cook is entirely up to you (story). But you must serve your guests the appetizer first, then the entrée, then the dessert, in that order, and those dishes have to complement each other (structure). If not, no matter how great the food is, your guests are going to think you have no idea how to make dinner. And they won’t come back to dine with you again. Writing seminars tend to focus on teaching structure, NOT story, so that creative genius has a chance of being understood and enjoyed by buyers and audiences who innately expect a certain foundation to a script. And story instincts can be honed and expanded with professional guidance, as well.
Second, virtually all professions have rules for writing. Just as lawyers must learn proper structure and format for legal briefs and programmers do the same with software code, screenwriters must learn and apply rules of