John Truby : Hollywood Is in The Business of Buying and Selling Genres
Hollywood is in the business of buying and selling genres. That’s what they’re actually buying. Therefore if you’re going to be a writer who sells to them, you’ve got to write a genre story that they want to buy, that’s their product.
The Action Genre
The genres that you like to watch and read, really mirror your view of how the world works. So the stories that you go back to, let’s say you love the action genre, is because the philosophy of the action genre is something that appeals to your sense of how you want to live in the world and it reaffirms your values by which you live.
The action genre’s life philosophy is: engage in combat. Action stories always pose this question for the hero: do you stand and fight or do you flee so you can fight another day. What does the action story always say is the correct answer: you stand and fight.
