Gotta show the love, can't just tell us

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Gotta show the love, can't just tell us

    From back in the day with Bill Martell to the current ScriptShadow to others, they maintain that in a romance, in order to have a couple fall for each other, you can't just all of a sudden announce, "They're in love." You have to show why and how they're falling for each other. The most common is their SHARING of SOMETHING -- maybe a love for the same music or having the same career aspiration (ala La La Land) or going through the same adventure together.

    But I just saw Salmon Fishing in the Yemen with Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor made back in 2011, I think. Written by the talented Simon Beaufoy, the couple ended up together at the end when during the movie, I didn't see that they had anything in common. They were more opposites then anything else, yet according to those "experts," the "opposites attract" premise" for people falling in love doesn't work in movies. Other than a couple of loving/lustful glances by Ewan to Emily, and his willingness to lend a sympathetic ear to her grief of her boyfriend soldier MIA, I didn't see much a connection between the two. Could be wrong, of course.

    I remember other movies where people with no similar interests wound up together at the end of the film.

    So, what's your opinion on what is needed to show a couple falling for each other in a film?

  • #2
    At least from a rom-com perspective, seeing the falling in love is only half the battle (if that -- structure wise, the couple doesn't actually get together until the end of Act III). The real heavy lifting (in my experience) is finding credible "drawbridges" to keep them apart despite the audience knowing they're destined to fall in love. Both in terms of an overall premise (what makes them opposites?) and then the individual sequences in the script. Making them fall for each other (the meet cute) is the easy/fun part. (Credibly) breaking them up for the next 90 pages is much trickier.

    Comment


    • #3
      Not to take a shot at Joe, but my belief has always been "bad romance stories are about what keeps two people apart, and good ones are about why they belong together".

      Romance is easy. It's just writing about a relationship. There obviously is going be a plot and outside events, but the primary focus should be on how your two characters relate to one another and what would theoretically cause those two personalities to see each other as a viable partner. It's all about evolving the dynamic of how they interact with each other from scene to scene. Everything else is ancillary.

      There's literally a million ways you could do a romance story, and it's entirely dependent on the personalities of the two characters you've created for your story.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by socalwriter1 View Post
        From back in the day with Bill Martell to the current ScriptShadow to others, they maintain that in a romance, in order to have a couple fall for each other, you can't just all of a sudden announce, "They're in love." You have to show why and how they're falling for each other. The most common is their SHARING of SOMETHING -- maybe a love for the same music or having the same career aspiration (ala La La Land) or going through the same adventure together.

        But I just saw Salmon Fishing in the Yemen with Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor made back in 2011, I think. Written by the talented Simon Beaufoy, the couple ended up together at the end when during the movie, I didn't see that they had anything in common. They were more opposites then anything else, yet according to those "experts," the "opposites attract" premise" for people falling in love doesn't work in movies. Other than a couple of loving/lustful glances by Ewan to Emily, and his willingness to lend a sympathetic ear to her grief of her boyfriend soldier MIA, I didn't see much a connection between the two. Could be wrong, of course.

        I remember other movies where people with no similar interests wound up together at the end of the film.

        So, what's your opinion on what is needed to show a couple falling for each other in a film?
        99% of romantic comedies are about 2 opposites falling in love at the end of the movie. Pretty Woman comes to mind. We 100% get why he would fall for her (the whole audience did) but what the hell does she see in that jerk besides his money? He was a dick the whole movie. But he was a rich dick. And we all love it because well he's Richard Gere.

        Comment


        • #5
          In my little world, It Happened One Night brought the modern RomCom structure into focus.

          Two opposites with nothing in common are forced together
          they dislike each other
          have to rely on each other due to predicament (spend time together getting to know faults)
          Sing-along sequence
          more bickering
          Maybe start falling for each other, see opposite's point of view.
          the Misunderstanding breaks them up, never want to see each other again so long as they live.
          Supporting characters nudge them into the...
          Realization that they are in love
          Chase sequence before it's too late
          Big Happy Ending

          Think about two other Julia Roberts films:

          Notting Hill mostly follows the typical 'formula'

          My Best Friend's Wedding has a well-executed variation in which Julia Roberts does not get the guy at the end...or is that a trick of casting in which the audience assumed Julia Roberts was the protag while she was actually the antag??? If you look at the beats of the typical RomCom formula from Kimmie's POV, or Michael's POV, then perhaps it does hit the typical waypoints. It is a very interesting film for several reasons including some great writing IMO.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by RogerOThornhill View Post
            In my little world, It Happened One Night brought the modern RomCom structure into focus.

            Two opposites with nothing in common are forced together
            they dislike each other
            have to rely on each other due to predicament (spend time together getting to know faults)
            Ok, so Salmon Fishing in the Yemen had three of those elements ROT mentioned although the "dislike" was just from one perspective (Ewan McG initially disliking Emily B.) No big happy ending but a small happy ending. Guess Martell's and the ScriptShadow's idea of the couple needing some common, shared element is not mandatory for that couple to hook up ("Two opposites with nothing in common...").

            If anyone else saw that film, would like their take on it.

            Comment

            Working...
            X