Romance/Love-story advice pleases?

[H.Z.]

So, under the category of make sure your script is 500% baked BEFORE you shoot it, I'm having problems with the central love story in the movie that i'm editing.

Namely, it's kind of not there... I have a love-triangel in the film and I made the mistake of assuming that because one of the love story's was clear to me, it was clear enough in my story.

Anyway, i need to shoot what i'm going to treat as a kind of stand alone arc that will probly be 6 or seven extra scenes. I want it to have a very quintessential romance/love-story feel, however I'm a little stumped on how to that because it is between a straight woman and a gay man.

What do you guys think of when it comes to classic romance arcs?

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can show characters in a classic romance arc without any kind of overt physical/sexual love?

Thanks!!

 

[Lord of Light]

You could play it off as a sort of unrequited love.

Say Jim and Kelly are life long friends, but Jim has had a crush on Kelly for a long time and won't act on it out of fear it will ruin their friendship. Kelly, oblivious to Jim's feelings, gets real serious with a guy named Ted. This prompts Jim to find it within himself to admit his true feelings to her before it's too late.

This would work because you don't have to play up their romance with physical/sexual actions, or with lame, corny dialogue. Play off the friendship and the angst (not too much on the latter) and it could make for an interesting story. Also allows for you to utilize the love triangle and make it more obvious through the interactions of the characters.

Hope that helps.

 

[Buddy Greenfield]

Can you support some of the formation of their relationship in montage?

Romance is not my forte, so all I can really think of are a few friend turned love set-ups:

The secret admirer friend nonsense.
The supportive friend under trying circumstances.
The friend who sacrifices themselves for the other somehow.
One friend angry at the other discovers the other did what they did out of love.
One friend helps the other weather a storm of self realization or person battle.

Stabs in the dark:

The gay guy knows the other guy is no good, the female doesn’t believe him and shuns him, things escalate in a bad way between the straight guy and the female, the gay guy acting on what he knows rushes in and saves her in someway.

The female is pregnant, the straight guy bails on the responsibility, the gay guy is there for her.

Maybe you can pull the rug out from under the audience by allowing us to know one loves the other, but the other doesn’t know, then just as they are about to reveal their feelings they get into an argument, reveal their affection out of frustration/anger, and the tide turns again when the other realizes they too love the other.

Sorry not much of a help.

-Thanks-

 

[Lord of Light]

And give the female character more depth. In addition to Buddy's response, make her the type that's emotionally dependent on the loser/asshole strait dude. Have her slip into darkness before she realizes how good her friend is for her.

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

Their love...

So, under the category of make sure your script is 500% baked BEFORE you shoot it, I'm having problems with the central love story in the movie that i'm editing.

Namely, it's kind of not there... I have a love-triangel in the film and I made the mistake of assuming that because one of the love story's was clear to me, it was clear enough in my story.

Anyway, i need to shoot what i'm going to treat as a kind of stand alone arc that will probly be 6 or seven extra scenes. I want it to have a very quintessential romance/love-story feel, however I'm a little stumped on how to that because it is between a straight woman and a gay man.

What do you guys think of when it comes to classic romance arcs?

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can show characters in a classic romance arc without any kind of overt physical/sexual love?

Thanks!!

...has to transcend the physical.

In other words, you show them performing all the usual non-physical acts of being in love. Make it OBVIOUS to the casual observer... In this case, the other guy in the triangle.

These two show each other love in ways that she does not show the other guy nor does the other guy show her. Little notes. Remembering special events with a gift. Hand made gifts. Always being there for each other. Stuff like that... Maybe the girl and the gay man do not even realize that this love exists except on a friendly level because the guy is gay. His being gay keeps either one from ACTING on the physical but their true love keeps coming through -- at least to the audience -- via the little ACTS of love they continue to show each other.

filmy

 

[H.Z.]

Thank you guys so much for the replies! I wrote (and filmed) myself into a bit of a corner, in that all of the characters girl, gay man, straight man don't know eachother at the start of the story, and all need to be at least semi-sympathetic. (Cos all this is re-shoots of a project that was s'posed to be done this summer - aka why to make sure your script actually works before you shoot. Buuut, anyway, great advice, I feel a lot more clear now.

Thanks!!!

 

[wcmartell]

Look at what they both love - a specific song or book or whatever that the other guy doesn't know about.

Whispers are more intimate that a regular conversation.

A shared joke that the other guy isn't in on.

I'd just make a list of all of the things that would make you jealous and worried - then write them into scenes.

- Bill