Guest-Star, Here I Come! Week 14. 'Robert McKee Seminar Review'

Hi World.  Hi Everyone.



Do you feel like this?

Like there are different people inside you that want to come out?  Like there are many stories inside of you that want to be told?  Does it pain you everyday to not let them out?  Not tell the stories?  Does it haunt you?  Does it nag at you?  Do you get mad at 'Hollywood' for not writing the perfect roles for you, or mis-casting because it's not you?  I think it's time to write your own stuff.

Which is why I took the Robert McKee Storytelling Seminar.

Wow.

Four days.  9am-7pm everyday.  Bonus lesson, punctuality...Mr. McKee does not play when it comes to this.  Pro.  


The seminar isn't just for writers...it's for ALL storytellers.  Whether you're a writer, director, actor, editor...this will help you immensely to know HOW TO tell stories.

I was afraid I wouldn't be smart enough for his class.  I expected a clinical-like 4 days of learning the boring technical stuff.  Nope.  It was fun.  He's a comic.  It was a one-man show with no props except his Power Point slides...and even that was to a minimum.  He's got a magnetic personality....he can hold your attention from 9am-7pm with his words.  No joke.  But, now I also understand that it's not just his words but his love and respect for life and humanity.  You're witnessing a man bringing forth his talent into the world...serving in the best way he can....how can that not be magnetic?

And I was so grateful to Mr. McKee for his appreciation for actors.  He was an actor too once upon a time.  He said actors and agents really hold the power in town.  You give a good actor bad writing, a couple things can happen.....a)  he won't do it, or b)  he'll change it.  He said that good writing is change-proof and it gives freedom to all other collaborators.  You (writer) bring that element, and allow for the director, actor, editor, music, etc...to bring theirs.  The story will take on a life of its own and do its thing in the world.  

I took lots of notes and bought his book, Story - Substance, Structure, Style, And The Principles Of Screenwriting.

Here are some of my notes from class and excerpts from his book that I'm benefiting from already.  I'm starting anew.  They are in no particular order...they have just been swirling around in my head guiding me as I write.  Scroll down and take a gander.  If you're serious about the craft in general, get his book, Story. Click here to purchase.



My Notes



*  The writer is the character's first actor.
It starts with you.  Collect all you know about the human experience and ask your Higher Powers to assist you in collecting everything else you don't know.  Use personal experience and go as far as your imagination will take you.



*  All great stories, strip away the text, there is a Universal form at the heart of this.
Eternal, Universal - FORM
There is no FORMula for creating a story.  But, there is FORM.
Start with FORM and then go wild with your creativity.  It's not about following someone else's recipe, it's about finding your own with the same ingredients.  Form is learning what the core ingredients are.



* What does the audience want?  Emotional Satisfaction.  Who determines how the audience will be satisfied?  The writer.


*  Stories are metaphors for life.  NOT life.  BETTER than life.  They express life.  So, your characters are going to be larger than life as well.  They'll go through things that are larger than life, in shorter time.  It's a dense dense world.



* "Stereotypical stories stay at home, archetypal stories travel."


"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 more information on archetypes...read up on Carl Jung's works and for myths, read up on Joseph Campbell's.



*  FACT is neutral.  Not truth.  FACT is what happens.  TRUTH is why and how it happens.  FACT is just the FACT.  FACTS have no meaning until interpreted.



*  You want to create a small, noble, world.  And due your due diligence.  Know everything there is to know about that world.  A great writer can answer ANY questions.  Give FULL life to your world and characters.  Get specific and elaborate.



*  Good Standard - 1000 words/day.

That's like 10 pages a day.

90% of what we write/do is mediocre.  Not our best work.  If you're good, then 10% may be good but, you gotta produce 100% to get the precious 10%.





* Artists are able to take two separate ideas, marry them, and create a third unique hybrid.  Use that talent to birth into the world wonderful, powerful stories and ideas.  Stories and ideas only YOU can tell, in your own special way.



