Why doesn't John Truby write screenplays? [closed]

Question

The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby is arguably the first book a screenwriter is supposed to study to learn screenwriting. So it is safe to say that the guy knows about screenwriting. And after years of world cinema experience, It is also safe to say that any movie with a strong screenplay can never go wrong, no matter how average the cinematography is or how dark the tone is or how bad the CGI is.

Considering all this, it is very surprising to know that John Truby does not have a single movie writing credit to his name (IMDb - John Truby). In this day and age when studios are willing to bet millions on single project and getting them reviewed by advertising agencies for crying out loud, it makes sense for them to have their script reviewed by someone who has years of experience learning hit and flop movies and who can look at the script objectively and point out the flaws to the creators.

Why doesn't this happen?

Edit : I would like to clarify that I am really looking for specific instance/s where this might have been tried by someone in the past which didn't go well or any other thing might have prevented this from happening because of the way movie-making business works which an insider might be able to point out.

Answer 1

From your question, the core piece is:

In this day and age when studios are willing to bet millions on single project and getting them reviewed by advertising agencies for crying out loud, it makes sense for them to have their script reviewed by someone who has years of experience learning hit and flop movies and who can look at the script objectively and point out the flaws to the creators.

Why doesn't this happen?

It does. All the time. If you look at the biography for Truby available on his website:

Called “the best script doctor in the movie industry,” Truby serves as a story consultant for major studios and production companies worldwide, and has been a script doctor on more than 1,800 movies, sitcoms and television dramas for the likes of Disney, Universal, Sony Pictures, FOX, HBO, Alliance Atlantis, Paramount, BBC, MTV and more.

(Emphasis mine)

For some explanation, you need to look at who actually gets writing credit for a screenplay, and some of the regulations involved (Due to paychecks, credits and residuals). From a post on Slashfilm:

And to get credit, a writer must contribute a certain percentage of the finished work:

Any writer whose work represents a contribution of more than 33% of a screenplay shall be entitled to screenplay credit, except where the screenplay is an original screenplay. In the case of an original screenplay, any subsequent writer or writing team must contribute 50% to the final screenplay.

So while he looks at film scripts and gives critiques, suggests rewrites, whatever, he is not changing the script enough to qualify for a screen credit.