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Story Guide To Screenwriting
 
 

Story Guide To Screenwriting (Hardcover)

by Robert McKee (Author) "Imagine, in one global day, the pages of prose turned, plays per , films screened, the unending stream of television comedy and drama, twenty-four-hour print..." (more)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (108 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 43.95
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Customers buy this book with Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field

Story Guide To Screenwriting + Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
Price For Both: CDN$ 41.56

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  • This item: Story Guide To Screenwriting by Robert McKee

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Product Description

From Amazon.com

Writing for the screen is quirky business. A writer must labor meticulously over his or her prose, yet very little of that prose is ever heard by filmgoers. The few words that do reach the audience, in the form of the characters' dialogue, are, according to Robert McKee, best left to last in the writing process. ("As Alfred Hitchcock once remarked, 'When the screenplay has been written and the dialogue has been added, we're ready to shoot.' ") In Story, McKee puts into book form what he has been teaching screenwriters for years in his seminar on story structure, which is considered by many to be a prerequisite to the film biz. (The long list of film and television projects that McKee's students have written, directed, or produced includes Air Force One, The Deer Hunter, E.R., A Fish Called Wanda, Forrest Gump, NYPD Blue, and Sleepless in Seattle.) Legions of writers flock to Hollywood in search of easy money, calculating the best way to get rich quick. This book is not for them. McKee is passionate about the art of screenwriting. "No one needs yet another recipe book on how to reheat Hollywood leftovers," he writes. "We need a rediscovery of the underlying tenets of our art, the guiding principles that liberate talent." Story is a true path to just such a rediscovery. In it, McKee offers so much sound advice, drawing from sources as wide ranging as Aristotle and Casablanca, Stanislavski and Chinatown, that it is impossible not to come away feeling immeasurably better equipped to write a screenplay and infinitely more inspired to write a brilliant one.--Jane Steinberg


From AudioFile

McKee, who reads his own book of advice for aspiring screenwriters, has given seminars based on this material. In an expansive, occasionally lecturing, tone the author addresses the principal ingredients of good screenwriting and amply illustrates his points with examples from classic films to modern ones, which is interesting. McKee sounds a bit lofty at times, and it's impossible to avoid the feeling that you're being warned about errors you're going to make anyway. However, McKee's advice is very apt and given in an interesting way: as though he is on a spot-lit stage delivering a well-polished presentation to a group of aspiring writers, among whom you are one. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
Imagine, in one global day, the pages of prose turned, plays per , films screened, the unending stream of television comedy and drama, twenty-four-hour print and broadcast news, bedtime tales told to children, barroom bragging, back-fence Internet gossip, humankind's insatiable appetite for stories. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

