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.