*  Genres

Position the audience to the genre.

Starts with title.

They arrive with the appetite to understand the genre instead of spending first 30min to find out.
Audience is smarter than you are.  They know what works, what doesn't.  They know if they're satisfied or not.

Identify and research genre(s).

You can mix genres.



*  Research.  Have respect for the audience, for the work, for the craft.  Just because it happened to you doesn't mean you know it.  Write it down.




*  What is the social responsibility of a writer?
One responsibility - TRUTH
Do I believe this?  If yes, then do anything and everything to get that into the world.




*  Trivial Told Brilliantly  vs.   Profound told Poorly.
We want Profound told Brilliantly.



*  40-60 events in a feature.



*  Event - change.  Something undergoes change to make it meaningful.  It changes someone.  Happened to somebody.  Expressed by you, experienced by the audience.  Changing term of value.

"If the streets outside your window are dry, but after a nap you see they're wet, you assume an event has taken place, called rain.  The world's changed from dry to wet.  You cannot, however, build a film out of nothing but changes in weather-although there are those who have tried.  Story Events are meaningful, not trivial.  To make change meaningful it must, to begin with, happen to a character.  If you see someone drenched in a downpour, this has somewhat more meaning than a damp street.  


A STORY EVENT creates meaningful change in the life situation of a character that is expressed and experienced in terms of a VALUE....and ACHIEVED THROUGH CONFLICT."



*  Value - "By values I don't mean virutes or the narrow, moralizing 'family values' use of the word.  Rather, Story Values refers to the broadest sense of the idea.  Values are the soul of storytelling.  Ultimately ours is the art of expressing to the world a perception of values.


STORY VALUES are the universal qualities of human experience that may shift from positive to negative, or negative to positive, from one moment to the next.


For example:  alive/dead (positive/negative), love/hate, freedom/slavery, truth/lie, courage/cowardice, loyalty/betrayal, wisdom/stupidity, strength/weakness, excitement/boredom, etc..."



*  Beat
Change not in value charge but human behavior.


"A BEAT is an exchange of behavior in action/reaction.  Beat by Beat these changing behaviors shape the turning of a scene."



*  Scene
Action to conflict in more a less continuous time and place that turns the values of characters.  (climax here is minor)


"Beats build scenes.  ......Every true scene turns the value-charged condition of the character's life, but from event to event the degree of change can differ greatly.  Scenes cause relatively minor yet significant change."



*  Sequence
Series of scenes that when composed in certain order, brings more impact on character.  (climax here is moderate)

"A SEQUENCE is a series of scenes-generally two to five-that culminates with greater impact than any previous scene."



*  Act
Series of sequences.  (climax here is major)

"An ACT is a series of sequences that peaks in a climactic scene which causes a major reversal of values, more powerful in its impact than any previous sequence or scene."


"Scenes turn in minor but significant ways; a series of scenes builds a sequence that turns in a moderate, more impactful way; a series of sequences builds the next largest structure, the Act, a movement that turns on a major reversal in the value-charged condition of the character's life.  The difference between a basic scene, a scene that climaxes a sequence, and a scene that climaxes an act is the degree of change, or, more precisely, the degree of impact that change has, for better or worse, on the character-on the character's inner life, personal relationships, fortunes in the world, or some combination of all these."



*  Story
Series of acts.  (climax here is absolute, irreversible change)

"A series of acts builds the largest structure of all:  the Story.  A story is simply one huge master event.  When you look at the value-charged situation in the life of the character at the beginning of the story, then compare it to the value-charge at the end of the story, you should see the arc of the film, the great sweep of change that takes life from one condition at the opening to a changed condition at the end.  This final condition, this end change, must be absolute and irreversible."






