Summer Romance – An Old People’s Angst Script

We’ve been through the teen years, adult years, and the marriage years in our look at how to write that summer romance script—so we’ve come to the end of the road, the old people’s angst script.

In examining this category of the romance film, I looked at two Nancy Myers comedies-- Something’s Got to Give [2003] and It’s Complicated [2009]. Why two comedies? Because, for the most part, older peoples’ romances are played for laughs. This doesn’t mean you can’t do a drama—in fact, this year's Our Souls at Night fits that dramatic category, though it has its funny moments. But chances are, audiences want to laugh a bit when it comes to older peoples’ romances—perhaps a sad commentary, but probably accurate.

So when you think about writing this category of film, what kinds of similarities do they have?

1. At least one of the leads is reticent—thinking romance is over for them so why try? But of course, in their heart of hearts, they’d like nothing more than to be in love again.
2. There’s a secondary story that has the potential to interfere with their romance.
3. It ends well—they probably get together.

Let’s see how you might begin to explore these points for your script.

First, of course, who are your two characters? Are they 60 or 80—makes a difference because this ‘older people’ category can cover decades. Where do they live? Are they still working? If not, how do they spend their time? What’s a typical day like for each of our characters? Are they divorced or widowed? How is their health? Do they have kids? Grandkids? Have they known each other for a long time or did they just meet? How long have they been alone? Has a spouse just died or did that spouse die 20 years ago?

Second, what is it that’s interfering with their romance coming to fruition? Is one of them afraid? Or are both of them afraid? Is there a class-gap between the two of them? Do they have kids that don’t approve of a romance at their age? Is money an issue for either of them? Do they get bad news about their health during the story and that becomes something that could interfere with this relationship going forward? Is one a Trump supporter and one very anti-Trump? Do they seem to have very little in common? All of these are possibilities that could interfere with their romance.

Third, since most older people romances end with them getting together, can you come up with a way for them to do that that is different? Can you come up with some funny/odd/clever way that they finally end up together—preferably a way we didn’t expect? It would be great to end the film with a bit of a surprise, wouldn’t it? So how can you do that?

OK, we’ve spent two months on this subject of writing the summer romance. So hey—do it! Pick the category you like best, put the pedal to the metal, and write your heart out. This could be a way to keep summer alive on the page as fall descends in real life.

September next week—time to get back to school! Hmmm…. What could we do with that???

Copyright © Diane Lake

26Aug18

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com