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Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting
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List Price: $35.00
Our Price: $23.10
Your Save: $ 11.90 ( 34% )
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Manufacturer: HarperEntertainment
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.23
EAN: 9780060391683
ISBN: 0060391685
Label: HarperEntertainment
Manufacturer: HarperEntertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 480
Publication Date: 1997-12-17
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Release Date: 1997-11-25
Studio: HarperEntertainment
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Editorial Reviews:
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Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience. In Story, McKee expands on the concepts he teaches in his $450 seminars (considered a must by industry insiders), providing readers with the most comprehensive, integrated explanation of the craft of writing for the screen. No one better understands how all the elements of a screenplay fit together, and no one is better qualified to explain the "magic" of story construction and the relationship between structure and character than Robert McKee.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: I think it is great
Comment: Can't compare it to other books as I have not read many. I liked 'Save The Cat! a lot - but that is more of an outline to work from. This is the underlying theory.
Should be helpful to writers in any genre.
Customer Rating:
Summary: story
Comment: very good book with very interesting tips even for writers. i learned a lot. thnak you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for any writer
Comment: I've read a lot of fiction help books, but most of them are geared at the mechanics and tricks of fiction. None of them, in my opinion, philosophically tackles the concept of story telling and how stories work. Instead, they give tips and techniques like "put in rising conflict" or "make your characters likeable"
In STORY, Rob McKee tells us, from a conceptual, historical & technical view, what story is, how it works and how to make it work. He writes with authority and depth. It is clear that the man has put a tremendous amount of thought into the subject and that he genuinely cares about good story telling.
I have gained a lot of insight from this book. Almost every paragraph has something to take away from it. I'd definitely recommend this book, to both prose and screen writers.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Invaluable Resource
Comment: This is the only book on screenwriting I have read thus far, and, frankly, it would take a lot for me to read another. I have gained invaluable understanding of the screenwriting process with this book. I reference it continuously and am not disappointed. I find McKee's advice to be straight forward, easy to understand, and adapt.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Beware of the Snake Oil Salesman
Comment: I'm sorry but I find it almost insulting that someone would stand up on an orange box and preach about a subject that he knows NOTHING about. To me that's the definition of a scam artist.
I have dozens upon dozens of screenwriting books and most of them are mediocre at best. The problem: Most are also written by people who haven't sold anything! How do these publishing companies keep allowing these non-screenwriters to publish books about screenwriting?
Ask yourself this: If you are trying to put together a model airplane, would you read the instructions by someone who has never done it before? If you were trying to rebuild a carburetor, would you read the book by the dude who knows nothing about cars or carburetors?
No, you wouldn't! (I hope.)
After wasting so much money on these wannabe snakeoil salesmen who are selling books about writing and yet have never sold anything, I've learned to stick with ONLY those who have been successful. After all, many of us who are aspiring to make it as writers don't want to read about other wannabe's 'theories' on how to make it as a writer, do we?
I've found two successful screenwriters who are worth reading: Blake Snyder and Cynthia Whitcomb. Their books are exceptional and worth reading several times over.
My advice: Instead of wasting your time reading books by people who TEACH and DON'T DO, find books only by people who have actually done it and are successful. Why read anything else? Doesn't make sense, does it?
Regarding Robert McKee, the guy hasn't 'done it' so why bother with him to begin with? If his 'theories' are so fabulous then why hasn't he been successful? Theories sound nice on paper but unless they are workable and something you can actually be successful with, they're worthless.
I just feel sorry for all the people who have been duped by McKee and who think the guy knows what he's talking about. Being that blinded could easily set your career back a decade or more. Beware of the snakeoil salesman. He can make you believe you are on the right track when really you are wasting a ton of time.
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