Screenwriting lecturer and author
Robert McKee is an American author and lecturer whose Story Seminar has become a rite of passage for screenwriters, novelists, and storytellers worldwide. His book Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting is widely considered one of the most comprehensive guides to narrative craft ever written.
by Robert McKee
McKee argues that story is the governing metaphor by which humans make sense of life, and that durable stories obey structural principles derived from Aristotle, protagonist, desire, antagonism, reversal, and value change. He teaches screenwriters to master these universals before innovating against them.
The books Robert McKee references, cites, and recommends most frequently.
by Aristotle
Aristotle argues that the good life is not about pleasure or wealth but about cultivating virtue through habit and practice. The foundational text of Western ethics.
by Plato
Plato's foundational dialogue asks what justice truly means, arguing that a well-ordered society mirrors a well-ordered soul. Still the starting point for political philosophy.
by Michael E. Gerber
Gerber argues most small businesses fail because technicians become owners without learning to build systems. The solution: work on your business, not in it.
Who Robert draws from, and who draws from Robert — aggregated across every book in this collection. Counts show the number of citation links, not the depth of each one.