Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
Of all the reasons for wanting to write, the only one that nurtures us through time is love of the work itself. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
To get the truth, you want to get your own heart to pound while you write. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
“If the story you're telling, is the story you're telling, you're in deep shit.” — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
Don't be didactic - don't write about poverty. Write about poor people. When you dramatize their lives and let life and characters… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
Secure writers don't sell first drafts. They patiently rewrite until the script is as director-ready, as actor-ready as possible. Unfinished work invites… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
When you do enough research, the story almost writes itself. Lines of development spring loose and you'll have choices galore. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour. Do this despite fear. For above all else, beyond imagination… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
“Beyond imagination and insight, the most important component of talent is perseverance—the will to write and rewrite in pursuit of perfection. Therefore,… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
There is no screenplay-writing recipe that guarantees your cake will rise. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
The dirty secret of art is you don't have to show people your bad writing. That's what we have the delete key… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
When we want mood experiences, we go to concerts or museums. When we want meaningful emotional experience, we go to the storyteller. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
If you can't play all the instruments in the orchestra of story, no matter what music may be in your imagination, you're… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
Of the total creative effort represented in a finished work, 75 percent or more of a writer's labor goes into designing the… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
When talented people write badly, it's generally for one of two reasons: Either they're blinded by an idea they feel compelled to… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
“Nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict. Writers who cannot grasp this truth, the truth of conflict, writers who have… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
Story isn't a flight from reality but a vehicle that carries us on our search for reality, — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
Don't be didactic - don't write about poverty. Write about poor people. When you dramatize their lives and let life and characters be your… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
Talent without craft is like fuel without an engine, it burns wildly but accomplishes nothing. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
“If the story you're telling, is the story you're telling, you're in deep shit.” — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
Classical design is a mirror of the human mind. It's how we see the world. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
To get the truth, you want to get your own heart to pound while you write. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
What happens is fact, not truth. Truth is what we think about what happens. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
The universal erosion of values has lead to the universal erosion of story. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
In a world of lies and liars, an honest work of art is always an act of social responsibility. — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
Good story' means something worth telling that the world wants to hear. Finding this is your lonely task...But the love of a good story,… — Robert McKee Copy Share Image
