Heilemann said:

That article lacks any kind of historical insight or dramaturgical understanding. Storytelling *is* 'formulaic', and always has been.

You have a point. And I'm skeptical of the 'here are two examples from movie X so obv the entire movie followed a strict formula.' Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. I mean, we'd expect a couple of similarities with any given story-telling model.

But I am still concerned about a perfectly good script being handed up to the executives who fancy themselves experts because they studied a certain easy-to-digest formula (like the one at the link) and decide to impose that model to constrain the story within that single orthodoxy in order to 'make it better.'

Whether Moliere, Shakespeare, Spielberg, or Abrams...there are obvious good ways of telling a story that will be followed. But I think there is a danger (perhaps proven by recent movies) of adhering to certain models too closely.

Do you think that is a problem with contemporary cinema or are movies as good/bad as they've always been? I tend to agree with DuracellEnergizer - even beyond movies, I don't know if there is as much opportunity for people to breach existing fields.