I spent 3 days with him in 1989. Good lord he’s a genius. Breath-taking mind. Lovely man. ❤❤❤❤❤❤

McKee is superb. I don't need McKee to have made more movies--I'm perfectly happy with looking at the number of professional writers, producers and directors who swear by him.

Wow! What a candid comment. "I should've been gay"! Gay people have all the time in the world (no family obligations) and this is why they tend to excel at the arts. Is that why Little Richard is the architect of rock and roll? Why James Baldwin and Truman Capote were such great writers is because of their sexual preference? Fascinating, absolutely fascinating.

Thank you so much for this Robert McKee interview. Love the bit about the fall-back position 5:10

"The Post" was a spec. screenplay written by 31 year old Liz Hannah. She had previously written one other spec. script. "The Post" was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay.

Thank you

I'm 51 and I have to admit not having kids or getting married has been a premeditated advantage to being an artist.

Who is McKee referring to at this point 05:28 ?

Your first book was a "bestseller in Asia". What was it? Are you writing full time now? Did that "bestseller" liberate you financially to become a "professional"? Many great screenwriters and novelists and composers (including Mozart) were writing for more than ten years before finding real success that made them 'professional'.

How massive is that cup and saucer?

The Oscar winner Good Will Hunting was written by 25 yr-olds who were writing their FIRST screenplay, so... you're wrong.

mckee should read the manga one piece by oda ichiro.. he made huge story that is more creative then anything that i have ever seen in my life.. and he is in his 30s.... age does not matter its your imagination that counts.

I think that I read somewhere that Mark Twain said he became a much better writer after getting married. I heard a Christian writer who had written 3 books this way; his wife worked a normal 9-5 while he stayed at home raising the kids. She came home, they all had together time and then she locked him in his room for 3hrs so he could write. He said it worked beautifully. Guess every situation is different.

Johnathon You might want to get out on the blogosphere a little more. There are many bloggers who are not mommy bloggers who talk about their mundane day but instead write stories. I for one like using my blog as a forum to start longer story ideas. I agree it does give me instant feed back and it also gives me a chance to hone my craft.

Does history confirm his statement that you have to fail 10 times? My first book was a bestseller in Asia with no promotion; only word of mouth. It was non-fiction though.

Johnathan would have been wise to not talk half as much...check that--an 1/8 as much.

Slightly annoying that the host seems to think that the video should be equally about him! Don't mind a bit of chat like, but come on.

Come on people. Be mature. He said it badly but we all get what he means. Traditional roles of sexuality stereotypes that "straight" people start families earlier than gay people due to the lack of necessary anatomical equipment. So gay people in the industry can apply more focus and hours because generally from 19-28 there most likely isn't a child-spouse (family) waiting for them for dinner. There are exceptions but they are far between. So that is a valid generalization.

Look at that giant tea cup

hey! i'm 18 and i have plenty to say as a writer. i cover themes like bullying, self-harm, the divide between rich and poor and many other universal issues. it isn't hard to have insight to life if you are young, you just have to pay attention to what is going on around you and be able to empathize with different kinds of people. people can be stupid and ignorant for their entire lives so age definitely doesn't determine whether you have something important to say or not

Dane that hurt my feelings, he just said that songwriters and poets is young people stuff.... (8:30) Ummmm since when did time brackets have to do with how good your work is? I'm confused what is "young people" writing? someone please explain that to me. and no you don't have to be gay; i really don't understand how your sexual orientation has to do with anything.... so i don't know about this guy. Some of his views i disagree with.

Well, Robert. Now many gay folks do have a spouse and children.

Quentin Tarantino never picked up a Screenwriting book. He learned through trial and error. Just sit down and write. Learn from your mistakes. A Writer writes.

i dont use film I dont read books and i dont go to plays... any real writers that live in 2018?

Tarantino only ever made good films, I think he has the passion and that's enough

bad writing pisses him... I guess he must piss himself off quite a bit then.

Full of 'story'.

That's crap. Saying you have to fail first.

A blog is a report or an opinion piece. It's akin to reporting for a newspaper or writing an editorial , without the annoying inconvenience of having to get hired as a reporter or editor for an actual newspaper. Thus, it is a form of journalism. Homemade journalism, conveniently free from the bothersome deadlines and legal constraints of professional journalism, and woefully free of the editorial controls of an experienced editor. Either that or it's someone maundering on in some schlocky dear-diary-style tale of some boring soap operatic non-event they experienced. Blogs are highly self indulgent, always too long, frequently suffer from dreadful grammar, punctuation, spelling and English construction and are generally tiresome and dull. One thing a blog is not is storytelling. I have not read this person's blogs but given the general adolescent tone and level of professionalism of the genre, I probably wouldn't. I apologize in advance if I have offended the host of the program, as I greatly admire Mr. McKee and am delighted that Fields was able to post another interview with him. McKee is a treasure to all of us who are writers.