Home / Quotes / Quote by Robert McKee

Quote by Robert McKee

“The dirty secret of art is you don't have to show people your bad writing. That's what we have the delete key for.”

Quote by Robert McKee

Author

Robert McKee (born 1941) is an American author, lecturer, and story consultant, best known for his teachings on narrative structure and screenwriting. He is the author of the influential book "Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting" (1997), which has become a standard reference for writers worldwide. McKee founded the "Story Seminar," a workshop series that has been attended by over 100,000 participants globally, including filmmakers, novelists, and business professionals. His work emphasizes the importance of character development, emotional engagement, and structural coherence in storytelling. Despite some criticism for being formulaic, McKee is widely regarded as a pivotal figure in modern narrative theory, with his principles applied across film, television, literature, and corporate communication. more

You May Also Like

“The fools think I am writing algebra but what I am really writing is geometry.”

Thinking Writing Fool Geometry Algebra

Author:Ernest Hemingway

“I suppose these deadlines we set for ourselves are really a way of saying we appreciate time, and want to use all of it.”

Way Want Use Appreciate Deadline

Author:Margaret Atwood

“I think with my hands. I design things to be touched-not for a museum. A piece is ready when it has the shape of something to cherish.”

Thinking Hands Pieces Design Ready Shapes Touched Cherish Museums

Author:Eva Zeisel

“I have lots of notebooks around, because one great advantage of writing by hand-in addition to how much it slows you down-is that it makes me write at the speed that I feel I should be composing, rather than faster than I can think, which is what happens to me on any keyboard.”

Thinking Feels Should Writing I Can Hands Happens Advantage Speed Faster Notebook Composing Keyboards

Author:John Irving

“Because if you don't know someone all that well, you react to their surface qualities, the superficial stereotypes-they throw off like sparks. But once you fight through the sparks and get to the person, you find just that, a person, a big jumble of likes, dislikes, fears, and desires.”

Ifs Knows Wells Persons Bigs Desire Fighting Quality Surface Likes Sparks Dislike Superficial Stereotype

Author:Dorothy West

“None of the pictures I take a risk in cost a lot, so it doesn't take much for them to turn a profit. We don't deal in big budgets. We know what we want and we shoot it and we don't waste anything. I never understand these films that cost twenty, thirty million dollars when they could be made for half that. Maybe it's because no one cares. We care.”

Knows Want Made Bigs Care Film Turns Deals Half Millions Risk Cost Waste Twenties Dollars Profit Budgets Thirty Million Dollars No One Cares

Author:Clint Eastwood

“I feel like you can't really be truthful as an artist and empathize with the human experience, unless you know your truth and you're not living a lie. So I'm learning through it, and it's making me a better person, and it's making me a better artist, I think.”

Thinking Knows Feels Humans Persons Lying Artist Like You Truthful Human Experience Better Person Being Truthful Living A Lie

Author:Diane Guerrero

“I wake up with new dreams every day...more I can do to channel that into things that I love to create is healthier for me and probably for everybody around me.”

I Can Dream Can Do Wake Up

Author:Dolly Parton

“It's strange because a lot of people are like, 'You can't change human nature-people are inherently negative.' I don't think that's true. If you expect the best from people, they'll step up.”

People Ifs Thinking Humans Steps Human Nature Strange Like You Negative Can't Change Step Up

Author:Zooey Deschanel

“I was taught in my Introduction to Anthropology [course in college], it is not just the great works of [hu]mankind that make a culture. It is the daily things, like what people eat and how they serve it.”

People Culture Courses Mankind Taught College Great Work Introduction Anthropology

Author:Laurie Colwin