Dramatica's Ability To Predict Story Events

Don't mistake it for simply post facto analysis.

Produced screenwriter and former Sony Studios story analyst Ken Miyamoto has this to say about Dramatica in a Quora answer:

Film Theorists have one thing going for them... hindsight.  They can look at a film or screenplay and pretty much dissect it any way they'd like, in order to fit it in whatever formula or directive they are preaching. 

Ken is way off track here. Chris and Melanie developed Dramatica without looking at screenplays or films. They spent several years asking the right kinds of questions: If a character has a problem, why don't they solve it? and If someone doesn't want to solve their personal problems, how do they go about hiding it from themselves?

Only then, after all the research and theory development into why stories exist, did they then measure their concepts up against films (and novels and plays--story is story regardless of medium). Turns out what they discovered pans it: a complete story is an analogy to a single human mind trying to solve a problem.

Yet despite all of the theories that exist in regards to Nostradamus, no one has been able to really apply them and predict an upcoming event.  Only in hindsight can they attempt to prove their point. 

The property I sold in 2009 to Dreamworks Animation was developed with Dramatica. Based on choices I made regarding Main Character Thematics and Story Dynamics it absolutely predicted the order in which I needed to approach my story. It even told me things about my story I didn't even know. "Save the Cat!" and McKee don't even come close to being able to do the same thing. Presenting them in the same context only speaks of someone who simply doesn't get it.

So yes, Dramatica is good food for thought. But like every meal consumed, it provides the energy and nourishment necessary to excel and proliferate. Dramatica offers writers clear and demonstrable potential.