Robert McKee

Robert McKee (born January 30, 1941) is an author, lecturer and story consultant who is known for his "Story Seminar", which he developed when he was a professor at the University of Southern California.

McKee is the author of Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, Dialogue: the Art of Verbal Action for Stage, Page and Screen, Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World and Character: The Art of Role and Cast Design for Page, Stage, and Screen.

McKee also has the blog and online writers' resource "Storylogue".

Robert McKee's "Story Seminars" have been held around the world including Boston, Moscow, Amsterdam, Beijing, Mumbai, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney and annually in New York City, Los Angeles, and London.

The three-day seminar teaches writers the principles of storytelling.

McKee's one-day "Genre Seminars" teach writers the conventions of different styles of storytelling including thriller, comedy, horror, love story, action story, and writing for television.

Rather than teaching story as a "mechanical" form, McKee gained attention for teaching story principles, allowing writers for theater, novels, film and television freedom to apply them as they wish provided the story ultimately "works."

In 1979, McKee moved to Los Angeles, where he began to write screenplays and work as a story analyst for United Artists and NBC.

He sold his first screenplay Dead Files to AVCO/Embassy Films, after which he joined the WGA (Writers Guild of America).

His next screenplay, Hard Knocks, won the National Screenwriting Contest, and since then McKee has had eight feature film screenplays purchased or optioned, including the feature film script Trophy for Warner Bros. (Only one of these films, however, was produced).

In addition to his screenplays, McKee has had a number of scripts produced for television series such as Quincy, M.E. (starring Jack Klugman), Mrs. Columbo (starring Kate Mulgrew), Spenser: for Hire and Kojak (starring Telly Savalas).

McKee was also an early instructor at the pioneering Los Angeles film school the Sherwood Oaks Experimental College.

In 1983, as Fulbright Scholar, McKee joined the faculty of the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California (USC), where he began offering his STORY Seminar class.

A year later, McKee opened the course to the public, giving a three-day, 30-hour intensive class to sold-out audiences around the world.

Since 1984, more than 50,000 students have taken McKee's course in cities around the world: Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Sydney, Toronto, Boston, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Helsinki, Oslo, Munich, Tel Aviv, Auckland, Singapore, Barcelona, Stockholm, São Paulo and more.

In March 2011 and again in 2012, he taught a four-day seminar in Bogotá, Colombia.

In February 2012, he taught another four-day seminar in the Ramoji film city of Hyderabad in India.

After consulting on business storytelling for multinational companies including Microsoft, Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Time Warner, and Siemens, in 2013 McKee launched a seminar for the business community in Los Angeles, New York City, Beijing, and Malta.

He did the same in Amsterdam, March 2014.

McKee's current lecture series includes the three-day "Story Seminar", one-day "Genre Seminars" (teaching the conventions of love story, thriller, comedy, horror, action and writing for television) and the one-day "Storynomics Seminar", teaching the application of storytelling principles in the business and marketing world (co-lectured with CEO of Skyword Tom Gerace).

McKee continues to be a project consultant to major film and television production companies, corporations and governments around the world, as well major software firms such as Microsoft.

In addition, several companies such as ABC, Disney, Miramax, PBS, Nickelodeon and Paramount regularly send their creative and writing staffs to his lectures.

Robert McKee is among the most widely known screenwriting lecturers.

McKee's former students include over 65 Academy Award winners, 200 Emmy Award winners, 100 WGA (Writers Guild of America) Award winners and 50 DGA (Directors Guild of America) Award winners (all participated in McKee's course before or after winning their award; not all were awarded for writing), the British Book of the Year Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

Some recent notable former students to win or be nominated for Oscars include Akiva Goldsman for his screenplay "A Beautiful Mind," Peter Jackson (writer/director of "Lord of the Rings I, II and III"), Andrew Stanton ("WALL-E," “Finding Nemo") and Paul Haggis ("Million Dollar Baby," “Quantum of Solace").

In 2018, McKee partnered with digital marketer and Skyword CEO Tom Gerace to write Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World.

Storynomics, and the accompanying seminar, instructs leaders, managers and marketers how to use story in strategic management, brand management, and business communications.

Robert McKee began his theater career at the age of nine, playing the title role in a community theater production of Martin the Shoemaker.

He continued acting as a teenager in theater productions in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan.

Upon receiving the Evans Scholarship, he attended the University of Michigan and earned a bachelor's degree in English Literature.

While an undergraduate, he acted in and directed over thirty productions.

McKee's creative writing professor was the noted Kenneth Thorpe Rowe.

After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree, McKee toured with the APA (Association of Producing Artists) Repertory Company, appearing on Broadway alongside Helen Hayes, Rosemary Harris and Will Geer.

He then received the Professional Theater Fellowship and returned to Ann Arbor, Michigan to earn his master's degree in Theater Arts.

Upon graduating, McKee directed the Toledo Repertory Company, acted with the American Drama Festival, and became artistic director of the Aaron Deroy Theater.

From there he traveled to London to accept the position of artist-in-residence at the National Theatre Company where he studied Shakespearean production at the Old Vic theatre.

He then returned to New York City and spent the next seven years as an actor/director.

After deciding to move his career to film, McKee attended Cinema School at the University of Michigan.

While there, he directed two short films: A Day Off, which he also wrote, and Talk To Me Like The Rain, adapted from a one-act play by Tennessee Williams.

These two films won the Cine Eagle Award, awards at the Brussels and Grenoble Film Festivals, and prizes at the Delta, Rochester, Chicago and Baltimore Film Festivals.