November
13
2009
Robert Mckee on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos
If you ever had dreams of writing a Hollywood screenplay, you won’t want to miss this interview with Robert McKee. McKee is Hollywood’s go-to guy for scripts. He teaches a class for aspiring writers, he helps the studios with scripts in production, and occasionally he rescues scripts that have gone terribly wrong. He’s also known for humiliating his students with his infamous outburts. For more information about Robert McKee, check his website. Also McKee will be in Vancouver on November 2, 3, …
Rating: 4 | Views: 19289
Related posts:
Tags: def, George, Hour, Mckee, Robert, Screenplay, Stroumboulopoulos, Writers
Category: Screenplay Videos | Posted by: brian on November 13, 2009
21 Comments to “Robert Mckee on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos”
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
By cazacriter, November 13, 2009 @ 8:07 am
i take your advise,the problem is how to get that material to thouse who are in charge and that s make things discoraging.i wil read it anyway.regards
By baillou2, November 13, 2009 @ 8:49 am
It’s a great film. The generic/actiony thriller turn was made intentionally. Can’t you see that? But most importantly Kaufman (both real and in the movie) redeem themselves by the end.
By jaggedsymmetry, November 13, 2009 @ 9:46 am
I’m currently reading his book, about half way through the book, and it’s been extremely helpful and enlightening. I totally recommend to anyone who is interested in writing a story…be it short or long, screenplay or novel. Go to your library or bookstore. it’s totally awesome.
By emjay882, November 13, 2009 @ 9:53 am
3-act structure; third act is the final act.
The previous poster states the last half of the film was tweaked by Mckee, assuming it’s a 3-act structure thus assuming the third act is the last act.
Perhaps it was a 5-act structure, and Mckee didn’t fiddle with the scene he was refering to.
By mark1800, November 13, 2009 @ 10:22 am
“they knew they had act 3 problems.”
and
“they reworked act 3 accordingly”
By emjay882, November 13, 2009 @ 11:05 am
How do you know the film had 3 acts? Mckee just stated he fiddled with the third act, what makes you think the film opted for a 3-act structure.
By JavierDolorita, November 13, 2009 @ 11:49 am
Cant that interviewer just relax,
By Trelli28, November 13, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
yeah, he messed up the end.
By cheesesailor77, November 13, 2009 @ 1:05 pm
not exactly, the screenplay is being written as we’re watching it. Charlie starts out confused and on tangents and introduces characters that he doesn’t know what to do with (the first half), but he eventually asks his brother to help him, who introduces drugs, intrigue, crocodiles ;) Donald represents all the “structure” writers Charlie despises, but he created him to help guide him through this unfilmable adaptation. Donald’s death is also symbolic as Charlie has grown and no longer needs him
By mark1800, November 13, 2009 @ 1:49 pm
No fucking way! Can’t believe Robert McKee actually fiddled the script! It all makes sense now – the last third of “Adaptation” randomly turns into a really generic actiony/thriller completely uncharacteristic of Spike and Kaufman. Man, hard to believe they’d give in to that. Ah well still a decent film.
By LordNapalm, November 13, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
Amazing book.
I would recommend it to anyone trying to write anything.
By buttercupcake27, November 13, 2009 @ 3:00 pm
George you have a beautiful smile ;)
By Sorcoral, November 13, 2009 @ 3:42 pm
I have always though HBO brought out some great material, glad to see McKee agrees
By Trelli28, November 13, 2009 @ 3:43 pm
I wondered why Mckee would say “bloody” in his rant, then I realized that Brian Cox is british.
By tonyirwin50, November 13, 2009 @ 4:24 pm
Outstanding! I saw him in London and as well the outstanding quality of the stuff he was teaching, part of the fun of it was that he’s such a character. Pure New York! It was great to see this clip – even seeing the guy’s confidence and the way he holds himself is inspiring. Writers aren’t wimps, they’re people who will sacrifice all to tell the story society refuses to hear. What’s scary is that the older I get, the more I become like this guy!
By october4891647, November 13, 2009 @ 5:04 pm
Yes, a DVD volume of a complete seminar would make for a very happy christmas.
By RobertMcKeeSTORY, November 13, 2009 @ 5:09 pm
Thanks for the kind words everyone. We’ve posted some seminar clips on our official YouTube page. And we’d love to hear your thoughts about online courses and what kind of memberships you think would be worthwhile for him to offer (just drop us an e-mail through YouTube).
By dubnobasswithmahead, November 13, 2009 @ 5:24 pm
I agree with this statement. Having missed his Canadian seminars twice last year, and lacking the necessary fundages for a plane ticket out to L.A./New York, I’d definitely pay a monthly for such a website. Wouldn’t even hesitate. Screenwriting tips are a time a dozen online, yet they can be quite misleading. I trust McKee’s advice and his wisdom could sure help a lot of us folks on the interwebz!
By demboys18, November 13, 2009 @ 5:27 pm
Good Lord, what I wouldn’t give for someone to put his entire seminar on youtube, lol. Wishfull thinking. Or…what if someon had a websight totally dedicated to Robert Mckee’s seminars and class…I’d pay a couple a bucks a month for membership to that site.
By Banes500, November 13, 2009 @ 5:47 pm
That was excellent…it could have been a full hour. What a great teacher McKee is…and George is an excellent interviewer.
By Onest52, November 13, 2009 @ 6:46 pm
This is fantastic! It definitely gives more insight into the man and where he is coming from, and jives with what I think is the overwhelming opinion of well read America; that writing is becoming shit as far as movies are concerned. HBO seems to have the right idea; I wonder if they are planning to move into movies in a big way any time soon?