A fine work of art - music, dance, painting, story - has the power to silence the chatter in the mind and lift us to another place.

— Robert McKee

All writing is discipline, but screenwriting is a drill sergeant.

— Robert McKee

Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form.

— Robert McKee

Boredom is the inner conflict we suffer when we lose desire, when we lack a lacking.

— Robert McKee

Classical design is a mirror of the human mind. It's how we see the world.

— Robert McKee

Creativity is choice-making.

— Robert McKee

Curiosity is the intellectual need to answer questions and close open patterns. Story plays to this universal desire by doing the opposite, posing questions and opening situations.

— Robert McKee

Deus ex machina not only erases all meaning and emotion, it's an insult to the audience. Each of us knows we must choose and act, for better or worse, to determine the meaning of our lives... Deus ex machina is an insult because it is a lie.

— Robert McKee

Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliché, it's the key to victory over fear and it's cousin, depression.

— Robert McKee

Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told, an audience will always choose the trivial told brilliantly.

— Robert McKee