Robert McKee’s five-component story structure
TL;DR
Robert McKee’s five-component structure describes story as a causal chain in which a disruptive event drives escalating conflict toward a forced moral choice, expressed through decisive action and its lasting consequences.
Inciting Incident: a disruptive event shatters the protagonist’s equilibrium and creates a problem that cannot be ignored.
Progressive Complications: a series of increasingly difficult, causally linked obstacles intensify conflict and pressure the protagonist to adapt.
Crisis: the protagonist faces an unavoidable, mutually exclusive dilemma that forces a defining choice.
Climax: the protagonist acts on that choice in a decisive confrontation that resolves the central conflict and expresses the story’s theme.
Resolution: the story reveals the consequences of the climax and the new emotional or moral reality of the protagonist’s world.
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Emphasis on narrative causality
Robert McKee’s Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting presents a rigorous and insightful framework for narrative structure.
Unlike more formulaic or prescriptive approaches (such as Blake Snyder’s Save the cat!) McKee’s structure emphasizes organic storytelling built on escalating conflict and character-driven decisions.
His five-component structure consists of the following elements: Inciting Incident, Progressive Complications, Crisis, Climax, and Resolution. Each plays a crucial role in shaping a compelling and emotionally resonant story.
McKee’s system is unique in its focus on escalating conflict and narrative causality rather than rigid page counts or predetermined beats.
Despite this, his structure is not mutually exclusive to other frameworks. You can use McKee’s as a base layer, and then use a more prescriptive structural framework on top of it.
This analysis breaks down McKee’s Five-Component Structure, explaining how each part functions, best practices for execution, common pitfalls to avoid, and examples of their use in film or literature.
1. The Inciting Incident
Definition
McKee defines the Inciting Incident as the moment that radically upsets the protagonist’s equilibrium, forcing them to react. It must happen early in the story, typically within the first 10-15% of the script, and cannot be ignored by the protagonist.
Key Functions
Disrupts the status quo: the protagonist’s world is irreversibly changed.
Creates a need for action: the protagonist cannot return to their old life without consequences.
Establishes the spine of the story: everything that follows is a reaction to this event.
Examples
Jaws (1975) – A swimmer is killed by a shark, forcing Chief Brody into conflict with the town.
The Godfather (1972) – An assassination attempt on Vito Corleone propels Michael into the crime world.
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) – Luke discovers Leia’s message in R2-D2, drawing him into the Rebel Alliance.
Best practices
✅ Make it specific and dramatic, not vague or passive.
✅ Ensure it demands a response; the protagonist cannot ignore it.
✅ Align it with theme and character arc to create meaningful stakes.
Pitfalls
❌ Weak inciting incidents: if the event is minor or easily reversible, it won’t generate strong narrative drive.
❌ Delayed setup: if the Inciting Incident occurs too late, the story risks meandering without clear momentum.
2. Progressive complications
Definition
Progressive Complications consist of obstacles and developments that escalate the central conflict. McKee emphasizes that each complication must increase in difficulty; a series of problems that neither repeat nor resolve too easily.
Key functions
Deepens conflict: each complication should make the protagonist’s goal harder to achieve.
Forces growth: the protagonist is forced to make increasingly difficult decisions.
Prevents stagnation: momentum is maintained as new obstacles keep emerging.
Examples
Die Hard (1988) – John McClane’s initial attempts to call for help are thwarted, leading to more and more daring encounters with terrorists.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) – Clarice faces increasing hurdles, from Lecter’s mind games to bureaucratic roadblocks. She starts off with interviews in a prison cell to going face-to-face with a serial killer, isolated in his basement.
Casablanca (1942) – What begins as reluctant involvement escalates into moral and emotional warfare as Rick is pulled from maneuvering his bar into life-and-death stakes that reopen his deepest personal wounds.
Best practices
✅ Make complications varied and unpredictable; don’t just escalate the same problem.
✅ Ensure each complication is caused by character choices, not random chance.
✅ Use complications to intensify emotional stakes, not just physical danger.
Pitfalls
❌ Repetitive obstacles: If each complication is a slight variation of the last, tension diminishes.
❌ Too easy to overcome: Weak or non-escalating complications undermine the credibility of the conflict.
3. Crisis
Definition
The Crisis typically happens toward the end of the story. It forces the protagonist to choose between two equally weighted, mutually exclusive options.
This is a true character-revealing choice because it will demonstrate unequivocally what the character values.
McKee defines these two types of dilemmas as:
Irreconcilable Goods: a dilemma in which the protagonist must choose between two equally desirable but mutually exclusive outcomes. For example, choosing between following the heart (a love that offers emotional fulfillment but an uncertain future) and following the mind (a love that offers material security but not passion)
The Lesser of Two Evils: a dilemma in which both choices are negative values, forcing the protagonist to trade one form of destruction for another. For example, choosing between committing a crime to prevent chaos or obeying the law and allowing injustice to prevail.
A combination of both types: a dilemma in which each option contains both positive and negative consequences, forcing the protagonist to accept harm in order to achieve good. For example, abandoning a dangerous companion may ensure safety but violate the protagonist’s moral code, while saving them preserves integrity at the cost of continued suffering.
Key functions
Forces maximum character growth: the protagonist must define who they are through their choice.
Creates peak emotional engagement: the audience is deeply invested in this moment.
Leads directly to the climax: the choice made here determines the story’s final confrontation.
