I Called Bob Mckee An Asshole And Lived To Tell About It...

[bennettk]

Hello Film Threat Fanatics,

Well, I'm back folks. Has my brain melted yet? You bet, but a better writer because of it? You’ll soon find out.

I'll break the adventures of Bob McKee up over 3 days since the actual lecture elapses over 36 gruelling hours which span a fun filled 3 days. So, y’all come back now ya hear!

In this forum I will give you a slice of it all, but not all. If you want more, let me know.

The Asshole story will be told tomorrow.

To cover Day 1… I'll be as brief as possible.

I first met Bob McKee in the bathroom. We were side by side enjoying our piss into the porcelain when I glance over, give him a double take then realize I'm having a real life pissing match with the Bob McKee.

Attempting to muster a brilliant soliloquy, my throat parches, lips dry and up belches: "Bob McKee pees too, huh?" He pauses, and then cleverly replies: "...Eventually." (He is 62 after all)

Day 1 starts with him setting the rules and if you fuck with his rules you’ll pay for it. Literally. He walks on stage scratching his thick overgrown eyebrows, head down and hunchback up.

Quickly, you discover that this man knows his shit. Really.

Highly intelligent, comprehension abilities beyond belief, amazing sense of humour and does this guy know how to tell a STORY.

And that’s what it’s all about is it not? Telling a good story.

In as few words as I can muster, Day 1 you will learn to tell a Story just like you would write music. Beat after beat, scene after scene, sequence after sequence, act after act.

Is it about secret formulas to successful screenwriting? Absolutely not. Is it about taking your raw talent and moulding it into genius. Absolutley.

Film School Professors were pulling their hair out. It was funny to watch as their students sat listening to a man completely obliterate everything they were ever taught. I know, I went to film school in '98 and I learned more in one day than in one year of pretentious tree hugging bullshit!

Michael Jordan needs a coach, Tiger Woods need a coach, Wayne Gretzky needed a coach, Joe Montana needed a coach.

Behind every great success, is a great coach, and Oh what a coach McKee is.

Is he crass, opinionated, rough, tough and terrible? You bet. But he is also honest, does not mince words, and shoots from the hip. It’s hard not to like this anti-hero.

If you want to hear the Asshole Story, stay tuned.

ONWARDS & UPWARDS

BENNETT

[Furious D]

It's good to hear that you got something good out of your McKee experience. I've had bad luck with gurus and I'm happy that you've found something that'll help you.

As a matter of fact, you should tell us everything he said in his lectures, word for word. It would be cheaper for the rest of us, ha-ha.

PS: We would all like to hear the Asshole story and are waiting with baited breath.

[bennettk]

Hello Film Threat Fanatics....

Day 2.

No Sleep. Bags under my eyes and my head is throbbing.

Every beat, plot hole, anti-plot, sub-plot, story arc, writing on the nose drivel and sequential madness drained from my downloading brain last night. But I'm geared for Day 2.

What did we learn you ask?

Crafting your inciting incident so that it must have happened. So that your crisis and climax makes complete and utter sense. This is crucial. This is what's called creating a spine for your story. Without a spine, your story won't stand up. Literally.

Act Design, Crisis, Climax, Resolution and The Principles of Antagonism.

Now, I'm sure you're sitting there reading this while thinking to yourself that YOU KNOW ALL THIS. SHIT YOU PAID $595 FOR THIS! YOU COULD HAVE BOUGHT A BOOK AND LEARNED THOSE BASICS!

Think again. There was over 300 producers, directors, actors and yes writers at this lecture most of which whom I met.

They all of read books, even Bob McKee's in fact and none of them felt cheated for a simple fact that a book does not do Bob McKee justice. It's usually the other way around isn't it? Not with Bob.

You may all have read Churchill, Marcus Aurelius, and Ghandi...Well, you get my point.

McKee is all about Sub-Text, Sub-Text & Sub-Text...And McKee signifies sub-text. He is sub-text.

So, for the ASSHOLE STORY>

There I was, on intermission going to my car to grab a Power Bar. Out of the corner of my eye I find Bob McKee enjoying one of four cigarettes he smokes every 15 minute break.

