Not many writing workshops manage to attract such a large audience at such an expensive price. But apparently Israelis are willing to pay when it comes to quality. In the coming days, November 23-26, ticket buyers for Robert McKee’s “story” workshop will undergo an intensive four-day experience of diving deep into the craft and art of writing on all levels, and may even be able to answer the intriguing question: What is the connection between fog and cat’s footsteps?
Robert McKee is a lecturer and creative writing instructor known worldwide for the “Story” seminar he developed while teaching at the University of Southern California. It can be said that Maki is the guru of all screenwriters and if you haven’t heard of him, it’s time you did.
The first day of the workshop began and a large number of writers of all types managed to gather on the gray granite plaza of the modern Smallrush Hall at Tel Aviv University. The excitement is palpable in the air as attendees patiently waited in the long line to scan the barcode to receive the coveted entry badge. Blue for the short workshop, red for the long one, red and blue to release them from the Metaverse into a world full of Robert McKee. A cynical, professional and uncompromising world. McKee takes the stage exactly at 9:00.
The audience doesn’t even have enough time to applaud because Maki straight away starts speaking in his hoarse voice, he goes into detail about his demands from the participants in the workshop: no late, that pretty much sums it up. In addition, he continues, “The person whose phone rings will have to pay me 20 dollars”, he turns to the audience to explain to him how much twenty dollars is in shekels, someone from the audience replies “100 shekels” Maki answers “one hundred shekels to me in cash for whoever has his phone ring and if the same person’s phone rings twice He will fly out of the lecture,” he adds, “and whoever tells me about someone on the cell phone will get a hundred shekels from me.” This is McKee’s humor, sarcastic and cynical. It is evident that the audience appreciates it based on the many giggles.
In addition, he states, “During your breaks, I don’t get a break, I sit here on stage and go to answer your questions.” He specifies which questions are allowed to be asked to him and which questions he absolutely does not intend to answer, for example: What is your favorite movie? I did not come to argue with you Small talk, don’t tell me about your projects and don’t ask me business questions like how to get an agent or a producer, I’m not going to answer that. Only practical questions related to writing and lecturing.
He adds “I don’t know you and I’m not interested in getting to know you, I just hope that you can take from this workshop tools to improve your work and maybe one day I’ll see it in the cinema or on TV and be able to be impressed by it.”
The first day begins on this optimistic note, it is evident that the participants are trying to implement his demands to meet the tight schedule from the panic they felt Anna and Anna are holding cups of coffee, hurrying to arrive on time before the doors of the hall are finally locked for the next lecture. McKee has been conducting the “Story” seminar for over 20 years around the world. It is estimated that more than 40,000 people have already participated in the seminar, which is considered the most sought-after writing training in the world. Many Hollywood screenwriters claim that McKee is a source of inspiration for them.
Among the alumni of McKee’s Sandadas are acclaimed writers, directors and actors, including Jane Campion, Geoffrey Rush, Paul Haggis, Akiva Goldsman, William Goldman, Joan Rivers, Meg Ryan, David Bowie, Kirk Douglas, John Cleese, Russell Brand and others. And in Israel: Hagai Levy, Avi Nir, Shirley Moshioff, Ilan Hytner, Amir Harel, Dodi Zilber, Motti Lerner, Liora Kaminetzky, Dalit Kahn, Alon Abutbol, Liat Har Lev, Gilad Segev, Alon Gor Aryeh, Zohar Wagner, Etgar Keret, Judith Katzir, Adi Ashkenazi and Yair Lapid (who also wrote the introduction to the Hebrew edition of “Sifur”).
McKee became famous, among other things, for the motion picture Adaptation (2002, director: Spike Jonze), starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep. In the film, the character of McKee is played by the actor Brian Cox. In the film, screenwriter director Charlie Kaufman dialogues with McKee, mainly on the subject of narration that McKee disapproves of. McKee’s articles have appeared in hundreds of newspapers and magazines around the world, including: Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and others. McKee has appeared on television shows all over the world.
McKee also serves as a consultant to leading film studios and television companies, including: Disney, 20th Century Fox, Fremont and MTV. In addition, many companies send their entire creative faculty to participate in McKee’s workshops on a regular basis, including: Pixar, ABC, BBC, Disney, Nickelodeon, Fremont and Keshet Broadcasting.
From the foreword to the Hebrew edition, by Yair Lapid: “Like any truly great teacher, McKee doesn’t teach you what to do, but where to look… He doesn’t try to define what talent is, but how to use it… He hugs you when you encounter a writing barrier, helps you Getting up from the floor the scene freezes, reminding you again and again why you came this far… Do you have a story? He asks again and again, did you invent something? If so, he will explain to you how to tell it. No one explains it better than him.”