Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

This chapter looks at how to bring a scene to its fullest, beat by beat. The opening section, “Text and Subtext,” defines its titular terms in relation to each other: The text is what we hear and see on the surface, and the subtext is the true understory beneath the text, usually in contrast or contradiction to it. McKee argues that we are incapable of speaking the most direct, honest truth possible, instead filtering our words and actions through a mask—even to ourselves.

“The Technique of Scene Analysis” lists five steps in determining the subtext, and thus the true heart, of a scene:

Define conflict

Note opening value

Break the scene into beats

Note closing value and compare with opening value

Survey beats and locate turning point

These steps ensure that the two or more people in a scene have opposing desires, that each beat of the scene is in pursuit of or in response to those desires, and that the value changes over the course of the scene. McKee discusses scenes from Casablanca and Through a Glass Darkly in detail to illustrate these steps and the contrast between text and subtext.