key aspects of creating works for film. 40,000 first printing."
About the Author
Robert McKee teaches his 3Story Structure2 class annually to sold out auditoriums in Los Angeles, New York, London and film capitals throughout the world. A Fulbright Scholar, this award-winning film and television writer has also served as project and talent development consultant to major production companies such as Tri-Star and Golden Harvest Films. He lives in Los Angeles and Cornwall, England. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
"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..."
Robert McKee's STORY is an excellent book, especially for those starting out in screenwriting or, for that matter, other forms of fiction. While his style is sometimes a bit pompous and aloof, his focus on "the story" as the most fundamental component of a film is right on target. In laying out what "works" for screenwriting, he also shows how film is unique from other forms of writing. As a novelist, currently adapting one of my works to a screenplay with another more experienced screenwriter, his insights were particularly helpful.
What McKee's book will not do is provide the novice with a sense of format, lay-out, and terminology. This is very much a book targeted toward getting the fundamentals--the principles--of screenwriting down. While all readers may not agree with everything he suggests (indeed, I didn't), he lays out the basic structure, typologies, and analytics of screenwriting in an insightful and practical way.
I noticed another reviewer thought this book was too formula driven. While McKee offers a basic formula to structure, he also acknowledged the diversity of good films and screenplays--there's plenty of room for creativity. What he provides is basic insight into what makes a "successful" screenplay--one that will be bought, produced, and be successful at the box office. (More appropriately, one that will cover its costs and make at least a small profit for its producers.)
This was a very valuable book, and I highly recommend it as a stable of your writing library.
When I asked my agent to recommend one book he offered Syd Field's. After I read "Story" I told him to stop doing his clients a disservice and give them McKee's book. I am a professional screenwriter, paid and produced. Most of what I have learned has come from my own deconstruction of the films I watch. On the whole I am still not a proponent of screenwriting books but Mr. McKee's book is absolutely fantastic. For those who think it provides a formula, I believe they simply do not understand the way it all works- and I'm not talking about the Hollywood game (for the same people probably don't know how that works yet either), I'm talking about the mechanics of story. This book is not for coffee shop dilletantes who think that to talk about structure is to ruin their own precious ideas, it is for those who have an open mind to being taught. I cannot recommend it with greater enthusiasm.
Reviews excerpted from: Amazon.com |
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