Robert McKee's STORY seminar

[Unknown Screenwriter]

Okay... Just arrived in San Diego after attending Mckee's STORY seminar on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Really good stuff HOWEVER...

Just so anyone wondering if they should go...

All the guy did was memorize his book and spit it back at us over the 3 days. SERIOUSLY.

The reason I know this is because I read the book a few days prior to attending... Just to buff up and when I got there and started listening and attempting to take notes, I quickly realized that he had simply MEMORIZED his entire book. I am not kidding!

Even the little jokes and asides that sounded spontaneous are IN THE BOOK!

So for anyone wondering if they should attend...

Depends...

If you like listening and have good recall, it might be worth it.

If you can read, re-read, make notes, re-read again, might NOT be worth it.

This was the most expensive seminar I've attended at $545.00 and I gotta tell you... I cannot recommend it to anyone.

Get the book and study it. Everything he says in the seminar is from the book almost WORD for WORD! LOL.

No real structure... All theory. He calls what he talks about STRUCTURE but I don't think it is in my opinion.

He does give real instense insight to all the elements of a story but again, everything he talked about is in the book. Lots of people in the class had the book and followed along. I did not bring my copy to the workshop since I had just read it and I don't go in for autographs which Mr. Mckee readily offered...

The biggest thing I got out of the class (and from his book since they are exactly the same... LOL) is that you must become the GOD of the world you create in your screenplay. Being a GOD can only come from RESEARCH, RESEARCH, and RESEARCH. The more you know about the world you've created, the more authentic your story will be.

Of course I already knew this but simply thought I would pass that on since I feel it is definitely worth repeating... LOL.

The only thing NOT in the book was the tremendous breakdown of the classic film, CASABLANCA. He was selling the screenplay there for people to follow along with (no I didn't buy one) for $20 and most of the 150 people there did in fact purchase one.

Some quick figuring in my head says that he made just over $80K from his three day seminar before overhead expenses... Not bad for 3 days... LOL.

The days were grueling... We met from 9:00 AM till 8:30 PM every day except today... We went a bit over 8:30 PM. We were only given breaks every 2 hours which meant quite a few people were getting up and going to the bathroom in between breaks which I found a little distracting when you have 25 to 30 people doing that all day long...

Way too much sitting around... We met at Loyola Marymount University and on day number one, had to walk over a half mile from the parking garage to the actual workshop building. I don't mind walking for enjoyment but this was a little ridiculous but at least it was free. On Saturday and Sunday, I got to park a little closer so no problems there...

I did purchase his audio book on tape (he does not provide CDs) and listened to that on the drive down to San Diego... Again, exactly the same as the seminar! Even the jokes and asides but this time nobody was laughing... LOL.

I can honestly say however, that I will listen to the tapes as I drive to different places but even so... The tapes were only $25! I could have saved myself $1200! Gas, rental car, and motel and food cost me over $700 so no... Not recommended. I was able to take 2 meetings later in the evening so that made up for the outlay of cash...

All in all, I can't recommend it to anyone unless they haven't read the book and even then I would recommend reading the book instead unless you're better at sitting and listening.

The good thing was that I managed to make a couple of new contacts... That's always a plus...

I was going to share my notes with Poke but I ended up not writing any since I had just re-read the book before going...

Interesting experience...

filmy

 

[Boz Uriel]

Excellent review, thanks filmy.

Sounds like he's going to ride that horse till it dies.

Can you tell me how McKee's views on 'act structure' differ from your own?

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

McKee's Act Structure... NOT!

Excellent review, thanks filmy.

Sounds like he's going to ride that horse till it dies.

Can you tell me how McKee's views on 'act structure' differ from your own?

Interesting question because I actually spoke to Mr. McKee about this in person during a break...

He does not believe in teaching any kind of an act structure. He says if you need three acts, use three acts. If you need seven, use seven. Whatever YOU need to get the job done.

