Things like McKee`s Story, teaches people how to write for soaps and the like where there is a team of writers and some complex process.

I believe that those books are only any good if you are good, i.e. able to write confidently and break the rules :-)

I don`t believe in going over technical on these things, normally I want to actually tell a story rather than have people tuning in to commercials and a whole series.

But it is necessary to be able to at least know of story structures useful to take your audience on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Doing that through practice rather than because some book recommends it is the way though, practice!!!