*  Dialogue is the LEAST important.  Many writers start with dialogue and scene(s).  They fall in love with the words too early...and can't let them go even if they don't serve the story as a whole.  No wonder many writers 'work' on scripts for years.  He highly recommends writing this way...he says it's the most creative and fastest.  If you're diligent and committed...it will take you anywhere between 6 months - a year, minimum to bang out a good first draft.

Step outline ---> Treatment --->  Screenplay



*  Step Outline?
One sentence per event, per scene.  Have only 3 sheets of paper on hand.  One for each Act.


"A step-outline is a story told in steps.  Using one- or two-sentence statements, the writer simply and clearly descrbes what happens in each scene, how it builds and turns.  
For example:  'He enters expecting to find her at home, but instead discovers her note saying she's left for good.'"

Let's say you now have a story...and you're ready for some feedback.  Don't show your step outline.  The same goes for your final critique...reading of your script.  Don't pass it around to your friends....first of all, it's a commitment to really read a script and provide feedback, and second, not many people have enough knowledge about breaking down a script.  Do yourself a favor and again, just 'pitch' it to your friends.


"The writer never shows his step-outline to people because it's a tool, too cryptic for anyone but the writer to follow.  Instead, at this critical stage, he wants to tell or pitch his story so he can see it unfold in time, watch it play on the thoughts and feelings of another human being.  He wants to look in that person's eyes and see the story happen there.
........Any story pitched from its step-outline to an intelligent, sensitive person must be able to grab attention, hold interest for ten minutes, and pay it off by moving him to a meaningful, emotional experience-
........Regardless of genre, if a story can't work in ten minutes, how will it work in 110 minutes?  It won't get better when it gets bigger.  Everything that's wrong with it in a ten-minute pitch is ten times worse onscreen."



*  Treatment?
"To 'treat' the step-outline, the writer expands each scene from its one or two sentences to a paragraph or more of double-spaced, present-tense, moment by moment description.


In treatment the writer indicates what characters talk about-"he wants her to do this, but she refuses," for example - but never writes dialogue.  Instead, he creates the subtext - the true thoughts and feelings underneath what is said and done.  We may think we know what our characters are thinking and feeling, but we don't know we know until we write it down."



*  Screenplay?
"We now convert treatment description to screen description and add dialogue.  And dialogue written at this point is invariably the finest dialogue we've ever written.  Our characters have had tape over their mouths for so long, they can't wait to talk, and unlike so many films in which all characters speak with the same vocabulary and style, dialogue written after in-depth preparation creates character-specific voices.  They don't all sound like one another and they don't all sound like the writer."


"If you shortcut the process and rush straight to screenplay from outline, the truth is that your first draft is not a screenplay, it's a surrogate treatment-a narrow, unexplored, unimprovised, tissue-thin treatment. Event choice and story design must be given free rein to consume your imagination and knowledge.  Turning Points must be imagined, discarded, and reimagined, then played out in text and subtext."

"The wise writer puts off the writing of dialogue for as long as possible because the premature writing of dialogue chokes creativity."

"Writing from the outside in-writing dialogue in search of scenes, writing scenes in search of story-is the least creative method.  Screenwriters habitually overvalue dialogue because they're the only words we write that actually reach the audience.  All else is assumed by the film's images.  If we type out dialogue before we know what happens, we inevitably fall in love with our words; we're loath to play with and explore events, to discover how fascinating our characters might become, because it would mean cutting our priceless dialogue.  All improvisation ceases and our so-called rewriting is tinkering with speeches.


What's more, the premature writing of dialogue is the slowest way to work.  It may send you in circles for years before you finally realize that not all your children are going to walk and talk their way to screen; not every idea is worth being a motion picture.  When do you want to find that out?  Two years from now or two months from now?  If you write dialogue first, you'll be blind to this truth and wander forever.  If you write from the inside out, you'll realize in the outline stage that you can't get the story to work.  Nobody likes it when pitched.  In truth, you don't like it.  So you toss it in the drawer.  Maybe years from now you'll pick it up and solve it, but for now go on to your next idea.


