I got an interesting email from Aaron Dobbs, who actually has taken a McKee course.

Hey Claire,

I wanted to mention something about your McKee post, as someone who has attended both his Story seminar and one of his genre days (thankfully I didn't personally have to pay) ... if people really want to save money, all they need to do is buy his book "Story." It's basically word-for-word his three day lecture (because it's way more lecture than seminar -- he doesn't respond well to questions except during their own little time-apportioned segment). The one thing you don't get from "Story" the book is his detailed analysis of "Casablanca" (or whatever script he's teaching now) during which you follow along script to screen and he looks at the film from not just a screenwriting but also filmmaking perspective.

McKee is a pompous ass (as ADAPTATION so accurately depicted -- Brian Cox really nailed him, and I've always found it somewhat funny/interesting that McKee has embraced his character's presence in the film so much that he includes mention of it on all his advertising), BUT what he proffers can, in fact, be pretty valuable. Personally, I think any prospective screenwriter gets in trouble if he/she explicitly follows any one method or technique of writing, but what McKee does is boil it all down to an almost scientific foundation, and ultimately that analysis can be helpful especially once a writer finds his/her own methods and techniques to implement that foundation. I've always been fascinated, also, by how he is always able to take any film that might seem to contradict one of his main points regarding story structure and still find a way to fold it into his argument.

Supposedly he's been a working script doctor, but no, if you check his imdb credits, he doesn't have much other than a few TV shows and one of those TNT bible-based miniseries (I think his was ABRAHAM -- I'm too lazy to look right now). I mean, he claims to have written much more, and he probably would throw you through a wall if you accused him of not being able to do and therefore teaching, but it's probably true. He is a really smart guy, and his analysis is kind of fascinating. The problem is, he has too many disciples (as do all successful screenwriting teachers) who first think their latest teacher holds the holy grail and who then get sucked in buying book after book or taking class after class. The truth is, they all really teach mostly the same thing -- they've just devised different tools and methods which may or may not work for any individual. McKee's is definitely the most theoretical rather than practical, and in that sense, it's possibly the most valuable. As long as you take it with the same grain of salt as anyone else who says they'll teach you how to write -- and of course, it comes with his personality.

AND to be fair, he actually will say in his seminar that he can't teach you HOW to write -- he can only teach you these building blocks of story structure.

But who am I to talk -- he has more credits than I!