[…] MCKEE The real world? The real fucking world? First of all, if you write a screenplay without conflict or crisis, you'll bore your audience to tears. Secondly: Nothing happens in the real world? Are you out of your fucking mind? People are murdered every day! There's genocide and war and corruption! Every fucking day somewhere in the world somebody sacrifices his life to save someone else! Every fucking day someone somewhere makes a conscious decision to destroy someone else! People find love! People lose it, for Christ's sake! A child watches her mother beaten to death on the steps of a church! Someone goes hungry! Somebody else betrays his best friend for a woman! If you can't find that stuff in life, then you, my friend, don't know much about life! And why the fuck are you taking up my precious two hours ...read more […]

I always interpreted this scene as one of Kaufman's "bravest" moments in the film. Most writers would never ask something like that in a group setting -- especially not a group presided over by Robert McKee. He mentioned the main character not having any epiphanies, but epiphanies happen a lot -- if you can recognize them as such. Anyway, great scene, especially on the part of Brian Cox. He could've exploded the dialogue but instead he let it build to a boiling point.

One of the best things any screenwriter should hear. There's conflict everywhere -- it's your job to tease it out and create a story from it.

I love this so much thank you for posting.