When to insert Fun & Games - Montages in RomCom?

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  • When to insert Fun & Games - Montages in RomCom?

    Hey guys,

    I need to learn when to give the audience a moment to feel good and how long that moment is supposed to be.

    I understand using a montage if you have a couple of weeks to fill, as in after boy meets girl, but then in many RomComs, there's a couple of extra montages post-mid point where the leads do mildly amusing things, laugh, eat product placement stuff etc.

    I would like to execute this well, but I could not for the life of me decide whether it's a 20sec montage or a 50 second thing.

    I usually try to have each scene change plot and or characters, so many montages of people laughing are a bit boring to me. But audiences seem to like them and I would be very grateful for your approach about when you use them and how long they are.

    Or is that stuff that always gets shot after a couple of weeks in the editing room to fill holes?

    Thank you,
    Os

  • #2
    Re: When to insert Fun & Games - Montages in RomCom?

    Act 2.

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    • #3
      Re: When to insert Fun & Games - Montages in RomCom?

      Originally posted by oskar View Post
      I usually try to have each scene change plot and or characters, so many montages of people laughing are a bit boring to me.
      So don't write them.

      Every film is an argument about what a good film is or should be. If you don't think your script needs a montage, and you can't make a montage compelling, then don't put in a montage.

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      • #4
        Re: When to insert Fun & Games - Montages in RomCom?

        The first time I heard of the concept of Fun and Games was in the screenwriting book Save the Cat. You can read more about it there. The fun and games don't always have to be shown in montages. It can be done in regular scenes as well. It's about showing the audience what happens when your character meets the new world he or she moves into -- what's strange or fun or unusual about it, and perhaps how your character is a fish out of water in that new world. It's your chance to show all the fun aspects that come out of your premise before the character starts in earnest to achieve the story goal.

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        • #5
          Re: When to insert Fun & Games - Montages in RomCom?

          I frequently find that if I'm blocked on a scene, it's because it's a bad scene and I shouldn't be writing it anyway.
          Patrick Sweeney

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