..........For the inside-out method is a way of working that's both disciplined and free, designed to encourage your finest work."

A writer  must learn to 'kill his babies'.

"Film writers cut and cut again, ruthless in their desire to express the absolute maximum in the fewest possible words."

I quoted much from his book because I want to emphasize 'The Work'.  It takes love, patience, perseverance, discipline, commitment, and faith.  I'm a double Sagittarius, Aquarius moon,...AND a New Yorker...I want things done Now Now NOW but, I know better.  I'm already itching to give words to my characters but, I will wait.  It's not time yet.  Trust that when you do the work, time is on your side.

And for my actor friends, know that you always have options when choosing a project.  You don't have to take every script that comes your way.  Wherever you are in your career, it's always the perfect time to begin honoring the artist in you.  Choose projects that will help you, teach you, heal you first....the world will follow.





*  Don't tell.  SHOW.  In film, we want to SEE.  Not hear.  And when writing, ALWAYS remember that it's DO-ing NOT BE-ing.  Show by writing actions.  In present tense.  Do Do Do.



*  For those who love Drama.....Suffering is NOT DRAMA.  It's just static.  Drama moves.  Also, for actors, constant state of mood is static too.  Drama does not equal moody.  We don't want to watch someone who has given up...we want to watch someone who's fighting for his life, or for something or someone.



*  The Law of Diminishing Returns
More often you experience something, the less effect it has.
ex.  3 scenes in a row, tragic, you can't expect the audience to feel the same throughout.

This absolutely goes for acting as well.  If you thrive off emotional, intense material, use it only when necessary...it will hold more meaning.  Showcasing it too much is like showing off...it's for the actor, not the story.  Your job is to serve the story.




*  The 3 Grand Principles in Ordering Scenes

1.  We can't build little more, little more, and little more because we will exhaust the audience.  A great writer knows how to pace the audience.  Don't insert unnecessary scenes for the sake of giving a break for your character but, allow for your character to reflect and realize something.

2.  Unity - Unified
Sense of inevitability from climax.  The path we took to the climax was the only path that could have been taken from early on.  It seems like free will but looking back, it was inevitable.

3.  Rhythm and Tempo
40-60 scenes in feature (on average)
2-3 min each scene (on average)
a)  In 2-3 min, the camera has got everything visually of the place.
b)  When principal characters enter and exit, the dynamic changes so much that a new scene takes place.
c)  Literary scenes - character describes his life, scenes, word pictures

Tempo - level of activity or energy in scene.

As your story moves toward climax, faster the R&T.  Scenes get shorter.  Climax is the slowest and longest.  It's the turning point.  Take time.
Put emphasis on what's going to happen next.  Pause.  Focus your attention on what's going to happen to next.




*  Characters 


~ Protagonists - single character (generally).

~ However, duo (Thelma and Louise), trio (Witches of Eastwick).

~ Two or more - Plural Protagonists.  Under 2 conditions:  "First, all individuals in the group share the same desire.  Second, in the struggle to achieve this desire, they mutually suffer and benefit.  If one has a success, all benefit.  If one has a setback, all suffer.  Within a Plural Protagonist motivation, action, and consequence are communal."

~ Multiprotagonist - "Unlike the Plural Protagonist, characters pursue separate and individual desires, suffering and benefitting independently:  Pulp Fiction, Hannah And Her Sisters, The Breakfast Club."

~ Protagonist doesn't even have to be a human being.  Could be animal, cartoon, inanimate object.  "Anything that can be given a free will and the capacity to desire, take action, and suffer the consequences can be a protagonist."

~ Protagonist in particular must be a willful character.  Protagonist will take the story to the end of the line.  To the limit of human experience.  Not stop short.  Takes story to closure.

~"The PROTAGONIST has a conscious desire.  A need or goal, an object of desire, and knows it."


