THE LEGENDARY STORY SEMINAR
Story creation. Are you inspired by an idea for a story, but don’t know how to realize it? True story is a question of continuous creativity – not a set of formulaic page numbers. Take advantage of one of the best story brains in the business, and let Robert McKee prompt and guide you to your best insights yet. Here is an opportunity to apply classic story design – the kind that has resulted in masterpieces of all kinds – to your own cinematic, theatrical or literary premise.
Robert McKee’s STORY Seminar is ideal for Screenwriters, TV Writers, Novelists, Playwrights, Filmmakers, Directors, Producers, Documentary Makers, Actors and more…
LESS THAN 1% OF WRITERS SELL THEIR SCREENPLAYS. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO LEARN WHAT THEY ALREADY KNOW.
Of the total creative effort represented in a finished work, 75% or more of a writer’s labor goes into designing story – only 1% of writers understand this. Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form. The only way to truly master the form is to intimately understand every aspect of Story. Robert McKee’s STORY Seminar is designed to help you master these principles. This seminar goes well beyond the essential mechanics of screenwriting. It will elevate your writing from an intellectual exercise to an emotional one, transforming the craft of screenwriting into an art form. The STORY Seminar affords you the opportunity to separate yourself from the herd of writers who will never invest the time to properly master the form and thus will never have the success they truly desire.
REMEMBER: There’s no such thing as an unemployed writer who has fully mastered the art.
Invest the time. Do the work. Write the truth.
THE RESULTS WILL FOLLOW.
Story is about principles, not rules.
Story is about archetypes, not stereotypes.
Story is about eternal, universal forms, not formulas.
Story is about thoroughness, not shortcuts.
Story is about the realities, not the mysteries of writing.
Story is about mastering the art, not second-guessing the marketplace.
Story is about respect, not disdain, for the audience.
Story is about originality, not duplication.
What Can I Expect?
Here's an outline of the STORY Seminar.
Seminar Schedule
Lecture
9:00 am - 10: 50 am
Morning Break
Q&A with Robert McKee 10:50 am - 11:10 am
Lecture
11:10 am - 1:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Lecture
2:00 pm - 3:50 pm
Afternoon Break
Q&A with Robert McKee 3:50 pm - 4:10 pm
Lecture
4:10 pm - 6:00 pm
Evening Break
Q&A with Robert McKee 6:00 pm - 6:20 pm
Lecture
6:20 pm - 8:00 pm
Seminar Outline
SECTION ONE
- The writer and the art of story
- The decline of story in contemporary film
- 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
SECTION TWO
- 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
SECTION THREE
- 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
SECTION FOUR
- 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 days applied in a 6-hour, scene-by-scene screening and analysis of CASABLANCA
Where Can I Attend?
Ready to register? We've got a number of upcoming seminars.
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The Legendary STORY Seminar
For you to fully understand the power of attending a Robert McKee seminar, listen to what a handful of past students have to say:
“Everything I know about story structure I learned from Robert McKee. End of story.”
PAUL HAGGIS
2-time Oscar-winning Writer/Director
“…stimulating, innovative, refreshingly practical.”
LAWRENCE KASDAN
Oscar-winning Screenwriter/Director
“McKee gives the writer a very liberating set of guidelines.”
GEOFFREY RUSH
Oscar-winning Actor
“Not only the best teacher of writing I’ve ever had…but the best teacher of anything.”
STEVE PRESSFIELD
Bestselling Author