Robert mc kee-story • 1. STORY Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles ofScreenwriting ROBERT McKEE •-ReganBooks An Imprint ofHarperCollinsPublishers • STORY.

In this three-day 'rite of passage' seminar, Robert McKee teaches the substance, structure, style, and principles of story. Past students include Peter Jackson,.

Copyright © 1997 by Robert McKee. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quota- tions embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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FIRST EDITION Designed by Laura Lindgren Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McKee, Robert, 1941- Story: substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting f Robert McKee. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: o-o6-o39168-5 I. Motion picture authorship. Motion picture plays-Technique. PN 1996.M465 1997 8o8.2'3-dc21 97 98 99 00 OI •!•jRRD IO 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I • CONTENTS Acknowledgments 1 ix Notes on the Text I xi PART r: THE WRITER AND THE ART OF STORY Introduction I 3 r. The Story Problem I rr PART 2: THE ELEMENTS OF STORY 2.

The Structure Spectrum I 3I 3- Structure and Setting I 67 4 Structure and Genre I 79 5 Structure and Character 1 roo 6. Structure and Meaning 1 no PART l THE PRINCIPLES OF STORY DESIGN 7 The Substance of Story I 135 8. The Inciting Incident 1 r8r 9 Act Design I 208 ro. Scene Design I 233 n. Scene Analysis I 252 12. Composition I 288 13- Crisis, Climax, Resolution I 303 PART 4: THE WRITER AT WORK •4 The Principle ofAntagonism I 3!7 •5 Exposition I 334 r6.

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Problems and Solutions I 346 17. Character I 374 r8. The Text I 388 •9 A Writer's Method I 4IO Fade Out I 418 Suggested Readings I 421 Filmography I 423 Index 1 457 • PART I /i/;,~ 1 }~~;. WRITER AND THE ART OF STORY Stories are equipmentfor living. -KENNETH BURKE • INTRODUCTION Story is about principles. A rule says, 'You must do it this way.'

A principle says, 'This works. And has through all remembered time.' The difference is cru- cial.

Your work needn't be modeled after the 'well-made' play; rather, it must be well made within the principles that shape our art. Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules.

Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form. Story is about eternal. Universal forms. Not formulas. All notions of paradigms and foolproof story models for commer- cial success are nonsense.

Despite trends, remakes, and sequels, when we survey the totality of Hollywood ftlm, we find an astounding variety of story designs, but no prototype. DIE HARD is no more typical of Hollywood than are PARENTHOOD, POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, THE LION KING, THIS IS SPINAL TAP, REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, DANGEROUS LIAISONS, GROUNDHOG DAY, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, or thousands of other excellent ftlms in dozens ofgenres and subgenres from farce to tragedy. Story urges the creation of works that will excite audiences on the six continents and live in revival for decades. No one needs yet another recipe book on how to reheat Hollywood leftovers.

We need a rediscovery of the underlying tenets of our art, the guiding principles that liberate talent. No matter where a film is made- Hollywood, Paris, Hong Kong-if it's of archetypal quality, it trig- gers a global and perpetual chain reaction of pleasure that carries it from cinema to cinema, generation to generation. 3 • 4 + ROBERT MCKEE Story is about archetypes, not stereotypes. The archetypal story unearths a universally human experience, then wraps itself inside a unique, culture-specific expression. A stereotypical story reverses this pattern: It suffers a poverty of both content and form. It confines itself to a narrow, culture-specific experience and dresses in stale, nonspecific generalities.

For example, Spanish custom once dictated that daughters must be married off in order from oldest to youngest. Inside Spanish culture, a film about the nineteenth-century family of a strict patriarch, a powerless mother, an unmarriageable oldest daughter, and a long-suffering youngest daughter may move those who remember this practice, but outside Spanish culture audi- ences are unlikely to empathize. The writer, fearing his story's limited appeal, resorts to the familiar settings, characters, and actions that have pleased audiences in the past.

The world is even less interested in these cliches. On the other hand, this repressive custom could become mate- rial for a worldwide success if the artist were to roll up his sleeves and search for an archetype. An archetypal story creates settings and characters so rare that our eyes feast on every detail, while its telling illuminates conflicts so true to humankind that it journeys from culture to culture. In Laura Esquivel's LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, mother and daughter clash over the demands of dependence versus inde- pendence, permanence versus change, self versus others-con- flicts every family knows. Yet Esquivel's observation of home and society, of relationship and behavior is so rich in never-before-seen detail, we're drawn irresistibly to these characters and fascinated by a realm we've never known, nor could imagine.