Examples
The Dark Knight (2008) – Batman must choose between saving Rachel or Harvey Dent.
Sophie’s Choice (1982) – Sophie must decide which of her children lives.
Titanic (1997) – Rose must choose between a safe (but passionless) life with her fiancé or risking everything for love with Jack.
Best practices
✅ Ensure the crisis presents a deeply personal and thematic dilemma.
✅ Make it a point of no return; the protagonist’s choice must have permanent consequences.
✅ Align it with the story’s central moral or philosophical question.
Pitfalls
❌ False dilemmas: The audience must believe both options are truly difficult and are mutually exclusive.
❌ Lack of weight: If the choice doesn’t significantly alter the protagonist’s path, it’s not a real crisis.
4. Climax
Definition
The Climax is the decisive, irreversible moment where the protagonist acts on the dilemma presented by the Crisis.
The Climax is the story’s highest point of tension and meaning; the final confrontation, revelation, or decision that settles the central dramatic question.
If the Crisis is the moment of internal truth (“What will I choose?”), the Climax is the moment of external proof (“This is what I do.”)
In McKee’s model, the climax is not merely the biggest action beat, but the most significant one. It must express the story’s theme through action and complete (or tragically fail to complete) the protagonist’s arc.
Key functions
Delivers emotional payoff: the audience experiences the full emotional weight of everything that has been built.
Resolves the central conflict: the protagonist definitively wins, loses, or arrives at a complex outcome.
Externalizes character change: the protagonist’s internal transformation is demonstrated through a final action.
Answers the controlling idea: the story’s core value shift (justice to injustice, love to loss, fear to courage, etc.) is made concrete.
Examples
The Godfather (1972) – Michael orders the coordinated assassination of all rival heads and betrayers. The external conflict is resolved, but the deeper climax is moral: Michael fully becomes what he once resisted. The door closing on Kay visually seals his transformation.
Rocky (1976) – Rocky doesn’t “win” the fight, but he goes the distance. The climax resolves the true dramatic question: not “Will he beat Apollo?” but “Can he prove his worth?”
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – Andy’s escape is the physical climax, but the emotional climax is the revelation of how patiently and intelligently he reclaimed his freedom, completing his arc from prisoner to self-liberated man.
Black Swan (2010) – Nina’s final performance is both triumph and destruction. She achieves “perfection,” but at the cost of her life, expressing the story’s tragic controlling idea.
Best practices
✅ Make the climax the inevitable result of the protagonist’s choices, not a coincidence or rescue.
✅ Ensure the climax expresses theme through action (what the protagonist does proves what the story is about).
✅ Let the protagonist drive the outcome; they must be the primary causal force.
✅ Allow genuine consequence; victory should cost something, and failure should mean something.
Pitfalls
❌ Spectacle without meaning: big explosions or twists that don’t resolve the character’s core dilemma feel hollow.
❌ Passive protagonists: if the antagonist, a side character, or pure luck resolves the story, the climax collapses.
❌ Unrelated final battles: a climax that introduces a new conflict instead of resolving the established one weakens narrative cohesion.
❌ Thematic contradiction: if the climax’s outcome undermines what the story has been exploring, the ending feels false.
5. Resolution
Definition
The Resolution reveals how the world has changed because of the climax and what the protagonist’s final state truly is.
While structurally brief, the resolution is emotionally critical: it allows the audience to process meaning.
McKee stresses that resolution is not about wrapping everything in neat bows, but about closing the value shift. We see the new normal, whether hopeful, tragic, ironic, or bittersweet.
Key functions
Demonstrates consequences: The cost and impact of the climax become visible.
Clarifies the controlling idea: The story’s ultimate message is reinforced.
Provides emotional release: The audience transitions out of peak tension.
Seals the character arc: We see who the protagonist is now.
Examples
Casablanca (1942) – Rick sends Ilsa away and walks into the fog with Renault. The resolution confirms Rick’s transformation from cynical isolationist to morally committed man.
There Will Be Blood (2007) – Daniel Plainview murders Eli and declares, “I’m finished.” The resolution is not calm. It is the thematic endpoint, showing total spiritual emptiness after absolute victory.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) – The Shire’s peace, the coronation, and Frodo’s departure collectively show that evil is defeated, but innocence is not fully recoverable.
Whiplash (2014) – After the explosive final performance, the resolution is a single exchanged look between Andrew and Fletcher. It leaves us with a disturbing clarity about what Andrew has chosen to become.
Best practices
✅ Keep it focused on meaning, not logistics.
✅ Reflect the story’s core value change in concrete images or moments.
✅ Allow space for emotional digestion.
✅ Let the ending resonate rather than explain.
Pitfalls
❌ Overextended endings: Excessive wrap-up drains power from the climax.
❌ Moral footnotes: Explaining the theme instead of dramatizing it weakens impact.
❌ False closure: Endings that undo consequences or restore the status quo betray the arc.
❌ Tonally inconsistent epilogues: A resolution that contradicts the emotional truth of the climax feels imposed rather than earned.
Conclusion
McKee’s five-component structure provides an organic and escalating framework for storytelling, ensuring that every beat in the narrative serves character, theme, and conflict.
While it aligns with other structural models, it uniquely emphasizes progressive complexity and causality, making it an essential tool for screenwriters aiming for depth and resonance in their storytelling.
By understanding and applying these five components, writers can craft engaging, emotionally powerful stories that resonate long after the final frame fades to black.
P.S.
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