Hence, I didn't feel that he was really teaching any kind of structure to us at all... Of course to him, all his information he feels is "part of the structure" but from I understand and tend to believe IS structure, he doesn't teach.

We spent an entire day (the first day) on simply defining terms... Characters, protagonist, antagonist, evil, scenes, beats, sequences, etc. etc. etc...

What I walked away with from his seminar was this...

Be the GOD of the world you create and that can only come from intense research about your subject matter EVEN IF a lot of what you've found in your research is never used in your story because it will still allow you to write an "authentic" story...

But like I said before... I do this already... Especially with my characters... I try to learn everything about my characters and when I hit the occasional wall, I put my characters in these specific situations and see how they react to these situations and from this, I learn a lot more about them yet NONE of that situation that I just put them through ever seeps into the story... I simply use it as a way to learn more about them and how they will react to similar stimuli...

Since I use this exercise for my characters, it only makes sense to use the same technique for your overall story... If you're writing a story about ballerinas, you better become an EXPERT on ballet. Makes sense but I thought this was already common knowledge and common sense but from talking to quite a few others in the workshop, it seems that a lot of people do not do this...

The other thing I walked away with was SUBPLOTS and using them as kind of a subtext to influence the characters in your story... Take the subplots of your story and fashion them almost as though they themselves are an antagonist within the story... In other words, your subplots should have antagonistic influence on your protagonist. Makes for good conflict and drives the story faster...

So while I would definitely say I learned a lot, I can also say that all this information is in the book. Again, he just reiterated what he's written in his book.

Hope that helps...

filmy

 

[Boz Uriel]

It does. I have his book too. I like his book too. I was intrigued by the notion of freedom of structure. Use what you need. Seemed of a veteran screenwriting concept and most new writers would do well to stay with the three act structure to learn story telling, pacing and such. Kind of like knowing the rules before you break them which is a tennent I hold dear. Thanks again for the nfo filmy.

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

Breaking the rules...

It does. I have his book too. I like his book too. I was intrigued by the notion of freedom of structure. Use what you need. Seemed of a veteran screenwriting concept and most new writers would do well to stay with the three act structure to learn story telling, pacing and such. Kind of like knowing the rules before you break them which is a tennent I hold dear. Thanks again for the nfo filmy.

McKee does in fact stress the fact that anyone trying to become a screenwriter needs to MASTER the art of Classical Design before moving on to Minimalism or AntiStructure screenplays. Classical design of course being more or less the Hero's Journey but again, he doesn't teach a set structure which I really liked... I discussed my theory with him and he said it sounded very interesting... LOL.

At least he didn't knock it...

filmy

 

[avescio]

On a side note, how close was Brian Cox's perfomance to the actual thing?

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

Brian Cox has him by a nose...

On a side note, how close was Brian Cox's perfomance to the actual thing?

McKee is himself an actor and you can tell from his "performance" but I really like Brian Cox and by my estimate, Cox has him by a nose... Or two. LOL.

Just want to reiterate that I did not walk away from his seminar like I'd been cheated or anything... Several friends of mine told me flat out that if I had the book, the seminar is exactly like the book so I knew this going in... This just completed one of my 2005 goals of attending every major screenwriting Guru's class this year.

He's definitely a likeable guy and super knowledgeable and MORE than willing to talk to you during breaks and answer questions...

I especially loved watching him collect $10 from everyone who's cellphone went off during the seminar over the 3 days... LOL. By my estimate, he collected at least $100. At one point, a cellphone kept going off and whoa... Was he getting pissed. Everyone was glancing around wondering where the ringing was coming from...

Then McKee realized that it was in fact, his own cellphone... LOL. The house roared and he replied... "I'll pay myself later."

It all comes down to whether reading the book is good enough for you or sitting and listening to him espouse the book in person... While I'm glad "I" went, I couldn't seriously recommend it to any fledgling screenwriter who would be better off buying not only McKee's book but several others as well.

filmy