Structure is important. It should be instinctive. I’m not sure it can be taught, any more than an appreciation of fine music can be taught. But what can be taught – and what McKee’s Story is excellent on – is how to fix a story that’s not working. Story is a troubleshooting manual. It helps identify potential problems and find solutions.
The problem is when script editors, or producers, or whoever, use Story in a prescriptive way rather than a diagnostic way. Which is like using a car repair manual as a guide to constructing a car.
The other problem is that this leads to script editors, or producers, or whoever - who can’t tell if a script is working because their job is all about fretting about scripts not working – who use Story to find not problems but quibbles. One hears horror stories about writers being given notes that the b-plot should have its first beat half-way down page 7, not at the top of page 8... which is nonsense, because it’s a problem begging to be fixed by the writer sneakily fiddling with the layout settings. And which results in shows and films which feel over-formulaic and lifeless because they are structurally unsurprising.
That’s not to say writing can’t be planned out structurally. It can, just as when building a car you might first decide to stick a wheel in each corner. But what makes a story exciting is not how similar it is to other stories but how different.
