Free Romantic Screenplays 101 by Sally J. Walker

plants can you logically set-up early-on then payoff? Example: Early in GLADIATOR, Maximus briefly watched the sword exercises of the man he ultimately faced in the Coliseum.
    Every scene, every piece of dialogue must be real, relevant, and riveting. No excessive sentiment or emotion. Let your audience live with your characters.
     
    ROMANTIC SCREENPLAYS Chapter 5 Exercises
    Exercise 5a:  What is your Hero willing to sacrifice or endure for his beloved’s happiness? What empowerment will the Heroine demonstrate, what risks will she take for her lover’s well-being?
     
    Exercise 5b: What level of violence is inherent in your story? What level are your main characters capable of (hero, heroine, antagonist)?
     
    Exercise 5c: Rate your current screenplay plot events on a scale of 1 (Total disregard of sexual signaling) to 10 (Graphic Sexual Activity). Do you perceive any moral issue in the level of sexuality of your story? (And, yes, editing out of love-making scenes is sometimes done to get a better or more general audience rating from the censors to improve box office income.)
     
    Exercise 5d: List five behaviors the male will use in the story’s courting ritual. Now, list five of the heroine’s behaviors. Do you see any as stereotypical or even melodramatic? Do you perceive the male or the female as the sexual instigator or seducer? 

 
    Chapter 6
    Sexual Tension vs.
    Plot complications
     
    IN THE BEGINNING
    If a couple is happily united at the outset of a romantic story, where can the story go? The relationship would have to be torn asunder and rebuilt or other relationships with other partners evolve. Of course, those are possibilities. However, screenplays, like short stories, need to grab the reader by the throat and involve them immediately in character dilemma and desire. There is no time to leisurely reveal the dark undertow of problems for these incredibly perfect people. Some novelists prefer to build interest in the character before tackling what is challenging them, so their real story doesn’t begin until Chapter Two. Most editors will tell them to delete Chapter One and get to the meat of the story, dropping in the set-up characterization as the story progresses where that information about the character is needed.
    Screenplays are even more demanding. Put the characters at risk of high stakes gain or loss within the first 10 minutes/10 pages of the script. Reveal the strengths and flaws of the main character and that soul-deep goal that drives him or her to take the risks, to charge ahead into life-changing actions. It does not have to do with the male and female meeting but has to do with sucking in the audience to care enough about the Protagonist that they will want him or her to meet the mate and work toward happily ever after. The protagonist has to convince the audience that he or she is worthy.
    Since this is a romance and Hollywood wants sex and violence, how do you insert budding awareness from the introductory scene on? Visually hint at the internal Essence of the main character who will be the one who changes internally, the one who arcs because of the events of the story. You also have to depict the external Identity or role of this character, the who they are in the world. The audience/reader has to be sucked into the demands and problems of that role from the moment the character shows up. Chaos, turmoil, crisis have to depict this character in action. Yet you want to deliver a glimpse of the essence yearning for fulfillment. From squeaky clean, fun teen romantic movies through intensely emotional and dark adult thrillers, you must show the main character noticing, wanting, needing a mate.
     
    WHEN THE TWO MEET
    Re-examine Howard’s Twelve Steps. With those in mind, consider what you want to see happen when the male and female encounter one another the first time. Of course, you will not move from Step One to Twelve within two scenes . . . . if your story is to be built on more