There are a limited number of storylines that are commonly recycled in movies and television. Romantic comedies and tragic love stories are two genres that share the fundamental characteristic of two people wanting to be together but facing obstacles to their union. However, they differ in how the obstacles are presented. In romantic comedies, the obstacles are situational or internal to the characters and used for humor, while in tragic love stories the obstacles violate societal power structures and often result in death for one or both characters. Understanding genre conventions helps with script development and analysis to ensure a story meets audience expectations of the chosen genre.

1. Stacey Cutler
Romantic Comedies
There are only so many storylines... so that's why we see so many recycled?
Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 09:51PM
Ever watched a rom-com or tv show episode and felt deja vu?
Common repeat offender story lines include shrinking, mind/body
swap, going back in time, it was only a dream,
Christmas/circumstance -present/past/future...
There are theories saying that there are only a limited number of
story lines. These vary from 7 (Christopher Booker says these are:
Overcoming the monster / Rags to Riches / The Quest / Voyage and Return / Comedy /
Tragedy / Rebirth)...
...to 20 (Ronald Tobias says they're quest, adventure, pursuit, rescue, escape,
revenge, riddle, rivalry, underdog, temptation, metamorphosis, transformation, maturation,
love, forbidden love, sacrifice, discovery, wretched excess, ascension, and decision)..
and even 36 (George Polti, The Thirty Six Dramatic Situations).
Maybe this explains why the old ones are the best and the reason that TV
and movies are seeing a vast number of remakes, reimaginings,
sequels and recycling... they've run out of new ideas!!!
Love on Screen – romantic comedies and tragic love stories
Wed, 12 Nov 2003
In a previous article, I laid out the principles of a theory of genre which offers an interesting
way into script analysis for both development teams and screenwriters. Using the genres of
‘Romantic Comedy’ and ‘Tragic Love Story’ I want to illustrate practically how genre is indeed
a valuable theory.
Just to reiterate, genre theory is not about being ‘commercial’
(asking writers to compromise their voice and integrity), but rather
is about considering the expectations of an audience, and
considering why it is important, if not crucial, for new writers to
acknowledge these.
The genres of Romantic Comedy and Tragic Love Story share two
fundamental characteristics; in each there are two people that the
audience must want to be together and there are obstacles to
that union. Given this key similarity, these two genres are useful to
compare as an illustration of the application of the theory.
In Romantic Comedy it is the present situation of the characters
which is important. The obstacles to the union of our two main
characters are situational and/or internal to the characters and
are invested with humour. The audience doesn’t need a wealth of
information about the characters’ histories; we come into a
situation and we work it out - in fact part of the pleasure of this

2. Stacey Cutler
genre. Romantic Comedies are defined by the era in which they
are set – I have lost count of the number of times that friends
have said to me that their friend is 'just like Bridget'! Bridget Jones’
Diary is very much of our current time, and I wonder if this film
would have been possible to conceive and make in the 1980’s?
Equally, Sally in When Sally Met Harry makes a case for a career
rather than a man, which seems rather dated now – however, this
sentiment doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the film now
because it evokes an era that was in part defined by independent-
but-sexy women.
In the Tragic Love Story it is the lovers who want to be together and
this is a key and significant difference. The obstacles are that one
or both of the protagonists are violating and disregarding the
power structures in their lives by pursuing the union. Hence, the
obstacles are much more serious and the consequences of this
transgression may mean death. In fact, usually one or both of the
protagonists will die. Therefore, we do need a wealth of
information about the background of the characters in order to
understand why the stakes are so high.
There aren’t very many modern tragedies as there is so little in
our culture that is considered sacrosanct above that high concept
of love. Cultural or religious barriers to a union can still be imagined
in some (extreme) circumstances; but in order to deliver on the
emotional range experienced by the audience in this kind of the
story, the genre is mutating to compensate for modern times. For
example the film, Lawless Heart – screened at the Regus London
Film Festival this year - takes as one of its themes the idea of a
gay man falling in love with a woman, in exploring transgression in
love – (also examined in TV’s Bob And Rose, discussed last
issue).
Otherwise, the recent Tragic Love Stories are set in the past so
that the audience has an instant reference point and a way of
understanding the severity of the obstacles to a union. For
example, Titanic and more recently Moulin Rouge.
It is an understanding of genre that allows us to think about
stories in this way and ask fundamental questions of the script
that we are writing or working on. If the lovers know that they
want each other from the outset and this is their goal, we are
unlikely to be in a romantic comedy. If the lovers are not motivated
by desire for each other but end up together, and we also
understand that there are all sorts of other obstacles in their lives
to the union, we are not dealing with a tragic love story. I have
read several scripts which try to deliver a genre piece where the
key component about the relationship between the lovers is at
odds with the audience expectations.
Taking a fairly simple three act model of drama, the genre

3. Stacey Cutler
conventions of a Romantic comedy or a Tragic Love Story enable
us to work out how the screenplay should be structured and what
kind of information we need to tell our story in each of the main
acts. Let’s see how easy it can be:
Act One of a romantic comedy needs to introduce the characters
and the situation in which they are in; introduce the obstacles – or
the conflicts; and bring it to a moment where (usually) the
characters don’t get together but one or other of them now has
a mission (i.e. the course of the story has been changed).
Act Two of the romantic comedy will put the would-be lovers into
humorous situations where they keep missing the opportunity and
misunderstandings abound and by the end of this act we get to an
impasse where we know they are going to get together but we
are not quite sure how…
Act Three of the romantic comedy will resolve the main love story
– bringing our lovers together forever- and the fallout from this
should tie up all the other loose ends which have bubbled beneath
the surface.
On the other hand: Act One of a tragic love story must introduce
the characters’ background to put their story in context. We have
to understand the conflicts in the culture or the family situation to
understand how high the stakes are in the story, and the first act
will usually end when the protagonists decide to transgress,
despite the danger.
Act Two of the tragic love story will have the lovers plotting their
escape from the constraining situation, but something will happen
to end the fantasy, bringing a new urgency.
Act Three of the tragedy will be a last-ditch desperate attempt to
escape and it will go wrong. The forces against the characters will
triumph, but it is not a happy ending for anyone and usually – over
the dead body of one of the lovers - poses the question about
whether it was worth it for the triumphant forces.
Before you rush to pen your critique, I remind you again that this
theory is not trying to make a story conform to a set of
conventions, but suggesting you might use that set of conventions
to try to work out where a screenplay is failing to meet the
audience’s expectations of the genre. With this information you
can decide whether to develop the idea according to the
conventions, or whether to think about how to compensate the
audience so they are not feeling that their expectations are
cheated.
This is the second of a series of articles looking at specific screenplay genres, which
was first published in ScriptWriter magazine.

4. Stacey Cutler
Lucy Scher
Co- Director
The Script Factory
Copyright The Script Factory 2001