Romantic comedy script suggestions

What standards do you use to evaluate scripts by? Good is a subjective measure and without some idea of what you consider good, any answers are not going to be much help. Personally, I can't remember a single romantic comedy that I would consider good.

Go back just a few years before your 15 and read WORKING GIRL, which is the apotheosis of the genre. Also good is WHAT WOMEN WANT, which was extremely successful.

I think the trick to romantic comedies is to not make them about the romance. Instead of pursuing love (which is difficult to dramatize), the protagonist pursues something else (like the "corner office" in WORKING GIRL). Romance springs from the pursuit. The pursuit eventually creates obstacles in the romance - putting everything at risk.

There are successful rom-coms that are about the romance - like SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE and WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, but when new writers attempt this sort of take on the rom-com, their scripts end up meandering and being about nothing. It takes a very skilled writer to pull off a romantic comedy along these lines.

Typically, Hollywood prefers a more classically structure romantic comedy - like 10 WAYS TO LOSE A GUY - which, again, isn't about the romance, per se.

Creativeexec, a very interesting point. Of course that applies to all movie genres when you think about it. Horror movies aren't about escaping from the monster, a self-centered and common act - it's about saving the victim (the girl) from the monster. Dramas tend to be about challenges such as growing to adulthood (e.g. Dead Poets' Society) or achieving personal greatness (e.g. Rocky) but love remains the catalyst. Did I just say that monster movies are more romantic than romcoms? My point, I think, is that love is always a better catalyst than goal.

If you're looking for funny: Although I don't generally like rom-com, I did enjoy "Notting Hill" and "Love Actually". The latter isn't the traditional idea of rom-com, but a couple of the storylines fit perfectly. I found the latter especially funny.

Harold and Maude

My writing mentor told me that the epitome of all "fisih-out-of-water stories" is Doc Hollywood starring Michael J. Fox. He explained why:

"A fish-out-of-water story is really a love story. The main protag gets dropped into a despised alien environment and immediately longs to escape. But he/she eventually meets someone from that despised alien environment who represents the environemnt. Then he/she falls in love with that person, and by falling in love, eventually falls in love with the despised alien environment as well. In Doc Hollywood, Mchazle J. Fox must choose between either becoming the town doctor (whom everyone calls 'Doc') for a small backwater little town where his car broke down on his way to California, or going to Hollywood and becoming a plastic surgeon. He starts out shallow and selfish and at first wants only the shallow empty life of wealth that a Hollywood plastic surgery practice offers. But as he waits for his car to be repaired he falls in love with a woman from that small nothing little town that he hates so much, subsequently falls in love with the town, and winds up deciding to stay in the town and be their doctor and never think about Hollywood again."

Doc Hollywood was then remade into the recent Disney/Pixar film Cars. Lightning McQueen hates that small little town where he broke down but falls in love with the local public defender and evetually falls in love with the town too.

Legally Blonde was another great fish-out-of-water story with a romance infused into the plot in a simialr way: Elle Wood hates Harvard, hates law school, and is only there to chase after a guy. But then she meets another guy there in law school, falls in love with him then falls in love with Hardvard as well.



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I liked Legally blonde very much.Mr Beans is ok . You can try simply script . There a few scripts available.
padma

creativexec said:

I think the trick to romantic comedies is to not make them about the romance. Instead of pursuing love (which is difficult to dramatize), the protagonist pursues something else (like the "corner office" in WORKING GIRL). Romance springs from the pursuit. The pursuit eventually creates obstacles in the romance - putting everything at risk.

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Wow - I never thought of that. Now I've heard it explained it seems so obvious - I wonder how I ever missed it.

I'd vote for "Jerry Maguire"

If you can't find it elsewhere, you can pick it up out of my dropbox here:

http://tinyurl.com/yz3sj5q

Mac

I thought The Proposal was pretty funny.

For great Romantic Comedies made in the last 15...I'd say:
Serendipity
The Holiday
Love Actually

All fantastic films. Excellent dialog and stories. They weren't particularly popular, but high quality. If you are looking for a Rom Com that was more successful, I'd check out:
What Happens In Vegas