Robert McKee’s

GENRE

FESTIVAL 2025

LIVE ONLINE: April 1 – May 1, 2025
ON DEMAND Until June 30 , 2025

Every story flows from a tradition of core events, characters, and values delineated by the genre in which you write. The writer’s first task is to identify the genre, or combination of genres that will inspire his or her creativity. The second is to master its possibilities.

All writers are genre writers. What kind of story are you telling?

2025 Spring Program

Registration now open!

Love Story

Action

Crime Thriller

Horror

Comedy

Robert McKee’s

LOVE STORY

APR. 1 – 3 / 1PM – 3PM (ET)

Love Story

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s LOVE STORY Webinar Series explores the history and nature of romance, the storytelling principles involved in crafting the consummate love story, and how you can mix and merge genres to create something truly unique.

Robert McKee’s

Action

APR. 8 – 10 / 1PM – 3PM (ET)

Action

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s ACTION Webinar Series teaches the core principles of the genre, the structure of Action stories, and how to design set pieces in order to maximize the audience’s excitement.

Robert McKee’s

Crime Thriller

APR. 15 – 17 / 1PM – 3PM (ET)

Crime Thriller

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s CRIME THRILLER Webinar Series explores the nature of evil, the many subgenres of Crime, the particular perspective that defines the Thriller, and the conventions you must bend or break in order to create a masterful work.

Robert McKee’s

Horror

APR. 22 – 24 / 1PM – 3PM (ET)

Horror

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s HORROR Webinar Series teaches the sources of horror, the hidden worlds within reality, how to create a Horror cast, the secret to writing a monster that will terrify your audience, and the creative choices available to the writer in the many subgenres of Horror.

Robert McKee’s

Comedy

APR. 29 – MAY 1 / 1PM – 3PM (ET)

Comedy

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s COMEDY Webinar Series dives deep into this pointed genre to teach you the principles of cast design, the nature of comedic protagonists, and the unique worldview of the Comedy writer.

2025 SUMMER PROGRAM

Registration opens in May.

Character

Dialogue

Television

Imagery in Fiction

JUL. 1 – 3 / 1PM – 3PM (ET)

Character

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s CHARACTER Webinar Series teaches the art of character creation, deepens insight into hidden psychological depth, and provides the tools you need to configure an entire cast—from the protagonist outward through the first, second and third circles of supporting roles.

JUL. 8 – 10 / 1PM – 3PM (ET)

Dialogue

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s DIALOGUE Webinar Series teaches the true definition of dialogue, its multiple purposes, cueing from character to character, the differences between effective and weak dialogue, and how to find and fix flaws.

JUL. 15 – 17 / 1PM – 3PM (ET)

Television

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s TELEVISION Webinar Series teaches you the strengths of long-form storytelling and how it became the dominant art form of the 21st century. Learn the various formats of TV shows and how they shape the stories told, how to design your series across multiple seasons, and the unrivaled depths you can reach in character and story complexity.

JUL. 22 – 24 / 1PM – 3PM (ET)

Imagery in Fiction

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s IMAGERY IN FICTION Webinar Series teaches you how to elevate your good story to a work of art. Learn why mastering the principle of image systems is crucial to creating a work of transcendent power, how to engage your poetic imagination, how to create images for the eye versus the ear, and the techniques you can use to craft meaningful imagery that deepens the experience for your audience.

2025 Fall Program

Registration opens in August.
OCT. 7 – NOV. 6 / 1PM – 3PM (ET)

StorY

Webinar Series

15 Lessons

Robert McKee teaches his legendary STORY Seminar online, giving you the opportunity to master the art of story from the convenience of your own home. Spanning 15 individual webinars on the substance of story, how to structure compelling narratives, maximizing your design and much, much more, McKee delivers his iconic writing masterclass in full.

Previous Webinar Series

Currently Unavailable

The Shapes of Stories

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

This webinar series surveys the full range of storytelling shapes, from the most dynamic popular plotting techniques to the depths and beauties of simplicity and beyond to the far reaches of the most exciting, radical designs.

Currently Unavailable

The Shapes of Scenes

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

This webinar series investigates the basic component of all storytelling: the scene. In a story’s flow of events, scene designs take on many different shapes. This series explores all possibilities for form, purpose and effect.

Currently Unavailable

Character: Cast Design

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

This webinar series focuses on the multi-dimensional character and its complex relationship with the surrounding cast. McKee examines roles with unique complexities that range from the most realistic to the highly symbolic to the boldly radical.

Currently Unavailable

Dialogue:
The Inner Voice

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

No matter how lavish a play’s production, how vivid a novel’s descriptions, how lush a film’s photography, dialogue shapes the deepest complexities, ironies, and innerness of story. This webinar series focuses on the power of the first-person perspective and the challenges inherent in giving voice to a character’s inner thoughts and feelings on the stage, page, and screen.

Currently Unavailable

Adaptation:
The Portable Story

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Shifting stories back and forth between page, stage and screen is rarely a simple matter of adaptation. This complex process almost always demands reinvention. In this webinar series, McKee lays out how the distinct powers of each medium reshape adaptations and how to preserve the essence of a telling while giving it a rebirth.

Currently Unavailable

Story Drives

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s STORY DRIVES Webinar Series delivers three never-before-seen lectures on the inner and outer motivations of character, how they should be handled in different genres, before finishing the series with an in-depth breakdown of two contemporary television series.

Currently Unavailable

Story Craft

Webinar Series

3 Lessons

Robert McKee’s STORY CRAFT Webinar Series delivers the crucial insight you need to understand your work in the context of the story universe, to hook and hold audience interest, and to elevate your story to a work of art.

Currently Unavailable

Story Elements

Webinar Series

6 Lessons

Robert McKee’s six-part STORY ELEMENTS Webinar Series teaches you how to build a scene, the art of the inciting incident, the nature of character dimensions, the importance of subtext, the principle of antagonism, and the core elements of genre.