Formulaic approaches to this genre have become so self-parodying that a fresh and imaginative take on your story is mandatory.
I've been arguing this basic idea for as long as I've been writing about and teaching romantic comedy, and here's a really good and funny trailer for an upcoming movie that makes the case more eloquently than more verbiage on the subject would:
When the basic elements in a formulaic rom-com (or zom-com, i.e. zombie romantic comedy) are so self-evident that they can be used for a trailer where the audience is on the joke, a priori...
Put your imagination cap on when you sit down at that keyboard, will you? Please? Thank you.
Too bad Hollywood doesn't implore more of your advice in its movie offerings. We need better movies. Better movies with themes and stuff that make you think. So many movies out there are brain dead.
Billy, IF you ever read any of my stuff, I think you'd like what you read. I write with the goal of finding a story's "magic point." No formulas, no paradodies. Just with I could find that champion to bring my stories to the big leagues. Too bad so many of the castle doors are locked shut. - E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
Posted by: E.C. Henry | June 09, 2011 at 12:43 AM
“Sometimes, you have to break your heart to find it’s other half.” What a great tagline for a pseudo-rom-com! It’s absurd enough to be funny (something wouldn’t need another half if it weren’t broken) and sage enough to be true (if your heart doesn’t get broken, you might never know that it’s incomplete). In striking just the right equipoise between the poignant and the preposterous, these Disney writers, I’d say, are certainly earning their arbitration settlements.
Posted by: Rob in L.A. | June 11, 2011 at 02:21 PM
EC: I like that "magic point" concept.
Rob: I endeavor to strike the right equipoise between the poignant and the preposterous on a daily basis, myself.
Posted by: mernitman | June 11, 2011 at 04:45 PM