How to Write a Romantic Comedy Screenplay

If you want to write a romantic comedy screenplay then the first thing you need to think about is character. A good romantic comedy usually contains someone annoying and frustrating to the audience, and it’s their inability to change or act “human” that draws us in. When you find what your characters traits are then you can use this to your advantage and create situation comedy. Situation comedy is where the character says or does something and makes a fool of him/herself, a good example of situation comedy is The Office. The three main things you need to have in a romantic comedy are; strong comedic characters, characters with opposite personalities and an engaging plot line.

Creating Comedic Characters

Very often comedy characters are based heavily on stereotypes. If you decide to stereotype your character then you already have an idea of what they are going to be like and the audience will already be able to relate to them. If you don’ want to use a stereotype then you need to pinpoint a certain problem that character has an exploit it in every way possible, making whatever his/her goal just a little bit harder.

Using Character Opposites

In a romantic comedy screenplay you will usually find that the two lead roles are very different from each other and it’s this clash of personality that causes drama and humour. When you are thinking of lead characters then always make sure that they both have different personality’s and similar if not the same goals. That way you will find that whatever one of them does then the other will suffer in one way or another.

Structuring The Plot

Most of the time the plot of a romantic comedy will sit in the background, using mainly the characters to engage the audience. However you still need to think about a few things such as what are the goals of the leads characters? What situation are they in to cause tension? What happens in order for them to find it more difficult achieving their goals? Once you have answered these questions then you will have a good indication of where your plot might go.

Writing a romantic comedy screenplay can be quite a challenge. Remember that you don’t have to rely on gags and jokes to make your script funny, situation and clash of personality can be far stronger. If you are a beginner screenwriter and haven’t had much experience then I would recommend learning all of the basics of writing a screenplay in general and not just how to write a romantic comedy script, there are certain rules that need to be applied to all screenplays such as structure and format and you don’t want your script to be wasted just because you haven’t learnt the basics.

By: Alejandro Manuel

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