Action: The Art of Excitement for Screen, Page, and Game

by Robert McKee, Bassim El-Wakil

Overview

From the master of Story, Dialogue, and Character, ACTION offers writers the keys to propulsive storytelling.  

ACTION explores the ways that a modern-day writer can successfully tell an action story that not only stands apart, but wins the war on clichés. Teaming up with the former co-host of The Story Toolkit, Bassim El-Wakil, legendary story lecturer Robert McKee guides writers to award-winning originality by deconstructing the action genre, illuminating the challenges, and, more importantly, demonstrating how to master the demands of plot with surprising beats of innovation and ingenuity.

Topics include: 

• Understanding the Four Core Elements of Action
• Creating the Action Cast
• Hook, Hold, Pay Off: Design in Action
• The Action Macguffin
• Action Set Pieces
• The Sixteen Action Subgenres

A must-add to the McKee storytelling library, ACTION illustrates the principles of narrative drive with precision and clarity by referencing the most popular action movies of our time including: Die Hard, The Star Wars Saga, Dark Knight, The Matrix, and Avengers: Endgame.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538726914
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	09/06/2022
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	365,098
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Robert McKee, a Fulbright scholar and member of Final Draft’s Hollywood Hall of Fame, is the world's most sought-after author and lecturer known for his seminars/webinars that provides writers with crucial insight on the story universe. His writing seminars have earned him an international reputation. The cornerstones of his teaching are Character, Storynomics, and Dialogue. Translated into 23 languages, these singular works have defined how we talk about the art of storytelling. Over the last 35 years, he has mentored screenwriters, novelists, playwrights, poets, documentary makers, producers, and directors. The list of McKee alumni includes the winners of over 60 Academy Awards, 200 Emmy Awards, and 100 Writers Guild of America Awards, as well as recipients of the Pulitzer, Booker, Olivier, and other major prose and playwriting prizes.

Bassim El-Wakil has worked closely with Robert McKee for over a decade, as author and lecturer. Acknowledged as an expert on all forms of story structure and genre, he has a personal love for Action, Crime, Fantasy, and the long-form serials of television and comic books. His podcasts, THE STORY TOOLKIT and THE WRITER'S JIHAD are available on all major podcast platforms.

Table of Contents

Authors' Note ix

Introduction xi

Prologue: The Love of Action xiii

Part 1 Action Cores

Chapter 1 The Modern Genres 3

Chapter 2 The Core Value of Action 17

Chapter 3 The Core Cast of Action 19

Chapter 4 The Core Event of Action 29

Chapter 5 The Core Emotion of Action 34

Part 2 Action Casts

Chapter 6 The Action Triad 42

Chapter 7 Power 63

Part 3 Action Designs

Chapter 8 The Inciting Incident 87

Chapter 9 The Spine of Action 93

Chapter 10 The MacGuffin 100

Chapter 11 Tactics 109

Chapter 12 Set Pieces 118

Chapter 13 Praise and Mockery 127

Chapter 14 Crisis and Climax 133

Chapter 15 Pace and Progression 138

Chapter 16 Depth and Breadth 157

Part 4 Action Subgenres

Chapter 17 Action Adventure 167

Chapter 18 Action Epic 172

Chapter 19 Action Duel 176

Chapter 20 Action Thriller 182

Chapter 21 Mixtures and Mergers 187

Chapter 22 High Adventure 192

Chapter 23 Form Versus Formula 207

Acknowledgments 211

Index 213

Editorial Reviews

10/10/2022

McKee (Character: The Art of Role and Cast Design for Page, Stage, and Screen) and El-Wakil, former cohost of the podcast The Story Toolkit, lay out the essential elements for writing action in this granular guide. Here, action is defined as involving “a self-sacrificing hero against a self-obsessed villain in a story-long fight to thwart malevolence and rescue a hapless victim” or, more succinctly, as “the master metaphor for humanity’s never-ending struggle of life versus death.” The authors explain excitement as “the core emotion” of action (caused by the “simultaneity of risk and glee”), and enumerate the genre’s components, such as an inciting incident (which “launches a story by shattering that sense of sovereignty”) and the MacGuffin (“the thing that both hero and villain want”). They offer plenty of examples from pop culture: in dissecting the “mercy scene,” for example, where a protagonist is seemingly at his weakest before turning the tables on his adversary, they invoke protagonist John McClane’s use of humor and deception at the climax of Die Hard. While at times the book reads like a padded outline, it’s a fine account of what beats writers ought to hit and which clichés to avoid. Newbies to the genre will welcome this straightforward introduction. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"ACTION inspires action. McKee and El-Wakil have created the guide I’ve been looking for all my years as a professional screenwriter. ACTION helps you understand how and why the thing works—how its heart beats, how it thinks, and most importantly, what makes it move. For a professional action writer, it almost feels like cheating."—Zak Penn, American screenwriter and director

"Robert McKee’s books offer lucid analysis, perceptive insights and fruitful challenges to those of us who practice the magical arts of storytelling. I highly recommend his latest: ACTION—THE ART OF EXCITEMENT Buy it, read it, put it to work!"—Michael Hirst, creator, screenwriter, series producer of Vikings, and Billy the Kid

ACCLAIM FOR ROBERT MCKEE"Legendary."—The Washington Post

"Universally acclaimed."—The New York Times

"McKee is the world's best-known and most respected lecturer of Storytelling Arts."—The Wall Street Journal

"The ultimate master."—BBC

"His great insight into storytelling is unparalleled."—Los Angeles Times

"A not-so-secret force in the movie industry and Hollywood's most sought-after screenwriting instructor."
 —Vanity Fair

From the Publisher