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Robert McKee is a legend in screenwriting circles for his Story seminar, and was featured in the film Adaptation. Its graduates boast 17 Academy Awards + 80 nominations, plus a further 139 other awards + 534 nominations. They include Diane Keaton, Julia Roberts, John Cleese (3 times, apparently), and the wonderful William Goldman.
This is The One.
So when my former workmates at PricewaterhouseCoopers gave me a place on the seminar as a leaving present it was an act of astonishing inspiration, as well as generosity.
Now read on...
When I decided to take screenwriting seriously, I read. Lots. Books about storytelling, books about the process and mechanics of screenwriting, books by screenwriters, and of course screenplays.
I was happy with what I learned. These sources built up to an internally consistent model of what screenwriting is about.
So I started writing the day I left my job, and after six weeks I had 90 pages (out of 120 or so needed) of my first screenplay written.
Then I attended this course.
And stopped writing. I have not written a word of my script in the 4 weeks since.
So I'm pretty miserable, right? Wrong.
In three arduous days (see The third eye writes), Robert McKee made screenwriting real for me. Unlike the other sources, he managed to delve beyond the outward manifestation of story and on down to its beating heart.
By stating, but also bringing to life telling verities. Such as:
Character is revealed in the choices a human makes under pressure.
In story we concentrate on that moment in which a character takes an action and the world reacts differently than expected, more powerfully than expected, or both.
A story must not retreat to actions of lesser quality or magnitude, but move progressively forward to a final action beyond which the audience cannot imagine another.
Trouble is, it all seems so cold and logical on the page. In person, it was insightful and inspiring. I find myself thinking, when I look back at other sources, "So that's what that means."
For me, the most powerful element of the course was the 6 hour analysis of Casablanca on the last day... riveting, and full of Aha! moments.
McKee set me back by weeks... and forward by months.
Mark Iliff, Talespinner
29 Dec 2000
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