Me and Robert McKee
I took the Robert McKee 3-day screenwriting course a bunch of years ago because I wanted to learn how to write screenplays. I was blown away. I thought he was the most brilliant and inspiring speaker I’d ever seen, possibly excepting the guy who gave my college commencement speech. (I was a computer programmer; I didn’t get out much.)
I was so impressed that a couple of years later, I took it again.
He was word for word the same. That tour-de-force, thirty-minute, apparently extemporaneous example of how to escalate a sequence — the girl jogging through Central Park, or whatever it was? The same. He even paused to take a sip of his coffee at the same places.
I thought: The guy’s been giving this speech every weekend, he’s had YEARS to make up new examples and try them out on an audience… and he still only has ONE??
I walked out at the break and never came back.
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How close did it match the McKee scene in adaptation?
Well…when you’ve got your “performance” down why change it? Everyone buys it. He’s more of an actor than a writer anyway.
You’re surprised a screenwriting course has a script? =)
Apparently unrelated, but:
Your “Tips for the game designer” have been put online:
http://diplome.pixylab.com/wordpress/2009/12/16/jordan-mechners-tips-for-game-designers/
(thx to Jérémie Biron)
When I read them in 2004 I was very impressed…
Some years later, would you keep them unchanged (like McKnee lol)?
Any new tips?
Thanks, Olivier! I’ll post about this.
Good to know. Thanks for the post!