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Title: Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee ISBN: 0-06-039168-5 Publisher: Regan Books Pub. Date: 17 December, 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.57 (92 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Do the Work Beforehand
Comment: Creativity is a misunderstood thing, and from what is often said about it, it can't be hamstrung by rules. It must be set free to improvise, fly, and blossom into art. The author must work at the typewriter like a jazz musician riffing in a club, and the magic will happen.
On rare occasions, this may happen to great affect, but it happens rarely with experienced artists, and I suspect never with inexperienced ones. The exceptions are well-publicized because the people who it happened to are as surprised as everyone else and love telling the story.
Opposing this attitude, Robert McKee's book gives practical advice on the work required to "engineer" a great screenplay: know the characters before putting words in their mouth, know the setting before creating a romantic sunset in it, and know the nature of the universe the world is set in before you have someone build a spaceship that is faster than light or even cross the street when the "Don't Walk" sign is on. Know these things as well as you can know them, and the screenplay will happen. In fact, it will be difficult to stop it.
Once that's done, you can use what I believe is his best piece of advice. Create the story, know it in and out, then ask a friend for twenty minutes of their time. Tell them your story. If they are silent, except for the whispered "Wow", you have a story.
Rating: 1
Summary: No good for real writers
Comment: 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: Screenwriter
Comment: The absolute best out there. No other book I have read comes close to it. An absolute must for aspiring screenwriters, established screenwriters, or anyone in showbiz for that matter.
Reccomended: A Hero of a Thousand Faces & Poetics.
If you have the money and time check out Mckee's seminar.
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Title: Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger ISBN: 0805011714 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: 15 July, 1990 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script by David Trottier ISBN: 1879505444 Publisher: Silman-James Press Pub. Date: August, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler ISBN: 0941188701 Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions Pub. Date: November, 1998 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Screenplay : The Foundations of Screenwriting; A step-by-step guide from concept to finishedscript by Syd Field ISBN: 0440576474 Publisher: DTP Pub. Date: 10 June, 1984 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seger ISBN: 0573699216 Publisher: Samuel French Trade Pub. Date: November, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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