Skip to main content
AsidesCinema

By June 28, 2007No Comments

Mark Ravenhill on the curse of Robert McKee’s “Story” (from The Guardian):

Writer deliv­ers script, goes in for meet­ing. “I’m miss­ing the ini­ti­at­ing incid­ent on page 23,” is a note that you’re very likely to hear in our Story-centred world. Rarely, “Why are we mak­ing this” and cer­tainly not, “Are we chal­len­ging any ideas about form?” Recently, a play­wright told me that he was advised by one major theatre to read McKee’s Story. This is a book about writ­ing a Hollywood movie! It’s frus­trat­ing for us writers. But it’s dis­astrous for you as an audi­ence mem­ber or read­er. Gradually, our cul­ture is turn­ing into the equi­val­ent of the McFlurry. And that’s got to be bad.