Robert McKee is an author, lecturer and story consultant who is known for his "Story Seminar", which he developed when he was a professor at the University of Southern California. McKee is the author of Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, Dialogue: the Art of Verbal Action for Stage, Page and Screen, Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World and Character: The Art of Role and Cast Design for Page, Stage, and Screen. McKee also has the blog and online writers' resource "Storylogue".

Robert McKee’s "Story Seminars" have been held around the globe including Boston, Moscow, Amsterdam, Beijing, Mumbai, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney and annually in New York City, Los Angeles, and London. The three-day seminar teaches writers the principles of storytelling. McKee's one-day "Genre Seminars" teach writers the conventions of different styles of storytelling including thriller, comedy, horror, love story, action story, and writing for television.

Rather than teaching story as a "mechanical" form, McKee gained attention for teaching story principles, allowing writers for theater, novels, film and television freedom to apply them as they wish provided the story ultimately "works."

His lectures at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference were some of the best ever in regards to writing and story structure which are based around his book, Story , a book any serious writer should read again and again.