Tag Archives: Robert McKee

Three-Act Structure: The Feedback Loop

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Thomas Mets

One critique of three-act structure is that the idea is self-perpetuating. Because there’s an industry of books about the subject, aspiring writers are likely to format their work in this particular way, even if it isn’t otherwise advantageous. George Lucas … Continue reading →

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Three Act Structure: Estonian Semantics

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Thomas Mets

I gave my report on three-act structure to an Estonian crowd, and gave a lot of thought about which Estonian word to use for act. The easiest is “osa” which translates literally to “part.” Although this has numerous problems, in … Continue reading →

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Three-Act Structure: Exceptions

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Thomas Mets

There are a few notable exceptions to three-act structure. So-called Art films often experiment with convention in interesting ways to find entirely different methods of telling a story. But usually the only people interested in watching these are film buffs. … Continue reading →

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Three-Act Structure 3.3: The Final Challenge

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Thomas Mets

Due to the sense of acceleration, McKee argues in Story that the last act of the film should be the shortest: possibly 20 minutes or less of a two-hour film. (219) He describes the third act climax is the obligatory … Continue reading →

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Three-Act Structure 3.2 Negation of the Negation

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Thomas Mets

In Story, McKee suggests that an advantage of three-act structure is that it allows a film to explore the many facets of a topic. The simplest aspect is the contradictory, “the direct opposite of the positive.” (319) There is also … Continue reading →

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