Screenwriting : Bringing the two leads together by Keith MacGeagh

That's what I have as well, but it seems superficial and forced because of the plot/action. Would two people really get together while the world is crumbling around them?

Perhaps if one of the characters "rescues" the other character from certain death, or perhaps if they each rescue each other to give them a connection.

Actually, I meant that if one of them "rescues" the other one it might be more believable that it leads to a romance.

Thx. I agree with both of you. The fast paced linearity of the plot moves the story, but to counterbalance that there are scenes of reflection and emotional inner needs being revealed to add depth to the characters. So escalating the depth of these scenes in each act and then having them walk away together at the end seems to be the best structural method to create the relationship.

romantic rescue is always biology based within close sensory perceptions of the romancers in which their hormones are brought to the brain and embedded deep in neuron-chemical processes. it is not action dependant or rescue dependent. if you want them to walk off into the sunset, know what lies beyond the sunset and work backwards to their first meeting. place your self in both of their shoes and write what your hormones tell you if correct. if you are forcing anything it is probably the time that transpires before body hormones (like oycontin) are ready to accept sexual intercourse without fear (called love). a romance can be an independent thread with its own plot lines, which can contrast and offer relief from heavy action scenes. all romance is a bonding process to set up hormones and patterns to secure safe variables for procreation. actually I feel it is better to create the romance and then derive the actions plots based on the depth of the romance. Example: Will the hero ready to lay down his life for love of a woman without questioning the sacrifice (hopefully using dramatic irony). this is the emotional value that dives a plot and characters.

I find rivals over the most ordinary thing eventually make the best lovers. When they struggle to win, it allows each to show their vulnerabilities to the other. Soon, they discover they have those vulnerabilities in common. The core of true love.

...romantic tension takes time to build!

That's why I say over something ordinary. It's not the tension that must be complex. It's what happen after they look into each other's heart.

Casting. Chemistry. If those two things are there, the actors can make reading the phone book to each other sexy. And romance is boring without that possibility of sex.

i think having 2 people coming to romance when the world is crumbling on them ,is best a realistic moment in really life stiuation , take for instance , if 2 strangers on flight happen to have some isues , disagree with each other , and non of them feels like they a have a neighbor on flight seat , what matter is their next destination now , but shortly after , this deadly hijacker reveals him self to the passanger wing , what he needs is this female stranger and on the same flight we have this idiot pilot who doesn't care about the life of the passanger , what he cares about is to rebel against the hijacker 's instruction ,he stupidly crash the plane , but before the plane could land on the surface , we see this male stranger diving off the plane with the female stranger right in his hands , you know he is this military legend and that's why he could stand a non justifiable slap from a strange woman on flight , ofcourse they watch over the plane crashing , but the hijacker wasn't a fool enough ,he called for back up , its more tense now , the back up is stronger . this time round , there is nothing like diving ,its real war , the back up need this dam woman and man who is trying to help her . do n't you think its easier for strangers to merge and fight for their lives ? , and if a miracle happens , and they achive it , don't you think a possionate kiss from this strange woman to strange man works as a thank you Mr . for saving my life ? .besides emotion during the time when they are fighting can tell , some one might be with the view , i must fight harder to save him after all am the one that put him in this mess , if it wasn't for my political illusion , then he wouldn't have been here , and male stranger would be like , even if she slaped me for no reason , but i think she can replace my lost wife , so then i must fight to make her mine and mine alone , i don't care if this thick forest will have to witness our marriage vows or even be our home for my new family , but i will not let this barsard lie a finger on her . things of the sort will have to be in character subtext and i think it must be incoparated in charcter arc to make it more realistic and make the viewers move along with them[character] in other words make the charcter fall in love on screen than just bumping into romance especially now you don't what it to be forced . for me i think if the two of them believe that what they saw on first sight wasn't that person they have now , them romatic emotions can cement this with out even sex or even a kiss if where you are , its a forbiden for people to kiss on screen . i wish you the best of luck Julian Nabunya .

I liked how Dogma handled that. It wasn't a romance, but one of the characters agreed to have sex with another if the world was going to end. When the shit hit the fan and the angels were destroying everybody to get back into heaven and end the world, he pulled his pants down and reminded her of her promise. So it could be as simple as that. Maybe your female lead tells your male lead that she wouldn't sleep with him if he was the last man on earth. Then as the world comes to an end, she does.

@ Kristen , i Liked the idea of pulling down the pants , but wouldn't that be forcing some into an emotion they have not been into , what if opposite sex is wired , she picks a dagger then cut off your D, but any way it all depends on the chracter triats your dealing with , where they are and who they are ,if they are coming on deadly street , of course they will understand that pull over the pant down must match and next thing is tight hag after a couple of good hours of sex after all they mind less of losing the contact , whether it was good , but that's what they do always , but if its this executive woman who makes several calls home to put right a romatic dinner with long time husband every time they have to make love again and on staged show , then i doubt if , she can match the pant down instruction if not pullinng the revolver off your wrist line and shoot you right in the pivot of whole body structure . Merry Xmas if you Believe in Jesus Christ .

Is it logical that the two characters would fall in love? You get to choose who they are, so give them a backstory (explained or not) that makes it logical to you that they would fall in love. It can be as ridiculous as you want, as long it moves you to create the right story. Maybe his friends teased her in high school but he never did – now she’s a hottie and appreciates he was the only one who wasn’t a jerk. Maybe he had a special needs brother and she used to volunteer at the home he lived in. Maybe she meets him after being told by a psychic that she was about to meet the man of her dreams…so she forces the concept herself. I’m not saying to do any of these things specifically, I’m just saying that it has to make sense in your mind before it can make sense in a script. Once you feel it, you can write it much better :) …just my opinion :)

WIthout knowing the particulars, I would work the attraction, but have something(s) that is (are) keeping them apart. For instance, in the script I just finished (set in the 1890s), there's a social class difference that the man (rich) is willing to ignore but the woman (working class) is too keenly aware of at first ... Then circumstances drive the together so they have to ignore them in order to survive ... Make sense?

Good point Rick. My thought is that the romantic film genre has a structure - boy meets girl(1-10), boy has problem with girl falls in love(11-30), boy loses girl-his own fault(31-45), boy gets girl back(46-60), boy loses girl again - her doing(61-75), boy gets girl back. boy loses girl again - outside force(76-90), boy gets girl back(91-95). Boy learns lesson, confronts outside force. Boy girl live happily ever after(96-the end). Why not a structure for other genres?

Substitute "group of people" for "boy" and "horrors" for "girl," and that's pretty much a horror script ... Maybe ... I may be a little glib here, but that's pretty much it ... :) ... I'm working on some historical screenplays, which are a tough sell because of the costuming, sets, and f/x ... Historical has bigger complications ...