A Few Highlights from McKee's 2017
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LOS ANGELES
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NEW YORK
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LONDON
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STORY: March 23-25
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STORY: April 12-14
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STORY: May 17-19
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TV DAY: April 15
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COMEDY DAY: May 20
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Happy Holidays from the McKee Team!
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We'd like to wish all of you a wonderful holiday and a
prosperous New Year. The McKee Team gleefully anticipates some R&R between
Dec 22 - Jan 1. We will be available through contact@mckeestory.com
to answer any requests/questions, but in the meantime we look forward to an
exciting Spring season!
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It's been a fantastic year for storytelling,
with excellent releases such as GAME OF THRONES Season 7, BIG LITTLE LIES,
and WESTWORLD all wowing audiences.
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With the holiday season upon us and Oscar Award contenders
popping up, McKee shares his thoughts on his top film picks for 2017.
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4 Films Robert McKee
recommends
for writers to see this Holiday season
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THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
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"Superb
storytelling. Watch how turning points violate expectation to deliver
instant insight."
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NOVITIATE
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"Powerful
Social Drama—institutionalized fanaticism turns morality into soul crushing
tyranny."
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THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER
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"How
to revive a tired genre? Reinvent reality. Add psychic power to the
conventional realism to the psycho-thriller and an old form becomes new
again."
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THE FLORIDA PROJECT
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"The
child's point of view on life and friendship has never been better
expressed."
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Robert McKee's Top
Film Recommendations from 2017
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- THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE
EBBING, MISSOURI
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- THE SALESMAN
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- THE KILLING OF A SACRED
DEER
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- LADY MACBETH
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- GET OUT
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- NOVITIATE
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- THE FLORIDA PROJECT
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- MOTHER!
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Robert is looking
forward to SEEING...
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- THE SHAPE OF WATER
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- PHANTOM THREAD
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- THE DISASTER ARTIST
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- FILM STARS DON'T DIE IN
LIVERPOOL
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DIALOGUE: ONLINE
Robert McKee's First-Ever Online Course Is Now Live!
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Write Compelling Dialogue
that takes your Characters and Story to the Max
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Register before the New Year and receive 30% OFF!
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$597 $417.90
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For the very
first time, McKee is making one of his programs available
as a digital course. Use the coupon discount code LAUNCH17 at mckeestory.teachable.com to receive your exclusive
discount.
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Last chance to
register for the
London Spring 2018 Early Bird Discount!
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Register before the New Year and Save an Extra 10%!
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In May, McKee brings his STORY Seminar to London (May 17-19).
Writers also have the unique opportunity to master the codes and
conventions of "the angry art" at the Comedy Genre Day (May 20).
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20th Annual
Scriptapalooza
Screenplay & SHORTS Competition
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Longevity is key. There are hundreds of other competitions
that are popping up all over the web, with no track record, no connections
and giving the illusion that they are connected to the industry. Don't be
swayed by fancy websites, submit to a competition that has a proven track
record for 20 years!
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Voted #1 competition on Moviebytes! - "Readers
Choice"
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Why should you submit your script to Scriptapalooza?
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- Over
$50,000 awarded in prizes
- All
the reading is done by 90 production companies
- We
promote the winners, runners-up, finalists and semifinalists for a
full year
- Considered
one of the best screenplay competitions by agents, managers and
producers
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Scriptapalooza's goal: to seek out that storyteller and
honor their script with a grand prize of $10,000. Each year dozens of
production companies and literary representatives sign on as participants
to read our winners, resulting in many scripts being optioned or outright
bought.
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Why is Research Crucial to Writing?
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Research is meat to
feed the beast of invention.
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Generally, a story
thrives on research of three types; research of memory, research of
imagination and research of fact.
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First, ask yourself
"What do I know from personal
experience that resonates with my characters' lives?"
Explore your past, relive it, then write it down. In your head it's only
memory, but written down it becomes working knowledge.
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Secondly, ask
"What would it be like to live my character's life day by day?" While
memory gives us chunks of life, imagination
takes fragments of experience that seem unrelated, then finds hidden
connections and merges them into a whole. A working imagination is research.
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Finally, suppose for
a moment you're writing in the genre of Domestic Drama. You were raised in a
family and you can imagine families. But if you read respected factual works
(anthropological, social, psychological studies etc) on the subject of family
life, you'll reach a depth of knowledge and understanding you couldn't have
gained any other way.
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Research thoroughly
enough and you will finally experience a phenomenon authors love to describe
in mystical terms. Characters will suddenly spring to life and make choices
of their own free will, take actions that twist the plot in new, unexpected
directions until you can hardly keep up with the outpourings. This isn't your
story's immaculate conception. This is the result of research.
