According to screenwriting guru Robert McKee:

'If you want to die happy get off your ass and do something'

Ever since I saw Spike Jonze's film Adaptation I've really liked the sound of this man, and wondered if anyone out there had actually been to one of his classes. Is he as good as he seems?

For anyone who's never heard of him, here's an article:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-1117029,00.html

Adele.

Never been to his course, although a friend of mine went to one he did on editing and enjoyed it. I've read his book 'Story' which focuses on screenwriting and it is interesting. Quite helpful in the way he breaks it all down into 'beats' and so on and makes you think quite ruthlessly about the editing process. He's very much 'show don't tell' and if something doesn't move the story or character forward then it's out, whether it's a scene, a line or a word.
Whether you go and listen to him or read the book, it is essential that you watch 'Chinatown' first if you haven't already done so. He uses it as an example frequently!
Katie

Producers and directors I've worked with recommend him, although if you're at all allergic to the idea that film writing can feel formulaic, don't go... read 'Story' first to see if it's for you. It works for a lot of writers, so there must be summat good in it.

Katie and Anna, many thanks for your replies. I have seen Chinatown and thought Faye Dunaway was a knockout - where did she get that amazing bone structure, that's what I'd like to know! I can't remember too much about the script though, so I'd better watch it again.

On the question of writing formulaic screenplays, I thought Adaptation dealt with that really well. Charlie Kaufman (one of the few contemporary screenwriters that I could actually name, thanks to this movie) is a character in his own film, and is a portrayed as tortured artist who initially depises McKee and all he stands for. However, his twin brother (don't think he exists in real life, and is probably just another side of Charlie Kaufman's character) just wants to write a crowd-pleaser and sees McKee as God. However, by the end of the movie Charlie realises that McKee has some really useful ideas.

Anyway, it's too late for this year's London gig, but it's certainly something to consider for next year. In the meantime, I must finish my novel, and get it out there. That's my real passion. But I've always loved the cinema, so in the future, who knows? I'll add McKee's book to my enormous to-read pile.

Charlie Kaufman is awesome. Great screenplay, Miss Al T.

The funniest moments in the film are with McKee-

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[At a seminar, Charlie Kaufman has asked McKee for advice on his new screenplay in which 'nothing much happens']
Robert McKee: Nothing happens in the world? Are you out of your fucking mind? People are murdered every day. There's genocide, war, corruption. Every fucking day, somewhere in the world, somebody sacrifices his life to save someone else. Every fucking day, someone, somewhere makes a conscious decision to destroy someone else. People find love, people lose it. For Christ's sake, a child watches her mother beaten to death on the steps of a church. Someone goes hungry. Somebody else betrays his best friend for a woman. If you can't find that stuff in life, then you, my friend, don't know crap about life. And why the FUCK are you wasting my two precious hours with your movie? I don't have any use for it. I don't have any bloody use for it.
Charlie Kaufman: Ok, thank you.

Isn't IMBD.com great? However did we live without it?