~"The PROTAGONIST may also have a self-contradictory unconscious desire.  Although these complex protagonists are unaware of their subconscious need, the audience senses it, perceiving in them an inner contradiction.  The conscious and unconscious desires of a multidimensional protagonist contradict each other.  What he believes he wants is the antithesis of what he actually but unwittingly wants."


~ Protagonist MUST be Empathetic (Like me).  May or may not be Sympathetic (likeable).  SO, the audience is really rooting for themselves.

~ Protagonist is the emotional door.

~ What would my character do?  In every situation, every scene, ALWAYS take the minimal action from that character's point of view.  Because human nature is an aspect of Mother Nature.  Conservation of Energy of Life.  Don't do what you don't have to do.  Preserve your genes.  Never take risks you don't have to.  MINIMAL.  CONSERVATIVE.  SUFFICIENT.

~ 99% of the time, what you expect happens....this is how we get through the day.  "Oh, if I call this person, he'll totally say this..", "If I go here, then I'll get this..."  BUT NEVER IN STORY.
Cut out all banality.  Concentrate on moments where character uses probability but world reacts differently, more powerfully.  They discover necessity.  Truth of Life.
ex.  Maybe for comedy, you think you're going to the mall to pick up something but, you run into someone and run into bunch of obstacles first.  For thriller, you get to the mall but, it becomes quarantined because of some unknown virus.  For drama, you catch your husband shopping with another woman.

~ The more valuable object of desire, higher the risk.

~ And to create the best protagonist....you MUST understand The Principle of Antagonism.  The Principle of Antagonism says, "A protagonist and his story can only be as intellectually fascinating and emotionally compelling as the forces of antagonism make them."  
"The Secret of Life is on the negative side of Life."
If forces of antagonism are weak, how can the protagonist be wonderful?  Focus on the forces of antagonism.

~ Always create mystery around your characters.

~ Secrets come out when people are under enormous pressure.  Put your characters under pressure.  How they decide, what they decide will prove to you their true characters.

~ Texts and Subtexts.  When you finally get to the dialogue part of writing, keep in mind that there are texts (what the characters are saying) and subtexts (what they're REALLY saying).




* Inciting Incident

"The INCITING INCIDENT radically upsets the balance of forces in the protagonist's life.........Therefore, the Inciting Incident first throws the protagonist's life out of balance, then arouses in him the desire to restore that balance.  Out of this need-often quickly, occasionally with deliberation-the protagonist next conceives of an Object of Desire: something physical or situational or attitudinal that he feels he lacks or needs to put the ship of life on an even keel.  Lastly, the Inciting Incident propels the protagonist into an active pursuit of this object or goal.......But for those protagonists we tend to admire the most, the Inciting Incident arouses not only a conscious desire, but an unconscious one as well.  These complex characters suffer intense inner battles because these two desires are in direct conflict with each other.  No matter what the character consciously thinks he wants, the audience senses or realizes that deep inside he unconsciously wants the very opposite."


* Phew, I think I'm gonna make this the last one.  Get his book seriously!  Now, for the last note...DON'T MINDF*CK US.

Mind Fuck - surprise without insight.  Gimmicky.

For example, The Sixth Sense.  He's dead.  That's it.  It was a just hidden fact that the audience are suppose to buy.  Great writing ties things together, creates meaning, it's all intricately working together to hide one another, expose one another.  And not dropping a bomb and saying, "Cuz, I said so" with no good reason.  Emotional satisfaction of your audience is the goal of every writer.  It's not about tricking your audience so that you come look clever.  It says in the book, "We do not wish to escape life but to find life, to use our minds in fresh, experimental ways, to flex our emotions, to enjoy, to learn, to add depth to our days."  This is what your audience wants....do that.



Thank you to Robert McKee, Mia, and Steven Pressfield.  I'll make you proud!  :)


And I made a lil tag video to end all my blog posts with from now on.  :)




Have an excellent week everyone!



with LOVE,

Alex