Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting

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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.

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: bbky
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: BEST BOOK ON HOW TO CREATE STORIES 100% hands down
Review: Sorry I don’t have time to write a succinctly profound review but if you’re even barely considering buying this book, JUST DO IT. I honestly can’t believe the price is 25$.If you have an ounce of raw story telling talent, or if u consider yourself professional, this book is for you. Or if you appreciate the art of storytelling; or if u work in the industry and get scripts across your desk, this book is for you.I do not write scripts and have no plans to; I was introduced to this book years ago when reviewing a script someone was interested in getting funded and felt appropriate to educate myself on what makes a script great… Bc we all know when a script isn’t, but not necessarily Why. Robert blew my mind w this one; the depth, the clarity, the profundity and the genius simplification of one of the most complex art forms – telling stories about the human experience.The essence of the art form is principled out in the book. I’ve been raving about this book since I first read it in 2017, lent my hand-me-down copy, and bought my own last week to do a little book club w my gf. We enjoy watching episodics and movies and have a great time articulating why we think stories are great. I’m super excited diving back into this book again especially w a partner.In my over simplified, outsider opinion, this book is THE formula, the “bible” so to say, of the who what where when and most importantly WHY of scripting for screen.Just buy it. Buy two copies and gift one to your writing buddy or a director u work with. Heck, buy 3 copies and keep on in the car or at the office. Again, ~25$ – wow.If u want to get your script funded – this is the next place for you to go. Scripts are picked up bc they will sell, and in order to sell they have resonate universally. This book explains the essence, the principles of the art form of script writing. If you really think you have what it takes to be an all star writer then digesting this book should 100% fun for you.Just my 3 cents… again I have no plans of writing and I’m not a writer. But I enjoy the art form and I respect the mastery of technical and creative that blend as genius and excellence. For me, having this knowledge has made stories on screen that much more enjoyable as I watch the principles outlined in this book play themselves out like clockwork.I hope I’ve made it clear how magnificent and remarkable this book is in both knowledge and presentation. The hugest shoutout to Robert McKee and his wife who apparently edited this. And shoutout to all the other people behind the scenes on making this book happen. It’s brought me tons of joy, entertainment, knowledge and invigoration. And quite honestly had widened my perspective of the human condition and life itself.Just buy it, and read it. Take notes. Study it. Use it. Capitalize on it if script writing and story telling is in your cards.And if u love this book as much as I do let’s start a club lol.

Reviewer: C. A. Y.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fascinating and Wonderfully Helpful
Review: I recommend this very highly to anyone interested in stories. Although it is mainly addressed to scriptwriting, it might very possibly be of great value to writers of books, etc, also.The author provides a wonderfully organized perspective, and sharp and persuasive analysis of film stories and scripts. And it seems well oriented towards being helpful to a writer, rather than being merely an entertaining read nor to show off his obviously extensive knowledge . Everything is put into well-organized context most useful towards constructing screenplays / stories . It gives a lot of perspectives that even a pro writer might find helpful, I’d think, yet is written clearly and accessibly so that even a beginning or aspiring writer should be able to find much and most of it understandable and helpful.There are also references to films, probably some of which one would have seen already. And in cases where one may not håve seen the film, the author describes the film or scene enough to understandably make the point intended or to serve as a good example of some particular topic or principle or pattern.The book’s approach does not take a “formulaic” approach, nor tries to channel writers into any particular pattern or formula. The author’s appreciation for a wide variety of genres is evident, as is his love for many unique and wonderful films, as varied in their uniqueness as humans, perhaps.But the book’s genius is in deftly identifying and portraying and explaining various principles and patterns of stories and their construction, which though not hard-rules, are often in play, and can be helpful guidelines and perspectives for anyone writing a story or script. Most-helpful!I myself felt very stuck at one point in terms of how to proceed to revise a script I had written.Taking time out to read this book, I then felt very much enabled to move-on in various ways, improving the script. With the insights gained from this book, I felt much more at ease, and confident, in moving forward with further writing and revisions, and also, gained various new directions for improvements I’d very possibly not have thought of without the insights and methods gained from this book.Again, I highly recommend this, as a wonderful book to read early on in one’s aspirations towards writing, and as an excellent book, probably, for a writer at any level of experience.

