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Book Review
Story Structure And More
"Story: Substance,
Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting"
by Robert McKee,
ReganBooks/Harper Collins, 419 pp, $27.50
reviewed by Jeff Burman
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Board member Sharon Smith Holley has taken one of Robert McKee's seminars and reports: It's an intense three-day weekend surrounded by hundreds of movie fans. Isn't that why we are in the business -because we love movies? We love to see a good story. We'd love to work on a good one and some of us would love to write a good story. What makes Robert McKee's seminar so interesting is that he structures his sessions like a good script. Whether he's dismissing you for a break or for the day, he makes you want to come back for more. Like an old-time cliff hanger movie you can't wait to hear the next topic. For those of us who couldn't wait, he was available for conversation when he popped out for a smoke. He has a relaxed teaching style, yet stresses the points he feels are important. He really wants his students to understand. I found myself not thinking about the million dollar script I was going to write (joke), but about the story structure of the films I had worked on and how we rework the structure in the editing process after previews. It has changed the way I look at films. And enriched my understanding of story structure in the cutting room. Though his newly published book is as comprehensive as the material Robert covers in his seminar, don't fool yourself into thinking that you won't get anything new from hearing him speak. He's a highly motivating speaker and will answer any questions about the material. And then there is the networking that takes place between sessions - I met several writers who were taking the seminar for the second and third time. They said that it helps them work through their current scripts. There is a discount for repeat students. Bring the book with you to class, it will save you on the note-taking and will give you a quick reference for terms and topics. |
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"Story" is a remarkable survey of the screenwriter's craft, notable for its breadth, precision and affability. It not only reveals innumerable secrets of good dramatic writing, but also can inform editors of the language and concepts that underlie screenwriting. This may be an invaluable asset in editorial discussions with directors or producers who may also be writers. Think of it as a Rosetta Stone, a common creative language.
A Few Examples
McKee has a dramatic mode called the gap. It's the uncertainty that a protagonist creates when action is taken because, by taking this action, the dramatic circumstances shift, throwing the end result into doubt. What follows is ever-escalating risk.
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McKee doesn't like the term theme. It's misused. He prefers the phrase "controlling idea...[which] names a story's root or central idea, but it also implies function." It may be expressed in a single sentence. It describes how and why life changes from the beginning of the story to the end.
How does this look in action? Take 'In the Heat of the Night', a crime story with an "up" ending. Here, an unjust world is returned to justice, suggesting a controlling idea such as "justice is restored..."
Which brings us to genres. McKee offers twenty-five genres and their sub-genres.
Here's a taste. Testing plot: "Stories of willpower versus temptation to surrender" - as in 'Cool Hand Luke'. Of course, the crime genre has several well honed sub-genres. A caper is from the master criminal's point of view; a murder mystery takes its POV from the master detective.
In McKee's discussion of the inciting incident he shows great respect for the editorial craft. He admonishes his reader to "bring in the central plot's inciting incident as soon as possible...but not until the moment is ripe." If Spielberg, in 'Jaws', shot too much exposition, would we see it in the Cineplex? "No. Editor Verna Fields would have dumped it on the cutting room floor..."
"Story" is a marvelous read, and it may improve your editing.
Jeff Burman is an assistant editor on the Guild's Board of Directors.
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 19, No. 3 - May/June 1998
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