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How do you know when you've done enough research and you can
actually start writing?
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Robert McKee
discusses how to balance your time between writing and research, and being
wary of using research as procrastination.
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Robert McKee's First-Ever Online Course Is
Now Live!
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Write Compelling Dialogue
that takes your
Characters and Story to the Max
|
Register before the New Year and receive 30% OFF!
|
For the very first time,
McKee is making one of his programs available as a digital course. Use the
coupon discount code LAUNCH17
at mckeestory.teachable.com to receive your exclusive
discount.
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"I wanted to do it in the
simplest possible way, to prove that the writing is the most important aspect
of the filmmaking process."
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- Julian Karikalan
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Congratulations to
Writer/Director Julian Karikalan who saw his micro-budget feature LOVE AND
LOVE ONLY achieve worldwide digital release. The cross cultural romance
"involved a minimal crew, real locations and a shoestring budget."
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Hello
McKee Tribe,
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"It takes 20 years to make an overnight success."
- Eddie Cantor
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Your goal should be
a good story told well. As all writers know, this takes months of hard work,
in many cases years, to fully realise. But the path to success doesn't have
to be trodden alone.
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McKee Seminars are
proud to partner with Screencraft for the 5th Annual Screenwriting
Fellowship.
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Write the truth.
Good luck!
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The
McKee Team
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The 5th annual ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship is
open for applications (Deadline: January 31)! Accepting original TV
and film screenplays from writers who are seeking career
mentorship and unparalleled industry access and introductions. Winners
receive an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles for meetings at major
studios, management companies and agencies!
All of last year's winners signed with
managers!
Recipients of the 2018 ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship will meet with
development executives at 5 major studios (including
NBC Universal, Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox)
as well as acclaimed producer and former studio executive Lawrence
Grey who has engineered many notable script sales,
including TWO script sales for over $1M each!
"Aspiring screenwriters, take
note."
– The Hollywood Reporter
"This
is a damn good opportunity." – No Film School
"Jumpstart
your writing career!" – IndieWire
The chosen recipients will receive ongoing professional support and a
special trip to Los Angeles for meetings and introductions to key
entertainment executives, producers and representatives. To apply, simply
submit your feature film script or original television script, along with
an optional cover letter.
Additionally, up to four winners will receive complimentary passes to Robert
McKee's legendary STORY seminar in either Los Angeles, New
York City or London ($865 value)
Past ScreenCraft
Fellowship recipients have optioned their projects and signed with top
representatives at 3 Arts Entertainment, United Talent Agency, William
Morris Endeavor, Creative Artists Agency, Anonymous Content, Circle of
Confusion, Paradigm Talent Agency, ICM, Bellevue Productions, Plattform and
many more.
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Also: if you are planning to produce your own film, consider applying for
the ScreenCraft Film Fund, backed by BondIt
Media Capital. The final deadline is Dec 1!
We look forward to reading your screenplay!
As always, keep writing,
- Team ScreenCraft
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Why are Theatre and Cinema lagging behind
TV?
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Whilst the novel
holds its own and long-form television takes us into an exciting future,
theatre and cinema lag behind. Fewer and fewer films of quality are made
every year, and fewer and fewer compelling plays. Why?
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It's not a question
of form. Story form remains understood. The explorations of minimalism are
wonderfully done in films like MOONLIGHT, and MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, 45 YEARS
- all minimalist works with a novelistic emphasis on the inner life.
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It's a question of
content. The fault lies in theatre and cinema becoming conservative in their
willingness to explore the dark side of human nature, and the ugliness in
this world. They're all trying to be uplifting, and as the great H. L.
Mencken would say, "The up-lifters are the enemy." Self-consciously
uplifting works can lead to shallow content. Whereas, the content of
long-form TV and fine novels are often fearless and deep.
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Look out for next
week's newsletter:
'Why Is Research
Crucial to Writing?'
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Do I need to know the ending of my TV series before I write
the pilot?
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Knowing your climax
can help create well structured long-form writing such as BREAKING BAD.
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Robert McKee is Back in
LA and NYC in Spring 2018!
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Register soon to avoid disappointment.
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In March 2018, McKee
is back by popular demand, bringing his essential STORY Seminar to Los
Angeles (March 23-25).
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In April, McKee
brings the STORY Seminar to NYC (April 12-14). Writers also have the unique
opportunity to master the codes and conventions of long-form storytelling at
the TV Series Genre Day (April 15).
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Congratulations to Gerard Lee for
his excellent work on the Emmy-nominated
TOP OF THE LAKE, a crime drama co-written with Jane Campion
for BBC Two (UK), BBC UKTV (Australia and New Zealand), and Sundance Channel
(US).
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We at Team McKee wish them the best of luck
in the Emmy race
with Season 2!
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