• "Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told, an audience will always choose the trivial told brilliantly." — Robert McKee
• "The gift of story is the opportunity to live lives beyond our own, to desire and struggle in a myriad of worlds and times, at all the various depths of our being." — Robert McKee
• "Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour. Use what you learn from it as a guide, until command of its principles becomes as natural as the talent you were born with." — Robert McKee
• "In a given space over a long or short period. When creating scenes, always analyze them individually."
• "Scenes should exist to tell the viewer about the world, characters, or the past. There should be no scenes in your script that don't affect anything."
• "The smallest unit of a scene is a frame. The scenes themselves form episodes, and each of those should end with a climax."
• "As a result, episodes are grouped into acts, each significantly impacting the hero and their values. The final situation, the climax, brings the whole story to complete and irreversible changes."
• "Setting and genre: where does the story begin?"
• "Open ending — The climax remains unanswered. In the film Paris, Texas, the problems between husband and wife remain unresolved, and the viewer does not know if they will ever be happy.
• Multiple protagonists — Good examples are Thelma and Louise and Pulp Fiction.
• Bad timing — The story moves from one point in time to another, deliberately confusing the sequence.
• Coincidence — Chance controls the hero; therefore, the story resembles heterogeneous episodes (as in After Hours)."
• "A mandatory principle for creating a believable work is a thorough understanding of the imaginary world. First, you need to build a setting for your story, and this setting has four dimensions:
  • Period — the place of the story in time
  • Duration — the length of the story
  • Location — stage of the events
  • The level of conflict — internal or external problems the hero will solve"
• "Don't feel that a strict setting limits the possibilities of your imaginary world; it allows you to make it more detailed and thoughtful. When you understand how every detail of your story works, you can make it deep."
• "The smaller the world you create, the fewer clichés you use. However, there are always exceptions, and large-scale worlds can also be very detailed."
• "Also, define the genre in which you will tell your story."
• "A list of the most popular genres used by screenwriters:
  • Love story
  • Horror (mystical — with an alien from outer space or supernatural — with a spirit from the other world)
  • Epic film
  • Western
  • War movie
  • Coming-of-age story (like Big with Tom Hanks or Bambi)
  • Redemption plot (the spiritual and moral transformation of the protagonist)
  • Punitive plot (good person becomes bad and gets punished)
  • Education plot (assumes positive changes in the main character)
  • Comedy (subgenres — farce, parody, satire, sitcom, dark comedy)
  • Crime
  • Social drama
  • Action or adventure film
  • Historical drama
  • Biographical film
  • Mockumentary"
• "Charm is not enough; we want to identify ourselves with a deep character and complex qualities that manifest the moment we make a choice."
• "Emotions and conflicts are the heart of the story."
• "A well-told story provides a meaningful emotional experience. Your script should have a central idea. Concepts such as 'war' or 'love' are not enough; one clear sentence should cover the topic."