108 Reviews
5 star:
 (87)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (108 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars CHARLATAN MCKEE, Jul 2 2004
By C. Hunter Coates "Book Addict" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I attended Roberth Mckee's the I've-Never-Written-A-Screenplay-In-My-Life-But-Here's-How-In-Three-Hours "workshop". We all sat back and watched the glory and splendor of a few well-lit scenes from Casblanca as McHack droned on and on about their cinematic significance. I found myself occassionally embarrassed at having to wipe the sleep drool from my face. (Luckily I was smart enough to sneak in and not pay $450 for it). The book was worse. The class reminded me more of a cinematography class back at ole USC film school than ANYTHING related to literary theory. I have had one screenplay optioned and directed a short which was at Sundance and gone through developement hell and worked with a good script consultant (Ann Zald - Schindler's List) on my recent script, etc., etc. I'm no Larry Gelbart, but I've been a working, represented writer in this town. McKee's text is more of a rambling, seething mass of amateur exploration than anything resembling the intricacies and time tested princibles of narrative theory and execution. You'll be more confused and stupid reading this text than any other from my estimation. He's a hack. Actually he's not up to the title of hack because he hasn't written anything. Therefore he's a charlatan. For more correct information in my humble opinion and experience, get your feet wet with: Seger's How To Make A Good Script Great, Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic Writing; Howard and Mabley's The Tools Of Screeenwriting, Iglesias' 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters; THEN get more serious with Michael Rabiger's Developing Story Ideas and Gerard Genette's Narrative Discourse Revisited. Of course even better than all that, read the few greats of all time (w/o Cliff Notes, or anybody else's interpratations/footnotes/opinions, etc.): ALL the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, ALL the plays of Shakespeare, ALL of Moliere's comedies, ALL of Tolstoy, Shaw, Twain, Ibsen, Dickens, Austen, Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller. I also found How To Read A Book by Mortimer Adler/ Charles Van Doren useful- originally published in 1940 (get the revised and updated edition). Great Writers are Great Readers- Great Comprehenders. I have a lot to learn and read from many geniuses. McKee is not one of them. "There's a sucker born every minute and some people love to be snookered." - PT Barnum
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars No good for real writers, Feb 12 2004
By A Customer
Ten years ago, I went to McKee's seminar--big mistake. Entertaining, unlike this boring book (so the man can't write--maybe that tells us anything?) but nothing new. The finale was a movie, Casablanca, which contradicted all his "teaching" (e.g. no flashbacks! first act no longer than twenty minutes! not too much talking!--Casablanca had a great flashback, a first act of plus 30 minutes, and almost nothing but dialogue--but for Moron McKee, it was an example... ???). Casablanca was written like a novel: based on characters, changing the screenplay everyday because of the characters, no-one knowing how it would end--until the end. That is real writing. Not: concocting plots, writing outlines and backstories before writing scenes and dialogue; putting your 'inciting incident' in the first ten minutes, and all those silly rules. This is all formula and no wisdom, coming from a would-be rehashing Aristotle and Egri. And then of course there's the fact that the first McKee screenplay(successful--if any) is still to be seen. Those who can, etc.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars INTELLECTUAL BS!, Aug 16 1999
By A Customer
I am a graduate of the USC film school and I thought I would really benefit for reading this book. But I was sooooooo disappointed. It's so intellectual that I could hardly get through the first chapter. I struggled and struggled, and finally gave up. Words, words, pompous words. Let's get real here!! Other books are much better: Syd Field's Problem Solver, (number one,) Linda Segar are more readable. Don't waste your time!
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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A Balanced Review
Knowing story is like knowing life.

Everything he writes are also fundamentals of how the universe works. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Justin Achneepineskum

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for writers of any genre
I've read this book three times now, once for each of my own books, and it's been an inspiration every time. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Daniel Edward Craig

5.0 out of 5 stars The real thing . . .
I have now ploughed through seven different books on screenwriting. Robert McKee's "Story" distinguishes itself as the best in one significant way: It provides real... Read more
Published on Jul 10 2004 by stephen3984

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on Writing Ever
Not an exaggeration at all. I've never read a better book on writing (and not just screenwriting either). This book transcends all forms of literature. Absolutely amazing.
Published on Jun 14 2004 by Boyd Neign

5.0 out of 5 stars a word is worth a thousand pictures in this case
Story by Robert Mckee is one of the best pieces of literature these old bones have had the pleasure of holding. Every single sentence is chalked full of mountains of wealth. Read more
Published on Jun 10 2004 by W. Wade

5.0 out of 5 stars The encyclopedia of screenwriting
I've taken screenwriting courses and seminars, been to a university for film and creative writing, and I can safely say McKee's book is the purest form of breaking down... Read more
Published on May 20 2004 by J.A.R.

3.0 out of 5 stars Bold and Spicy like steak sauce
Aside from learning the mechanics of writing, read this book to appreciate the great purism and passion that Robert Mckee holds for the craft. Read more
Published on May 16 2004 by Maxwell Mattord

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn from the Master
If you look at Robert McKee's list of who has taken his course, it reads like a Hollywood Who's Who. Read more
Published on April 30 2004 by Christina Paul

5.0 out of 5 stars Very impressed
This is a genuinely great book. I was expecting a summary of writing techniques and of the most common types of story and how to write and sell them, but instead McKee starts at... Read more
Published on April 20 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars How important is this book?
I actually own TWO copies of "Story" and keep them in different places in my home - just in case something happens to one of them. Crazy? Absolutely. Read more
Published on April 2 2004 by Mylo Carbia

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