Robert McKee
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Robert McKee (born January 30, 1941) is an author, lecturer and story consultant who is known for his "Story Seminar", which he developed when he was a professor at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
. McKee also has the blog and online writers' resource "Storylogue". Robert McKee's "Story Seminars" have been held around the world. The three-day seminar teaches writers the principles of
storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...
. McKee's one-day "Genre Seminars" teach writers the conventions of different styles of storytelling.


Early life in the theater

Robert McKee began his theater career at the age of nine, playing the title role in a community theater production of ''Martin the Shoemaker''. He continued acting as a teenager in theater productions in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. Upon receiving the Evans Scholarship, he attended the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
and earned a bachelor's degree in
English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...
. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree, McKee toured with the APA (Association of Producing Artists) Repertory Company, appearing on Broadway alongside
Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur (; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress. Often referred to as the "First Lady of American Theatre", she was the second person and first woman to win EGOT, the EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and ...
, Rosemary Harris and Will Geer. He then received the Professional Theater Fellowship and returned to
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...
to earn his master's degree in
Theater Arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
.


Mid-life in the film industry

After deciding to move his career to film, McKee attended Cinema School at the University of Michigan. While there, he directed two short films: ''A Day Off'', which he also wrote, and ''Talk To Me Like The Rain'', adapted from a one-act play by
Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...
. These two films won the Cine Eagle Award, awards at the Brussels and Grenoble Film Festivals, and prizes at the Delta, Rochester, Chicago and Baltimore Film Festivals. In 1979, McKee moved to Los Angeles, where he began to write screenplays and work as a story analyst for
United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
and
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. He sold his first screenplay ''Dead Files'' to AVCO/Embassy Films, after which he joined the WGA (Writers Guild of America). His next screenplay, ''Hard Knocks'', won the National Screenwriting Contest, and since then McKee has had eight feature film screenplays purchased or optioned, including the feature film script ''Trophy'' for
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
(Only one of these films, however, was produced). In addition to his screenplays, McKee has had a number of scripts produced for television series such as '' Quincy, M.E.'' (starring
Jack Klugman Jack Klugman (April 27, 1922 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. He began his career in 1949 and started television and film work with roles in ''12 Angry Men (1957 film), 12 Angry Men'' (1957) and ...
), '' Mrs. Columbo'' (starring Kate Mulgrew), '' Spenser: for Hire'' and ''
Kojak ''Kojak'' is an American Action film, action Crime film, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theophilus "Theo" Kojak. Tak ...
'' (starring Telly Savalas). McKee was also an early instructor at the pioneering Los Angeles film school the Sherwood Oaks Experimental College.


Starting the STORY seminar

In 1983, as
Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...
, McKee joined the faculty of the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California (USC), where he began offering his STORY Seminar class. A year later, McKee opened the course to the public, giving a three-day, 30-hour intensive class to sold-out audiences around the world. Since 1984, more than 50,000 students have taken McKee's course in cities around the world: Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Sydney, Toronto, Boston, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Helsinki, Oslo, Munich, Tel Aviv, Auckland, Singapore, Barcelona, Stockholm, São Paulo and more. In March 2011 and again in 2012, he taught a four-day seminar in Bogotá, Colombia. In February 2012, he taught another four-day seminar in the Ramoji film city of Hyderabad in India. He did the same in
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, March 2014. McKee's current lecture series includes the three-day "Story Seminar", one-day "Genre Seminars" (teaching the conventions of love story, thriller, comedy, horror, action and writing for television) and the one-day "Storynomics Seminar", teaching the application of storytelling principles in the business and marketing world (co-lectured with CEO of Skyword Tom Gerace). McKee continues to be a project consultant to major film and television production companies, corporations and governments around the world, as well major software firms such as
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
. In addition, several companies such as ABC,
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
,
Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...
,
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,
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and
Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...
regularly send their creative and writing staffs to his lectures.


Life and awards

Notable writers and actors such as
Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. Known for often playing eccentric roles on both stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Geoffrey Rush, numerous accolades, including an Academy Aw ...
, Paul Haggis,
Akiva Goldsman Akiva Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes ''The Client (1994 film), The Client''; ''Batman Forever'' and its sequel ''Batman & Robin (film), Batman ...
,
William Goldman William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. Among other accolades, Goldman won two Aca ...
,
Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedienne, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona that w ...
,
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
,
Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...
,
John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...
, Tony Kaye, and Steven Pressfield, have taken his seminar. In 2000, McKee won the 1999 International Moving Image Book Award for his book ''Story'' (
Regan Books ReganBooks was an American bestselling imprint or division of HarperCollins book publishing house (parent company is News Corporation), headed by editor and publisher Judith Regan, started in 1994 and ended in late 2006. During its existence, Reg ...
/
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
). The book has become required reading for film and cinema schools at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
,
Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
,
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
,
USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...
and Tulane universities. The book was on the
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best-seller list for 20 weeks. It is translated into more than 20 languages. In 2017, McKee was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Final Draft Awards, an honor that recognizes professionals who have had a "profound influence on the industry" joining peers such as
Lawrence Kasdan Lawrence Edward Kasdan (born January 14, 1949) is an American filmmaker. He is the co-writer of the ''Star Wars'' films '' The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), '' Return of the Jedi'' (1983), '' The Force Awakens'' (2015), and '' Solo: A Star Wars ...
and
Steven Zaillian Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian (born January 30, 1953) is an Armenian-American screenwriter, film director and producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for his screenplay '' Schindler's List'' (1993) and has earn ...
. McKee's other credits include writing and presenting the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
series ''Filmworks'', the
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
series ''Reel Secrets'', the
BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
Award-winning ''J'accuse Citizen Kane'' television program which he wrote and presented, and the writing of ''Abraham'', the four-hour mini-series on Turner Network Television (TNT) that starred
Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he rose to prominence as an icon of the British New Wave. He received numerous a ...
,
Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including Wester ...
and
Maximilian Schell Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was a Swiss actor. Born in First Austrian Republic, Austria, his parents were involved in the arts and he grew up surrounded by performance and literature. While he was still a child, his fa ...
.


