How many stories are there? Well, one answer is there are thousands upon thousands, since there’s no shortage of films washing up at cinema screens the world over. But look a bit closer and you’ll start to notice disturbing similarities…

Virtually all American films are predicated on a model that works pretty much as follows: hero/ine achieves their outcome against improbable odds, experiencing a transformation of character in the process. Which is all well and good, as far as it goes. And, to be fair, it does have its utility: if you’re going to be spending ninety or more minutes in the company of an imaginary character you’re encouraged by various dramatic means to identify with, best that the experience is an enjoyable one.

Problem is, firstly that said model omits any number of fascinating and compelling stories in which people fail to get what they want, a life experience which may be frustrating but is an inherent part of the human condition. Second, that the model described is increasingly applied to television, another medium which you’d hope is a broader canvas for storytellers to spin their tales.

Especially in public service broadcasting, which has a wide remit, isn’t there room for a broader spectrum of stories than ones in which people achieve their goals through persevering against the odds? What’s happened in the last decade is that people involved in commissioning tv programmes have been sent on Robert McKee courses and the like, all of which trot out the same old message about three act redemptive structures.

Now, I have high regard for McKee as it happens, but there’s a difference between writers using the likes of his Story to guide their work and script editors and producers using it as a stick to keep errant writers in line. And according to someone who knows a lot more people in the industry than I do, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Similar abuses are made of the Hero’s Journey. It’s an interesting and valid template for story arcs, and one that’s well worth becoming familiar with. But it’s a very selective account of how mythical stories function. It neglects that considerable number of stories in which heroes fail to get what they’re after, and are killed or suffer divine punishment in the process. Now, if all this Hero’s Journey stuff is as significant and archetypal as all that, surely that would suggest that humans have an inherent need to hear stories of defeat as well as victory?

I approached someone I respect recently to ask for their thoughts on a script I’m writing. They turned me down because the story mixes genres, and didn’t believe this would be commercially viable. Which is a fair point, but a defeatist one. We’re living in a world where Charlie Kaufman writes uncharacterisable scripts to great acclaim. Where the likes of Warp X are explicitly interested in genre fusion for the potential it creates for new stories. And tv is breaking new ground with shows like Lost and Misfits.

All of those examples point to a future in which new forms of story will be welcomed. And we’re at a fascinating time for that to come about. The convergence of computer and television in one box, and the use of digital technology to stream films as well as games and tv shows and whatever the hell is playing on YouTube, could well present a tipping point not just in a technological sense, but in terms of the types of stories that audiences want to watch.

Let’s hope so. The alternative is that technology marches on and Avatar becomes the benchmark not just for sophisticated graphics, but for complacent storytelling. And that’s not the future I signed up for.