He figures that the average smoker craves a cigarette every 30 minutes or so, and since there's a break every 2 hours..Well, simple put. Stack your nicotine.

So there I was, my chance to collar him and pose some questions I was curious about. Questions he has obviously heard before, since I am graced with only 3 word answers...

Suddenly a swarm of Pimply faced film school students notice our chat and decide to surround us like a pack of hyenas.

One student pipes up about ADAPTATION.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU PLAY YOURSELF IN ADAPTATION?"

Good question I say to myself.

McKee grumbles then goes on to tell us that he was pissed when he wasn't asked to play himself. He was an actor from the theatre after all, and who knows Bob McKee better than himself.

When he brings this up to the Producers, one producer kicks back in his chair, hands behind his head and arrogantly gives Bob one word, and one word only...."ANTHONY HOPKINS..."

Enough said. He didn't want to play himself anyways.

As we all know Brian Cox eventually got the role and he was magnificent. Let me tell you, Brain Cox's performance is scary, it's that good.

McKee closes the question by telling the starry eyed students that Brian Cox played a much better Bob McKee than Bob McKee himself.

Neurons spark, synapses trigger and out of my mouth I say:

SO, WHO DO YOU FEEL PLAYS A BIGGER ASSHOLE?
BRIAN COX PLAYING BOB MCKEE OR BOB MCKEE HIMSELF?

He grunts, rubs his furry sleeve then peeks over at me beyond his bushy brow with his beady eyes staring right through me and replies in a way only Bob McKee could:

FUCK OFF!

...I told you I got away with it and lived to tell about it.

Stay tuned for ACT III

[mynameisnobody]

I pretty much agree with Avary...when he stated...

"You see, I have this problem with how to books on screenwriting. And my problem is mostly with Syd Field's horrible tome on screenwriting. The problem with it is mostly that it has given a manual to Hollywood executives that instructs them on what screenwriting structure is and on how a story arc should be. I believe in a far more free form process than does Mr. Field -- and his popular book has done, in my opinion, great harm to cinema as a storytelling language. My advice is, and always has been, to simply get your hands on the scripts for the movies you love. Make a list of your favorite films and hunt them down. These days it's easy to buy copies of the actual scripts from online sources. Try to steer clear of the ones posted in html. Try, if you can, to get the actual script. An actual script to a produced film is the best lesson in formatting you can get. Also, you can see how the movie you loved transformed out of the script you have. If you can, get various drafts, and examine the differences to them. See how the script evolved from first to final draft. Then, just watch the movie you want to make in your head and lay it down on paper. Perhaps first as a short story, then expand it out into scenes. Write the scenes you most clearly see, and then begin filling in the rest. It's really not as hard or as structured a process as Syd Field makes it out to be."

and

"My experience has shown me that it's best to go on instinct alone and not read any of these "roadmaps" to writing. Just write. That's all you need to do. Anything else is just theory, and theory should be left to theorists. I mean, when was the last good Syd Field script you read."


I read a really funny Goldman interview awhile back...his response to an audience member was humorous...but, very true...

"AUDIENCE MEMBER: You say screenplays are structured, but you don't define what you mean by structure.

GOLDMAN: I'm not going to do it now. Look, I taught creative writing for one year at Princeton. It was the year I wrote Butch Cassidy. I remember I had a bunch of writing students, and the first thing I did was I had them read The Little Engine That Could. Some of them were pissed about it and felt degraded. We all know that book, and I use it all the time as an example. Somehow, in that dopey story, we want the toys to get over the mountain. I think that's all we do. I think all we're trying to do is get the fucking toys over the mountain. I mean that. I don't know what a good story is. I know when a story happens, and I love it. I know when I get moved. I don't know how you do it."


Don't get me wrong...a few books...a seminar...may prove beneficial...but, anymore than a few is redundant. Have fun and good luck!

[Will Hunting]

Please can someone explain to me why everyone in Hollywood if not over the world hates Mckee? Isn't he just giving the basic premise to novice on how to write a story?