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October E-Track Meeting
Michael Hauge on Love, Romance
and The "S" Word
(October 2001) |
It's been said that love makes the world go around. That may or may not be true, but Network members learned techniques to improve the chances of having their romantically-inclined screenplays make the rounds in Hollywood during the October educational track meeting, presented by Michael Hauge.
Hauge is a studio script consultant, screenwriter's coach and teacher, and a frequent speaker at the Scriptwriters Network. He is the author of Writing Screenplays That Sell, and his seminar, "Screenwriting For Hollywood: From Concept to Sale" has been presented to more than 20,000 writers and filmmakers throughout the world. Hauge is co-writer, with Jan Eliasberg, of Heart of the Atom, now in development at Propaganda Films for director Luis Mandoki.
Using clips from My Best Friend's Wedding, Sleepless in Seattle, Shrek and LA Confidential, Hauge discussed both the classic love story - which tends to be a tougher sale - and the romantic comedy, which is considered to be "one of the few marketable genres right now."
Generally, the classic love story tends to be a period piece involving adultery - committed by the woman - in which the lovers end up going their separate ways -- usually for some "greater good." Examples cited by Hauge include Casablanca, Out of Africa, The English Patient and The Bridges of Madison County.
The romantic comedy tends to be more commercial, more contemporary, and always has a happy ending. "We want the hero and the romance character to go off together at the end," Hauge said.
But surprisingly, most romantic comedies are built on great pain. "The situation the character is in at the beginning is rarely funny," he pointed out.
Sleepless in Seattle, for example, opens during the funeral of the main character's wife. In Mrs. Doubtfire, the hero loses his children. Pretty Woman begins with the main character in jeopardy on the streets, while Something About Mary starts with the hero experiencing "abject humiliation."
For every "rule," there are, of course, exceptions. For example, in My Best Friend's Wedding, the Julia Roberts character fails to win the love she pursues throughout the film. The bittersweet ending is rare, but it works. However, of the top 50 moneymaking romantic comedies of all time, only three end with the hero and the romance character going their separate ways.
"If you're trying to launch a career with a romantic comedy, let them win," he advised.
Another "rule," Hauge said, is that the audience must see the hero and romance character meet. That meeting is where "all the excitement comes," he explained. "If they're already in love at the beginning of the movie, it robs the audience of the part that is the most romantic."
When the hero meets the romance character, the audience needs to fall in love as well. "You don't want to write a movie where the hero falls for a jerk," Hauge cautioned. "That will distance us from the film and we'll lose sympathy for the hero. We want to root for them to get together at the end of the movie."
If the story involves a love triangle in which the romance character is involved with someone else, the audience must meet the hero before meeting the "rival." If the hero is in a relationship, the audience must meet the romance character before meeting the person with whom the hero is involved.
"We're drawn to the people we meet first in a movie," Hauge explained. "If we meet them first, we assume they're meant to be together."
Once the two characters meet, he cautioned, it is "absolutely critical" that the romance character be pursued. "Pursuit" doesn't necessarily mean constantly going after the romance character; in fact, the characters may not even recognize that they are meant to be together. But the reader and audience must recognize the hero's romantic destiny immediately.
In Shrek, for example, the title character doesn't fall in love immediately. But by the end of the film, the ogre and the princess are riding off into the sunset together.
While the hero pursues the romance character, he or she must also pursue some other visible goal. This "outer motivation" is the foundation upon which the film's plot is built. But the two goals must be intertwined.
In Shrek, for example, the title character wants to deliver the princess in order to win back his land - and also wants to win the love of the princess. In Titanic, Rose wants to get to America - and to win Jack's love.
"In any effective love story there must be two goals," Hauge advised. "It isn't going to work if you write a love story where two people fall in love, and then sit around being romantic. There has got to be another desire to drive your story forward.
"You can't have a movie about a guy who wants to win a marathon and falls in love with the girl next door," he added. "The romance character must be intertwined with the hero's other outer motivation."
Love stories always contain deception, with the hero lying to someone, Hauge continued. In Working Girl, for example, the main character's visible goal is to put together a merger. Although she's a secretary, she longs to be a success on Wall Street. While pursuing that goal, she meets the romance character and pretends to be someone she is not - a broker - and hopes to win his love.
In Tootsie, Michael Dorsey pretends to be a woman named Dorothy Michaels. In Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Williams' character pretends to be a female nanny. In Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts' character pretends to be a rich man's companion, rather than a hooker he picked up.
The deception doesn't always have to involve the hero posing as another person; in American President, the president lies to his love interest in order to pass his crime bill. But regardless of the form the deception takes, the audience must be in on it.
And then there's the sex.
A romantic movie is not about brotherly love, Hauge advised. Rather, it's about romantic, sexual attraction.
"When you write a love story, you must deal with sex," he said. "You can't write like it's 1950. The expectation is no longer that two people wait until they're married to make love."
The audience is rooting for the characters to be involved - romantically and sexually - and the writer has to confront that.
"It doesn't mean you have to show them going to bed together," he added. "But if they don't, we have to understand why."
One of the greatest weaknesses in most love stories and romantic comedies is that the writer provides absolutely no reason for the two characters to get together. "It's as if the hero says, 'I love you because we're in this movie together,'" Hauge said.
You must ask yourself why, out of all the people your hero has encountered in her life, this one is her destiny.
"There is one reason above all else for the hero to pursue the romance character: he is the embodiment of her longing, the part of herself she hasn't had the courage to go after. Jack embodies Rose's desire for passion in Titanic; Sam is the embodiment of "magic" for Annie in Sleepless in Seattle; Sylvia is freedom made manifest in The Truman Show.
"This is what gives your hero the courage to face all the obstacles in the film - this is why Rose jumps off the lifeboat. And the romance character is ultimately your hero's reward for having overcome her fears.
"This is why love stories are such powerful tools for developing character arc. As long as your hero is in his 'identity,' protecting himself from his emotional wounds and fears, he's incomplete. It is only as he moves toward his essence - makes the transition from emotional slavery to freedom and independence, that he will find his destiny and win the love of his life."
Michael Hauge's "Screenwriting For Hollywood: From Concept to Sale" seminar will be presented in Los Angeles on Nov. 17 and 18, and again on February 2 and 3. His 16-week, limited enrollment Screenwriting Master Class is now accepting applications, and will begin December 6. For information about either of these workshops, or about opportunities for one-on-one individual coaching and consultation, please call (818) 995-8118, or send e-mail to mhauge@juno.com.
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