Two coverage reports from Robert McKee that tell the Whole Story
In the first chapter of his now-canonized screenwriting manual Story, Robert McKee grants his reader a humorous insight into his career as a story analyst at NBC and United Artists. By presenting two imagined script reports on exaggeratedly polarized stories, McKee highlights that all the polish in the world will not make a script without story sparkle. A master of hyperbole, McKee’s first report cuts through a veneer of perfect formatting, flowery description and technical aptitude:
“Nice description, actable dialogue. Some amusing moments; some sensitive moments. All in all, a script of well-chosen words. The story, however, sucks. The first thirty pages crawl on a fat belly of expostion; the rest never get to their feet. The main plot, what there is of it, is riddled with convenient coincidence and weak motivation. No discernible protagonist. Unrelated tensions that could shape into subplots that never do. Characters are never revealed to be more than they seem. Not a moment’s insight into the inner lives of these people and their society. It’s a lifeless collection of predictable, ill-told, and cliched episodes that wander off into a pointless haze. PASS ON IT.”
So what’s the opposite? McKee goes on to supply another hypothetical report for a script at the other end of the spectrum:
“Great story! Grabbed me on page one and held me in its embrace. The first act builds to a sudden climax that spins off into a superb weave of plot and subplot. Sublime revelations of deep character. Amazing insight into this society. Made me laugh, made me cry. Drove to an Act Two climax so moving that I thought the story was over. And yet, out of the ashes of the second act, this writer created a third act of such power, such beauty, such magnificence I’m writing this report from the floor. However, this script is a 270-page grammatical nightmare with every fifth word misspelled. Dialogue’s so tangled Olivier couldn’t get his tongue around it. Descriptions are stuffed with camera directions, subtextual explanations, and philosophical commentary. It’s not even typed in the proper format. Obviously not a professional writer.”
Here’s the catch: McKee produced hundreds of coverage reports along the lines of the first quoted paragraph above. He didn’t produce a single report similar to the second. In fact, McKee claims that no story department in the world would pass on a script with a base story as strong as the one he describes. “The sign on the door doesn’t read ‘Dialogue Department’”, he notes, “It reads ‘Story Department’”. McKee claims that over 75% of a writer’s creative labor in crafting a screenplay should be dedicated to shaping the story. Remember, with no story, you cannot metaphorically:
Make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear;
Polish a turd;
Paper over the cracks;
Put lipstick on a pig.
In short, obsess over telling a story the world wants to hear. Craft can be learned, polish can be bought, but original story is the rarest and most valuable quality a writer can offer up to her audience.