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I did a few Raindance courses a year or two ago (the producing one is good but the others are so-so), and ever since I have been on the Raindance mailing list. I don’t really have a problem with this as such, but it seems 9 times out of 10 the emails are for John Truby and his lectures.

One email I received the other day particularly annoyed me though, since it essentially took that horrible diet sales technique to the extreme.

What do I mean by diet sales technique? ….10 ways to lose weight without exercise! 5 fitness secrets revealed! 3 ways to eat chocolate and still lose weight!

Does any of that sound familiar? 5 Ways to make your protagonist engaging! 3 ways to make a killer ending! How to transform your script in hours! I hate that crap.

It’s basically appealing to peoples insecurities with a quick fix plan, rather than telling them the simple truth that you gotta eat healthy and exercise more. And in the same way someone desperate to lose weight will love to try the new secret for success so will the wannabe screenwriter.

What made this email from Truby a few days ago so insulting was the fact that it took this diet selling thing to a whole new level. To appreciate this you need to understand that the crux of Truby’s course is his 22 step structure rather than anything resembling Syd Fields 3 acts (more on this later). Essentially the email said explicitly that a whole generation of writers that could have been successful have not made a success with their screenplays because they have been brain-washed by the terrible 3 act structure, and that by learning the 22 step plan instead then you stand a chance to harness your full potential and finally become a success.

Dang! this is diet selling taken to the extreme, where saying you have a quick fix solution just isnt enough, instead you need to say that not only do you have a secret formula for success, but that every other diet plan out there is wrong and it will actually make you WORSE.

I believe in capitalism, and I think people should be able to make money from their work, and part and parcel of that is effectively selling your products. Sell the sizzle not the sausage being the old phrase which is always true when it comes to advertising…but DANG, is it just me or does selling your course like this just appeal to the insecurities of writers who would love more than anything to write a good screenplay and will pay for quick fix rather than working bloody hard on becoming better read and more experienced as a writer. All this crap about 5 ways to do this, 3 ways to do that, and if you ignore my easy 20 step plan you could do yourself more damage than good… is that really the only way to effectively sell a screenwriting course? Does he really need to claim every other theory is terrible just to sell a few more places on his own course?

Maybe I am being stupid here and its perfectly acceptable to break screenwriting down into easy to remember chunks and little buzz words and phrases, and that in turn its perfectly acceptable to then sell those buzz words and phrases when it comes to advertising the course, but I cant help but feel that this is somehow the wrong way to go about it. Am I wrong here? I’d love to know what others think of this so called “diet selling”.

22 STEPS

The ironic thing is that his 22 step plan is not really any different from the 3 act structure as far as I can see. It is just the 3 act structure sold in different packaging to be different. Its the equivilent of the technique of putting water in a tinted bottle so it looks more blue than tap water when it isnt.

For those unfamiliar with the 22 step plan is it essentially a list of the 22 things that must take place in your story. But the list is basically stuff like “character has a problem”, “character has a need”, “inciting incident”, “antagonist shows up”, ” protagonist makes an alley”, ” protagonist has a character arc revelation”… basically its just all the aspects that make up every other screenwriting theory but turned into a list of bullet points rather than a bunch of chapters. Big fecking woop! So its a list. How is that so different from these other theories that he claims to ruin your work?

THEN AGAIN….

All that said, I still think there is useful stuff to be learnt from his 22 step plan and his other ideas about film. I in fact have a copy of his theories here in my office which I look at from time to time. Making a clear list of the qualities most good storys have is potentially a very useful thing, and some of his other theories such as those regarding the setting of the story are quite original, I just dont like the way he A. Spams my inbox*, B. acts like his structure is radically different when its not, and C. uses diet selling to the extreme.

*Its Raindance that does the spamming, but since his name is attached to the course he gets the blame!

I’ll end my rant by saying that if there’s one variation of the 3 act structure that I recommend you should read its Gulino’s Sequence Approach if you haven’t already, its ace. See the article about books for more information.

STEAL!

Incidentally… For those of you who are interested in learning more about all of John Truby’s theories there’s a way you can do it for free!

He has a piece of software on his website called blockbuster, which is essentially his methodology laid out in a piece of software. In an essence it holds your hand and tells you which aspects of the plot you need to think up. Contained in that software are a number of articles which explain his theories, and by downloading the 30 day trial of the software you can read the theories and print them out. If you want to be morally bankrupt and steal his work, I will also point out that once the demo on the software runs out you can still read the articles if you go into the software’s folder on your harddrive and just load up the appropriate file.

Read the follow up article here for more Truby quotes and more ranting.