Screenwriting : Not every movie needs romance. by Sharon Hankins

I hear ya, but "love for your friends" - those are called buddy-love movies (male or female) and there are tons of them out there.

I've read too many scripts where it was shoehorned in as if it was a requirement. If you are just checking a box it won't make your movie stronger. In some cases where it felt forced it deflated other parts of the story.

I hate the forced love story, especially in certain genres like action/thrillers/adventure. I always just roll my eyes and skip ahead if I can. It's not the only want to infuse heart into something. And love doesn't always have to be romantic love. I particularly

love platonic or sibling love in stories.

Well fact is that people are just running out of ideas. The same could be said about comedy situations, I am finding these days that 'alot' of movies are putting in some forces comedy scene that really doesn't work

Hmm.....I don't know....in the top 50 U.S. box office draws this week....only around 10 have anything to do with romance. Are you folks all watching the Hallmark Channel non-stop, or what?

(Not that there's anything wrong with the Hallmark Channel....shout out to: lovers/lusters/adulterer's/unrequited lovers/confused lovers/jilted lovers/lovers in training/vengeful ex's/delusional babysitters and teachers/delusional admirers of babysitters and teachers/May-December folks/fetishists/Ethical Dominatrix's/Ethical Sadists/lonely Santa's/and all lovers/likers/lusters-in general!)

My first completed story arc in a comic dealt with a woman who was in a strained relationship with her husband and that never changed in the entire narrative. Life doesn't always end with a "happily ever after" theme.

Bill Costantini Nope. I’ve never even saw a Hallmark movie. But I mean things like Jurassic World. Didn’t need the romantic storyline. Such an eye roll. Aside from the movie being horrible, throwing in the romance was so weird.

Bill, you're a really fuunnny guy

Bill Costantini Fortunately, whats currently in the box aren't the only movies in the world. Personally, I don't watch Hallmark movies.

Amber Brown Exactly! I don't get why those genres feel the need to always add that romantic element.

Jalleh Doty Also very true. They just copy scenes from another movie where it worked. I'll never understand Hollywoods, need to copy, and do reboots, when there are so many of us writers out here that can provide new and fresh ideas.

Dan MaxXx I'm not saying that there aren't any, I'm saying lots of times its forced in movies that don't need it. If a Bad Guy wants to blow up a country, why should the Main Characters motivation to stop this be just that he is in love with someone? Why not just save people to be a decent human? Also, look at the movies you listed. 12 Angry Men, really? Those movies have a very distinct plot where a love story would distract the main character from their goals. What I'm referring to are movies where romantic love being held over their head to force them to do the right thing.

I’m rewatching OKJA on netflix, about a little girl in love with a giant pig.

After Food and Shelter, Love (Community - companionship - whatever) is a base human need based on Maslow. So putting love into a story give the writer a universal truth to manipulate. I don't shoe horn a love story in. But most people have someone they love, so it will come up in some form.

There is one love that could be stronger then love for people, that's love for life. If I remember corectly, the director of "Das Boot" was asked by the producer to put a love scene in the movie. The director was like "really", when do you want this scene, when the boot gets bombed?

This is the greatest post ever. I suppose it's because I feel the same way. I was co-writing a series with another writer and he insisted on putting a love story in there. It felt so forced. I realized that all the things I write don't have love stories. There may be a couple, but the focus isn't on the couple and their love. The love story is, like Rutger Oosterhoff suggested, about life or obtaining something in that life.

I always thought something was wrong with me for thinking this. I mean, something is definitely wrong with me, but there ya go...

I agree with you Sharon. This is genius. Showing love in ways that are not in the realm of romance is always good. Love in the realm of romance is also shown as more of a lustful vibe or an infatuating feeling.

Kudos to you for bringing this topic to the light.

Sure, a movie can be about when Harry meet Sally. So many good movies (and more bad ones) are made boy meets girl (or other way around) and they fall in love.. But that's not like "Ohhh sh,t , we still need the one minute love scene (in a movie that absolutely does not need it). It simply makes no sense.

Love is what life is all about. That is why it has been prevalent in every creative work since humanity began. Paintings. Sculpture. Literature. Plays. Films.TV. It will always be a part of who we are. How we relate to one another. Questioning it is okay. After all, we are not all robotic drones yet only paying attention to our electronic devices. We still look up once in a while and smile at a face in front of us even though it's NOT on FACEBOOK.

Do correct me if I am wrong (I don't mean to insult anyone or anything), but it seems to me that 'love' - as in a typical romance/love story- are mainly portrayed in American movies (though not all of them, obviously).

Plenty of films from other countries don't use love in such a cliche manner.

Apart from that, I'm also guessing that Love sells(?) :)

Jaap- AMSTERDAM74 better be a love story or you and I won't be able to work on this film next year.

Love is a fundamental part of the human experience. It's a necessity for survival and to thrive and have a healthy existence. I'm sorry but if you were to somehow actually get a movie made with absolutely zero love story, including love for a family or close group of friends, I'd never in a million years watch it. It would be, quite frankly, garbage.

Now if you're only talking about a film not having romantic love, sure, you can have great movies without that element. But not love in general. You said love of a family in peril bothers you too, which to me seems like you have a problem with love of any kind being a motivating factor for a character's actions. Could be misunderstanding you, but that's how your post comes off.

The real question is, why are you so bitter about love? Have a bad experience or something?

