Movies from the Heart—You’ve Got Mail

Last week’s When Harry Met Sally, a 1989 film, was written by Nora Ephron. She also co-wrote, with Delia Ephron, the film I’d like to look at this week—You’ve Got Mail [1998]. And what a difference just nine years makes when we’re talking about contemporary romance. What happened in those nine years? The internet happened. And it changed how many people met each other.

Nora Ephron was one of the first people to capitalize on this by dramatizing it for the screen. And I have to say, one of the amazing things about the film is how quickly it came out when online dating sites were just getting going. eHarmony started in 2000, Facebook in 2004 and Tinder in 2012. Match.com did start prior to this film—in 1995—but it wasn’t huge at all until three years later.

And chat rooms were just becoming another way people would “meet” each other and then exchange emails and have online conversations.

So this film was incredibly prescient. And that’s tough in film. The average time between an idea being presented to the studio, and it becoming a film and being released, is about seven years.

Thus one of the reasons the film was so successful is that it was so timely—it ran into a society that was just on the cusp of realizing that the internet was a serious way to meet people.

Take a look at the trailer for the film.

One of the reasons this film is worth studying is that it’s NOT a triangle love story. At least, not seriously. Joe does have a girlfriend, but from the minute we meet her we know she’s not right for him. No, the story ends up being about these two people and how they come together.

It is loosely based on the 1940 film A Shop Around the Corner where two people exchange letters—they’re sort of pen pals—and he eventually finds out who she is, without her knowing. That’s exactly what happens in You’ve Got Mail. Joe finds out who Kathleen is—and finds out that IF she knew him she’d hate his guts because he’s trying to put her out of business.

As I said, one of the great things about this film is how timely it was. So if you’re thinking of writing that modern, romantic film, ask yourself: is there something in our culture that’s on the cusp of changing? Can you imagine, 2-3 or more years down the road, what could be coming that would facilitate people meeting? And if you can’t think of something off hand, start researching! Start looking at articles about the future, about changes that are coming… see if that can lead you to imagining a timely romantic film!

Next week, a film that, like You’ve Got Mail, gives us a romantic pairing of people who really can’t stand each other: It Happened One Night.

Copyright © Diane Lake

17Nov24

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com