Criticism

A critical article published in Vanity Fair in 2009 asserted that "McKee often has no idea what he's talking about" and described a culturally insensitive interaction with a Japanese attendee at one of his seminars. When ''Story'' was first published by Harper Collins in 1997 its jacket described McKee as "a Ph.D. in cinema arts" but a New Yorker article in 2003 reported that McKee in fact failed to complete his doctorate. Some articles for which McKee was interviewed imply he completed his doctorate and do not appear to have been corrected. A further New Yorker article in 2023 noted that ''Story'' "exudes a hostility" towards any screenwriting practice that challenges or breaks conventions, and that "McKee has become a byword for screenwriting structures as cynical and manipulative as they are widely employed." Film scholars such as Barry Langford have described the pronouncements of self-styled story gurus like McKee, Syd Field and Christopher Vogler as "deadening and ubiquitous contemporary norms" and "infantile bromides". McKee has been criticized by screenwriter
Joe Eszterhas József Antal Eszterhás (; born November 23, 1944), credited as Joe Eszterhas, is a Hungarian-American writer. Born in Hungary, he grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. After an early career as a journalist and editor, he entered t ...
for teaching screenwriting without ever having had one of his scripts made into a film. McKee has responded to such criticisms, noting that "the world is full of people who teach things they themselves cannot do" while admitting that even though he has sold all of his screenplays, he still lacks screen credits for them since they were never produced by the studios that bought them, only optioned.Michigan Today – June 1995
— interview with Brett Forrest
In fact, McKee does have at least one known credit: as writer of the 1994 TV movie ''Abraham'' and the 2001 animated cartoon, 'Barbie and the Nutcracker.' Many of the ideas he discusses have been around since
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
and appear in the work of William Archer. In interviews, McKee credits the basis for much of what he teaches and his writing on conflict and drama to Aristotle and the teaching of
Kenneth Thorpe Rowe Kenneth Thorpe Rowe (September 19, 1900 – October 27, 1988) was an influential professor of drama and playwriting. For decades, Rowe taught playwriting, Shakespeare and modern drama at the University of Michigan. There he had an enormous impac ...
. He claims that much of what he teaches was common knowledge 50 or 60 years ago, but that screenwriters have lost touch with the fundamentals of storytelling. In a CBC interview he said that to give his lecture in the 1930s, '40s or '50s "would have been ludicrous". McKee also appears and is criticized in several works, for example, ''Missionnaire'' by French author
Joann Sfar Joann Sfar (; born 28 August 1971) is a French comics artist, comic book creator, novelist, and film director. Life and career Sfar was born in Nice, the son of Lilou, a pop singer, who died when he was three, and André Sfar, a lawyer well know ...
.


Anecdotes

* McKee claims in his seminars that he does ''not'' say not to use voice-over narration. There is some truth to the scene in ''
Adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...
'' however, as he vehemently teaches that using voice-over to substitute for telling the story via action and dialogue is weak, whereas he teaches that voice-over used to counterpoint and enrich the story can be wonderful. * In a ''
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...
'' article, McKee was quoted as saying in front of a Tel Aviv audience that Israelis have a rough sense of humor, completely different from the known worldwide Jewish one, since Israelis are living in a harsh reality which leads them to lose their sense of humor.


Books

* ''Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting'' (1997) * ''Dialogue: the Art of Verbal Action for Stage, Page and Screen'' (2016) * ''Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World'' (2018) with Thomas Gerace * ''Character: The Art of Role and Cast Design for Page, Stage, and Screen'' (2021) * ''Action: The Art of Excitement for Screen, Page, and Game'' (2022) with Bassem El-Wakil


References


External links


Robert McKee's Story Seminar — Official Web site
*
Interview with Robert McKee by ''The New Yorker''


CNN

CNN

— in this words association-style interview, McKee relates to the following terms in the following order (in the video, the words are composed in Hebrew letter cubes): ''1) Blank page'', ''2) Art of storytelling'', ''3) Inspiration'', ''4) Disappointment'', ''5) Thrill'', ''6) Mind control'', ''7) America'', ''8) Time''.


Alice Cinema — French article

BBC World Service — How to Write (interactive guide)
* http://www.writersinstitute.eu/business-story-seminar RUE TALK: STORY-in-BUSINESS Seminar – Malta
A short summary on the Screenwriters Federation Website

What people are saying about the McKee course — an open forum
* http://www.magallanica.com Robert Mckee in Latin America 2009–2011 ( Mario Velasco and Patricio Lynch). * http://www.writersinstitute.eu nternational Writers Institute under the patronage of Robert McKee {{DEFAULTSORT:McKee, Robert 1941 births Living people Writers from Detroit University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni USC School of Cinematic Arts faculty 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Film theorists Screenwriting instructors Writers of books about writing fiction