Reviewer: Pak
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Si vous êtes intéressé par le storytelling, alors vous n’avez aucune excuse pour ne pas avoir Story dans votre bibliothèque!Le style est fluide et agréable, de nombreux films sont cités.Mais il y a quelque chose dans Story que je n’ai pas trouvé dans la majorité des livres prétendant vous apprendre quelque chose, que ce soit dans l’univers de la narration ou non : un contenu apparemment inépuisable, pas abstrait du tout, et orienté sur la pratique.Arrivé à la page 119, j’avais déjà pris une dizaine de pages de notes en parallèle, tant le contenu est dense. Story fait 419 pages, en dehors des diverses annexes. Et l’ensemble délivre des techniques de narration pour valider ou non la qualité de vos scènes et de la construction de votre histoire.Lire Story une seule fois ne sera pas suffisant, c’est une bible sur laquelle vous aurez souvent envie de revenir.Notez que ce qu’enseigne Robert McKee ne s’applique pas qu’au screenwriting pour le cinéma (Je pense particulièrement aux romanciers) !

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Esattamente quello che cercavo. Anzi, di più.

Reviewer: Pratyush Sinha
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Great book for anyone who wishes to learn about screenwriting for films. Story by Robet McKee is the Bible of screenplay writing.

Reviewer: Manuel Olaf
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Aunque alguna que otra enseñanza pueda haber quedado obsoleta y se requiera de haber visto al menos una vez las obras que se usan como ejemplo; este es uno de los mejores libro que no solo te ayudará a crear y desarrollar tu historia, si no también a interpretar otras obras, lo cual te dará un espectro de entendimiento más amplio sobre el tema.

Reviewer: Wolfram
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This book is by no means perfect – but its still one of the best (maybe THE best) about the topic of “story”.WHY IT ISN’T PERFECT:1) The book starts with pages and pages of facts and theory that are quite obvious. You read page after page and say “Yes, he’s right, that’s true”, and it is, but its meaningless. Even if this is the first time in your life you think about “story”. But if you continue reading, the pages start bearing more significance. Would have been better with just 200 pages instead of 400.2) Although the book has the word “structure” in its title, the books own structure is horrible, if not completely absent. If you really want to “work” with the book, its probably a good idea to write down the essence of the book in short notes and give them your own structure afterwards.3) McKee is very dogmatic. Obviously he has an incredible (philosophical) knowledge about the topic. Enough to make him a story guru in my opinion. But dogmatic statements are never a good idea. And with some statements I think, he’s wrong. But honestly that doesn’t really matter, because …WHY IT’S STILL THE BEST BOOK ABOUT STORY:1) … Even if McKee might be wrong with some of his claims (in my opinion), the great achievement is, that without McKee pointing out some aspects, I had never given them a single thought. So no matter if you share all of his opinions or not – while reading his book, you start to think about “story” in a new and different way. That’s brilliant. And even if you contradict – you almost certainly learned something new and valuable. But the point is: don’t just shovel the pages into your brain like a bowl of Kellogg’s Frosties. Think, criticize and question everything. Make your own mind! This book teaches you how to walk and stand on your own two feet. But like any good father who teaches you to follow into his footsteps, in order to become a real successor, first the father has to die.2) McKee covers every aspect of “story” there is. If you re-structure the book a bit, it will you provide you with an in-depth “how-to” instruction. And its a great tool to analyze your or other stories.3) The book is mainly about blockbusters. Big Hollywood movies. Its not about “how stories work” but about “how Hollywood movies work”. At first this might look like a flaw. Especially if you’re bored of the Hollywood story telling style. But actually its not a flaw but a very good thing: You learn how and why these blockbusters work and you learn why and when they bore you. I you want to write an intelligent, individual avantgarde story there is no “how to” instruction anyway (or it would be pointless). You have to do this by yourself. But you have to know and understand the conventions of your craft first. Its like painting. You have to learn to paint photo-realistic before you can successfully do abstract art (have a look at Picasso and van Gogh and their early work). Which means: If you do not want to write a Hollywood blockbuster – read this book and learn what you have to avoid (or to include).

Price effective as of Apr 21, 2025 20:12:07 UTC

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