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Robert McKee's Story seminar

schedule

For info, here is the schedule for the Robert McKee Story seminar.

Robert McKee - Story

London 24-26 November 2000

CONTENT

DAY I - THE WRITER AND THE ART OF STORY

THE STORY PROBLEM - The decline of story in contemporary cinema, theatre, prose: The relationship of the writer to himself, to the art, to humanity.

THE STRUCTURE SPECTRUM - Structure within structure: Beat, Scene, Sequence, Act Story; Mapping the story universe: Archplot, Miniplot, Antiplot.

STRUCTURE AND SETTING - The war on clichés.

STRUCTURE AND GENRE - Limitations and inspirations.

STRUCTURE AND CHARACTER - The great debate.

STRUCTURE AND MEANING - How stories mean: Premise idea/Counter idea, Controlling creation.

THE SUBSTANCE OF STORY - Shaping the translinguistic source of story energy and creation.

DAY II - THE PRINCIPLES OF STORY DESIGN

THE INCITING INCIDENT - The first major event.

ACT DESIGN - Progressive complications: The great sweep and body of story.

SCENE DESIGN - Turning points; Set-up/Pay of, Emotional dynamics; the nature of Choice.

COMPOSITION - The ordering and linking of scenes.

CRISIS, CLIMAX, RESOLUTION - Final decisions, final action, closure.

THE PRINCIPLE OF ANTAGONISM - Taking story to the end of the line.

EXPOSITION - The dramatising of information.

DAY III - THE PRINCIPLES OF STORY DESIGN

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS - Logic and coincidence, mystery/suspense/dramatic irony, curiosity and concern, point of view, comedy, adaptations.

CHARACTER - The principles of character dimension and cast design.

THE TEXT - Dialogue, description, poetics, titling.

A WRITER'S METHOD - The creative process from inspiration to final draft.

SCENE ANALYSIS - Text/Subtext; Design through dialogue vs. Design through action.

THE PRINCIPLES APPLIED - A six hour scene by scene analysis of Casablanca.