Family is a genre? I thought the big ones were these: MYTH ACTION LOVE HORROR DETECTIVE CRIME (Action + Detective) THRILLER (Horror + Detective) FANTASY SCIENCE-FICTION COMEDY DRAMA Every genre is a specialized form of the "Myth" and all of them can be made into a Comedy or a Drama (using the Aristotelean units among other means). I think that's a nice frame for the collection. :D Myth stories are more epic in nature, with lots of small opponents and they focus the physical journey. You still see this in Adventure or Road Movies.

Sven, there's no formal list, however I think those 8 I highlighted represent a pretty accurate cross-section of what Hollywood studios cover in their slates. But it's really less important than writers zeroing in on whatever genre or areas they are passionate about and have a talent to write. Then immerse themselves in that arena.

Great advice, as always, Scott. I paired this post with another of your posts about foreign BO now larger than domestic. I broaden my RomCom subgenre immersion by watching/studying Bollywood, Korean, Chinese and French RomComs. Thanks, Netflix!

You're right, Scott, first we have to look at the market and what the studios actually want to buy. Specializing in a certain area is highly important to build a career, because you will never be an expert on all story forms and everyone is aware of that. Drama is harder to sell than any other genre, because it can be anything. It's simply not specific enough. If you wrote a drama, ask yourself what kind of drama it is. You also mentioned "Family", but this can be an adventure, a drama, sci-fi, fantasy. It's shaped for a certain audience, but that has little to do with the visual journey. My favorite genres to write are Action, Love and Tragedy. My favorite genre to watch is still Science-Fiction, but I know that I can't write that. Maybe some day ...

I’m going out on a bit of a limb here, but I'm predicting the next big thing is Turgid period pieces about bipolar quadrasexual polar bears who speak in Norwegian subtitles. Don't say you weren't warned. Starts outlining.