Steven Harris Anzelowitz, don't get me wrong :) I am a sucker for love stories (I do love love stories :P). It is just an observation I made/guessed. P.s. I love the ones that are truly from the heart. Which I am guessing, yours is!

Jaap- No worries. I'll just tell you where to point the camera.

I think you need to define 'romance'.

I kind of get where you're coming from, there's a lot of movies with forced romantic subplots that I think would be better off if they had just focused on the A-plot, but I do think Hangover is a poor example to choose. The Wild Bachelor Party is a trope on its own and if they didn't have a wedding to get back to the whole movie would have lacked its ticking clock, and the third act would lose it's 'race to the wedding.'

I have to put the side for the opposition here. I love love stories. If there is a love story in a film, I can watch it. Not exclusively of course, I do like crime etc too, but they are my preference. I've watched some hallmark ones and they're okay, but I'm more of a bittersweet gal - love a good blub - and they are just sweet on the whole. Falling in love is one of the most exciting and heartbreaking things in life, so for now, I'll keep watching.

"Love conquers all" Take from that what you will.

Some of you guys are missing Sharon’s point. She meant love stories that are forced into movies that are not about love. Love stories are amazing. My favorite. But if there’s a movie where the main plot has nothing to do with love or a couple falling in love...and somewhere around the mid point it gets thrown in there with no real connection to the main plot, it’s awkward and annoying. Totally unnecessary. I agree that The Hangover is a very bad example to use for that exact reason - the wedding is the ticking clock. Without it, the movie has no reason to watch. But there’s are plenty others that would work brilliantly without throwing an unbelievable kissing scene in there.

-When it's better that Harry doesn't meet Sally-

I tried to find a movie that covers the whole conversation up till now. I could have found it:

The most forced ?romatic? subplot I could find and more: "Fair Game" (1995).

(1) Boy meets girl again when she survives an explosion that should have killed her...

to set up the b story.

(2) Now they slowly fall in love through:

(a) having her walk around halve naked the rest of the movie;

(b) the cliche childhood foto;

(c) him saving her life a couple of times;

(d) her wanting to hit the man to pulp because she love him;

Works every time. Or doesn't it

Budget:$50,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA: $11,534,477

Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $26,134,477

Put a supermodel in your movie and it will be a guaranteed success.

Sean Rector True but they could've easily been out celebrating something else and had to be back home at a certain time to keep the ticking clock.

Glad to see lots of people interested in this topic!

For the those of you who bring up the ticking clock issue, why is the end all be all to a ticking clock romance? It could've been a group a friends celebrating graduation and have to get back to actually graduate. Or to a child's graduation. Maybe they could've been in Vegas for a conference and the friend who gets lost has to give a big speech? There are many other ways to have a ticking clock. Personally, I just think certain romances are forced, and a cop out instead of coming up with something different.

I concur Rutger. Fair Game with Cindy Crawford (of whom I was a huge fan) was SO CONTRIVED. Lost my crush on her the day I saw it. Now she does infomercials. Ugh

I think we are all overthinking this. Love. All kinds of love will always be the strongest emotion. To eliminate it from a film completely is denial of the existance of it in our lives. We all have had conflict in our lives with this most powerful of human emotions. Why should it not be in our films?

this is a wonderful discussion with great answers and responses from everyone. I believe utilizing a little of all everyone's opinion can make for a great film. Even a film where all the major characters experience all these different variations of love could be good for any form of writing as well.

TBH you're probably right that the wedding can be omitted. For most of the movie the character getting married (the one lost) is basically a MacGuffin for the cast anyway. You could replace him with anything the cast lost and needs to get back and the central premise would still work fine, it's just more amusing to lose a person.

I do however think that the Bachelor Party is integral to the set-up. The cast consists of friends who haven't seen each other in a long while and one newbie to the group, the brother-in-law-to-be. A lot of the humor comes from the socially-awkward newbie and his desire to fit in fuels most of his decisions (including the cause of the blackout).

I'm not sure I agree with those who say The Hangover is about love, but it is definitely about Friendship, and you need some reason for these old friends to be getting back together again, rekindling their Friendship, and accepting this awkward newbie into their circle. (and honestly since friendship is the guiding theme having the MacGuffin be a lost friend works great.)

Don't ask me--I write romances. ;-)

Romance isn't the only expression of love there is!

Yes, I'm tired of the forced romances... it's partly just overused, but also formulaic to have a love interest for the protagonist in a story where it's clearly included just to tick the checkbox on the formula spreadsheet...

Sharon- Not every movie needs romance. But every movie needs LOVE. Any kind of LOVE. To deny the strongest emotion in our lives because you have a problem with LOVE is denial of what makes us all HUMAN. I am glad you got a good response from this. However, I think you need to have a little faith in humanity and it's capacity for LOVE. Both in a film and in life. It will be a sad day for humanity if we forget how important LOVE is. There said what I felt must be said.

hi nice to meet you

As far as the love story in that one, it gave the search for the friend a sense of time and a deadline. Without that, there's no telling how seriously the guys would have taken that situation(being that there's no reason to find him), and even if they did take it seriously, as I stated earlier, there's no deadline, meaning that there's no suspense or rooting for the end outcome of him making it to the wedding.

Romance isn't a requirement. It sounds like most of the counter arguments to that are based on the idea that romance is the only expression of love that there is, which is ridiculous.

Two examples. Interstellar, and the movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Both are father and child relationships. Nearly all of the father's actions are driven by love for his child, but neither is a romantic relationship.