This is a fine analysis of a complex and important system. I think “Story” is the best approach to learning the craft because it’s the most open (least simplistic).

But there’s a fundamental problem (not with McKee per se).

Learning the craft is necessary but it’s not sufficient. I can’t find sales figures for “Story,” but there must be at least 10,000 people who have read the book and sought to apply its principles (and thousands of seminar attendees). But there aren’t 10,000 salable scripts out there.

“Story” can make a bad or inexperienced writer into a better writer but not into a good writer. That’s a fundamental limitation of the analytic method, and all books about the craft are analytic.

Intuitive writers need to learn very little about craft because they have absorbed the basic principles intuitively. Charlie Kaufman said that all he knew about theory was that screenplays are supposed to have three acts.

Most writers are analytical; they must also develop their intuition, but they can’t learn to do that from even the best analysts.