Robert McKee: 10 Problems To Avoid With Dialogue In Screenplays

[itzaramaja]

I disagree when he says it's a mistake to use literary, beautiful words, "pretending" you are an artist. It's not a "pretension". Maybe he's just a businessman selling screenplays instead of oil or hot-dogs, but for me, depending on the genre and the character speaking, it's nice and necessary to use adornments and literary expressions many times. After all, screenplay writing is an art in my opinion.

[itzaramaja]

A screenplay is not real life, even the most realistic stories, it's a representation which requires the creation of esthetic symbols, and just as the oral stories of ancient times, dialogs are not only supposed to be useful, but at specific points they must "sound" beautiful to seduce the audience. Words have a lot of power, storytellers of old knew that, Shakespeare knew that. I am aware Hollywood is business, but if writers don't fight for beauty, certainly the producers won't do it.

[elitestar]

@itzaramaja Yes it's fine to use beautiful dialogue as long as it has a place and necessary purpose within the script.

[flemishguy]

He's an idiot. I hate all this talk about subtext, usually subtext based dialogue means BORING dialogue. Good dialogue is about sounding pleasing to the ear, funny and interesting. the most important thing for me with is dialogue is i'm entertained and interested when i hear it.

[Spaztique]

@flemishguy Actually, subtext allows you to rewrite any line of dialogue in any number of ways and keep its original meaning. That way, you can tinker with making dialogue pleasing to the ear without worrying whether or not it will destroy the scene. (But if you're going with the McKee approach, it's better to just write the scene first before adding dialogue, as strange as this may sound to some of you.)

[Samm1807]

Dialogue is a function of story structure and for that you need to understand hero's journey - see Kal Bashir's, Chris Vogler's and Jo Campbell's work.

[metyuewb]

Truth is this guy is completely full of shit. All that matter is the spirit you have to write with and the context you have for your characters, period: there is no recipe whatsoever for dialogue to be "right", how could there be, it depends on the scene, story and characters!! All of the things he cites as faults are found in the best movies and plays. Just another fortuneteller making money.

[myview017]

@metyuewb: Kudos to you Man. I couldn't have said it better myself. If you don't have the cojones to bring something original to the table, something that is going to bend and flout the rules, stay out of the arena.

[metyuewb]

working too hard on being an artist. You're not an artist, writer. You're a peasant. Writing for peasants. And landlords. Git.

[WolfosDotOrg]

Forced exposition is something that annoys me greatly every time it's used. Like those CSI TV series.

[slimjimpui]

@WolfosDotOrg Yeah, I agree. One of the worst culprits of this is Chris Nolan, though few people seem to pick up on that

[MrRyanNanni]

This advice was extremely generic and completely unhelpful.

[17thSHIT]

Everyone in this is in Twilight.

[bobbygnosis]

1:50 "Ohai, Mark."

^That movie was made.

If you take anything from take this:

A shitty movie that's made is better than an unmade epic.

[dogmatic1954]

@bobbygnosis THE ROOM!!!!

YOUR TEARING ME APART LISA!!!

[Econ1260MetZRoberto]

I can't stop laughing! this guy's brutal honesty is so comedic that I have been watching his videos to cheer myself up!

[BeesAndMonkeys]

Polysolobic!?

wow

[ronoc9]

Fun fact: Robert McKee has actually never sold a single screenplay, but his students have.

[Miracle490d]

McKee's "STORY" helped me a lot with avoiding monolouging in dialog and his explaining how plot exposes true Character, characterizations, and how supporting players serve the star's character really helped me develop my script.

But he doesn't cover structure that is essential, how to find your genre or logline or anything Blake Snyder does. Read "Save The Cat" books. Together Blake and McKee will get you underway. They both cover something the other doesn't.

Blake even prepares U4producers.

[TheMistercrowley]

did anyone notice the forced exposition in Avatar when the dude is explaining what unobtanium is? God that movie was crap.

[ZenBarracuda]

@TheMistercrowley Without the presence of Michelle Rodriguez I may never have survived Avatar.

[LavaTemp]

Why should we avoid making the scene natural?

[pissedllama]

He's a lot nicer than he is in Adaptation.

[almightyhans]

all these problems occur in nolan's stuff.

[ExplosivePus]

@almightyhans All of them? I don't think so

[sivakumarviswanathan]

All the fuckers who dont understand means u never understand Mckee, Find another job ASAP

[ttbotko15]

He's smart and I learn a lot from him, but he looks at me like he wants to stab me :0

[souldude81]

@ttbotko15 It's not you, it's the camera man.

[Mewie123]

Fapsamup, McKee may sound like a zombie, but you sound like a pompous ass. I'm sure the books you recommend have their merits, but not everyone buys your notion of the "independent artform" or the "true essence of cinema." Some people want to actually have a screenwriting career.

[DrVenture45]

I'd rather see an example as opposed to hearing one. Though alot of this makes perfect sense, as fickle as hollywood is, you could use all these points and still get your script trashed. Can any of this apply if (in the context of the scene) one of these points does fit; in a comedy for example? Doesn't that change the dynamic of these examples?

[Fapsamup]

Robert McKee sounds like a zombie, if this was a movie he would suck big time. Forget all those screenwriting tutorials, write from the heart! Try to read books about Tarkovski, Godard, Bresson, Renoir, Lynch, Resnais, Marker,... instead. You'll learn a lot more about the independent artform and poetic structure, the true essence of cinema.

[cp5051]

@Fapsamup

Somewhat agree. Screenwriting is an unpredictable business. The results for many aspiring screenwriters have been fruitful even with these so called "problems". At the end of the day it's who you know and one's vested interest in writing. We can speak expositions, on the nose dialogue, etc., as being signs of weakness, but there are many who have proved successful. It's about writing what one fancies, writing it consistently, understanding craft and finding the right contacts.

[erniehead]

Did you know he was story consultant for all the CG Barbie movies? Yep, you have McKee to thank!

[GordonFerguson]

Oh cheer up Robert, for fucks sake.

[Luke1268]

what the fuck can you do

[peral341]

@Luke1268

You cracked me up!

[noldaker]

Unbeliveable --how many times have you heard, "Where the hell have you been all my life?" What are your thoughts about true political history stories? I wrote a scrip out then adapted it to a book to get it out there. So far, all reviews are VG --This man's story has turned into my life's work-something I never thought possible when I discovered him in 1994 in a old dusty book in Yale library -now my book is at Yale...I LOL when you said characters don't come from the grave --becuz Samuel did.

[Tones4me1]

There is a thin line between good and bad writing. Too much, not enough. I'm off to Storylogue!

[TramonWalker]

very good, and thank you.