Action: The Art of Excitement for Screen, Page, and Game

Review
"ACTION inspires action. McKee and El-Wakil have created the guide I’ve been looking for all my years as a professional screenwriter. ACTION helps you understand how and why the thing works—how its heart beats, how it thinks, and most importantly, what makes it move. For a professional action writer, it almost feels like cheating."―Zak Penn, American screenwriter and director
"Robert McKee’s books offer lucid analysis, perceptive insights and fruitful challenges to those of us who practice the magical arts of storytelling. I highly recommend his latest: ACTION—THE ART OF EXCITEMENT Buy it, read it, put it to work!"―Michael Hirst, creator, screenwriter, series producer of Vikings, and Billy the Kid
ACCLAIM FOR ROBERT MCKEE
"Legendary."―The Washington Post
"Universally acclaimed."―The New York Times
"McKee is the world's best-known and most respected lecturer of Storytelling Arts."―The Wall Street Journal
"The ultimate master."―BBC
"His great insight into storytelling is unparalleled."―Los Angeles Times
"A not-so-secret force in the movie industry and Hollywood's most sought-after screenwriting instructor."
―Vanity Fair
From the master of Story, Dialogue, and Character, ACTION offers writers the keys to propulsive storytelling.
ACTION explores the ways that a modern-day writer can successfully tell an action story that not only stands apart, but wins the war on clichés. Teaming up with the former co-host of The Story Toolkit, Bassim El-Wakil, legendary story lecturer Robert McKee guides writers to award-winning originality by deconstructing the action genre, illuminating the challenges, and, more importantly, demonstrating how to master the demands of plot with surprising beats of innovation and ingenuity.
Topics include: Understanding the Four Core Elements of Action Creating the Action Cast Hook, Hold, Pay Off: Design in Action The Action Macguffin Action Set Pieces The Sixteen Action Subgenres
A must-add to the McKee storytelling library, ACTION illustrates the principles of narrative drive with precision and clarity by referencing the most popular action movies of our time including: Die Hard, The Star Wars Saga, Dark Knight, The Matrix, and Avengers: Endgame.