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Robert McKee's Story Seminar

At a Glance

  • Legendary seminar on the principles of storytelling for the screen
  • Provides a clear vision of form, not formula, as the key to dynamic screenwriting
  • McKee’s character vs. characterization and problem/solution insights will change the way you write

Robert McKee invites you to join him for four stimulating and information-packed days with him as he reveals the essential elements of story design that help separate great stories from the rest of the pack. Using examples from over 100 films, in addition to television shows and novels, Robert McKee demonstrates why structure and story design are about form and principles, not formulas and rules.

Each 4-day Story event runs Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 9:00am and closing at 7:00pm each day.

Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter William Goldman wrote, in his most recent book, "It's three full days over a single weekend, and no one feels cheated when he's done. I wish he had been around when I started writing CUT TO for a living."

Bestselling novelist Steve Pressfield simply said, "McKee is not only the best teacher of writing I've ever had, but the best teacher of anything."

DAY 1:

  • The writer and the art of story
  • The decline of story in contemporary film, television, theatre and literature
  • Story design: the meaning of story, the substance of story, the limitations and inspirations of story structure & genre, the debate between character vs story design
  • Premise Idea, Counter Idea, Controlling Idea
  • Story Structure: beat, scene, sequence, act, story
  • Mapping the Story universe: Archplot, Miniplot, Antiplot
  • Shaping the source of story energy and creation

DAY 2:

  • Act design: the great sweep and body of story
  • The first major story event (the inciting incident)
  • Scene design in Story: turning points, emotional dynamics, setup/payoff, the nature of choice
  • Ordering and linking scenes
  • Exposition: dramatizing your characters, the story setting, creating back story
  • The principles of antagonism
  • Crisis, climax and resolution

DAY 3:

  • Putting the elements of story together
  • The principles of character dimension and design
  • The composition of scenes
  • Titles
  • Irony; Melodrama
  • False endings
  • The text: description, dialogue, and poetics
  • The spectrum of story genres

DAY 4:

  • Story adaptations
  • Scene analysis: text and sub-text; design through dialogue versus design through action
  • The writer's method: working from the inside out; the creative process from inspiration to final draft.
  • How it all works: the principles of the previous 3-1/2 days applied in a 6-hour, scene-by-scene screening and analysis of Casablanca

Locations:

NEW YORK:

Florence Gould Hall Theatre
French Institute (FIAF)
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY

LOS ANGELES:

Sheraton Gateway
6101 West Century Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90045

Cancellations are refunded less a $95 administrative fee up to 11 days prior to the seminar. Starting 10 days before the seminar, cancellations are not refunded but deferred to a future seminar anywhere in the U.S.

Product Details

  • Date available: 08/13/2012
  • Return policy: This item is not eligible for return.

Return Policy

Your satisfaction is our top priority. If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please return the item(s) for an exchange or refund within 30 days from the purchase date, unless otherwise noted on the product page.

Ship the item(s) to The Writers Store via a traceable and insured method. You will be responsible for return shipping fees.

Please include a completed Return Form with your shipment. Refunds take up to one week to process once we have received the item(s).

Software returns must be deactivated and uninstalled from your computer before a refund may be issued. Please contact the software manufacturer if you need assistance uninstalling or deactivating your software.

The following items are not returnable: Hollywood Creative Directories, DVDs (opened), and Gift Certificates.

Meet the Author: Robert McKee

Robert McKee, a Fulbright Scholar, is among the most widely known screenwriting lecturers. He teaches an entertaining, inspiring and information packed 4-day, 32-hour intensive class to sold-out audiences around the world. McKee’s former students include 36 Academy Award winners, 164 Academy Award Nominations, 164 Emmy Award winners, 500 Emmy Award Nominations, 29 WGA Award winners, 77 WGA Award Nominations, and 16 DGA Award winners, Pulitzer prizes, and Whitbread prizes.

McKee continues to be a project consultant to major film and television production companies such as 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount, MTV, as well as to major software firm...