Turning Scenes with Backstory
Robert McKee teaches how to create and use backstory to turn scenes through revelation.
Adapting Dialogue for the Screen
Robert teaches how adapting novels, and the dialogue within, for screen is a matter of reinvention.
How Would a Treatment Look for a Scene With Mostly Dialogue?
Robert McKee on how to deal with dialogue when planning out your story beats and turning points in a treatment.
Can an Image System Be Too Heavy-Handed?
Robert McKee teaches the relationship between image systems and empathy.
Is All Subtext Manipulative?
Robert McKee explains the purpose of subtext, and the difference between manipulation and tactics.
Combining Genres to Create an Original Story
Robert McKee explains the benefits of combining genres as a tool to aid your construction of an original story.
The Danger of Complex Action Villains
Robert McKee explains how sympathy for a villain risks audience excitement, and why writers must be careful when introducing detailed backstories for their antagonists.
Opening Action Stories with the Mercy Scene
Robert explains how writers can avoid an anticlimax when placing the Mercy Scene at the beginning of their stories.
Should Your Antagonist Be Empathetic?
Robert McKee teaches the role empathy should play in your story, and when it might be appropriate for your audience to empathize with your antagonist.
What Makes for a Good Villain?
Robert McKee discusses the psychology every writer must understand in order to write a compelling villain.
Does the Spectacle of an Action Film Constitute Its Meaning?
Robert McKee explains how spectacle is a form of expression while answering this early question from Bass Wakil.
Character Arcs in Action Stories
Robert McKee teaches writers how to treat character arcs within the action genre, and details which action subgenre allows room for greater complexity of conflict.