DZ-22: Romantic Comedy, Actually

How can studying RomCom clichés teach us to subvert them?

With Stu busy working on Hollywood blockbusters, Chas is joined by Alli Parker (script department on Aussie TV series and former co-ordinator of European #scriptchat) to unpick successful romcoms to see if they can illuminate a path for writers working in this struggling genre. Cheap to produce and potentially highly lucrative, Chas and Alli look at RomCom’s conventions to see what it may take to reinvigorate this genre.

To that end, they look at *deep breath* WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, WHAT IF, THE PROPOSAL, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, NOTTING HILL, FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS as well as special mentions to GOING THE DISTANCE, SEAN OF THE DEAD and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.

EPISODE LINKS

• Vulture.com: 10 Most Over-Used Romantic Comedy Plot-Points
• Draft Zero: DZ-13: True That – Tips from Tarantino
• Goodreads: Writing the Romantic Comedy: From “Cute Meet” to “Joyous Defeat” by Billy Mernit
• WHEN HARRY MET SALLY by Rob Reiner, Nora Ephron & Andrew Scheinman
  • Youtube: WHEN HARRY MET SALLY – Restaurant Orgasm Scene
• Youtube: WHAT IF trailer
• Youtube: THE PROPOSAL trailer
• 500 DAYS OF SUMMER by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
  • Youtube: (500) DAYS OF SUMMER – Expectations vs Reality
• The Atlantic: Love Actually is the least romantic film of all time
• BAFTA: Richard Curtis Delivers his BAFTA Screenwriters’ Lecture
• Alli Parker: Twitter – @alli_and_that and website – http://www.alliparker.com

BACKMATTER LINKS

• TV Tropes: Romantic Comedy
• Aeon Magazine: There Is No Language Instinct
• DZ-04: Catharsis and the Post-Coital Cigarette
• YouTube: Girls (HBO) Season 2 Episode 10 ” Together” Finale
• NewStatesman: “Let’s talk about genre” – Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro in conversation
• TheDailyDot.com: The Mako Mori Test: ‘Pacific Rim’ inspires a Bechdel Test alternative
• The Guardian: Woman sues to stop Drive getting away with a ‘misleading’ trailer
• Listener Project: EX-BEST
• Wikipedia: Cosmic Encounter

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