Inside the Untold Drama: Crafting a Trump vs. Anti-Trump RomCom with Erik Bork
Erik Bork
Yeah, I mean, you know, the idea of a catalyst in mid-act one that rocks the main character’s world, sets the story in motion. In this case, was the meeting. That’s what it often is in a rom-com. You know, the person meets a potential love interest, but learns there’s a problem or a challenge there. That’s the catalyst.
And, you know, then they have to sort of save the characters by debate section. They sort of debate what to do, try different things. And then finally, the break-in act two is like the entering into save the cat again. So, it’s like upside down world of act two, where the main character’s down in an unfamiliar situation with an ongoing challenge. In this case, that upside down world for her was like, okay, I’m going to kind of give him a chance, even though I found out who he voted for and that it’s not going to be easy and then it turns me off, whatever. I’m going to continue to like, just talk to him and see where it goes. So that’s a break-in to two. And then like mid-point, usually the stakes rise and that’s where they have a first kiss, which is a common thing in a romantic comedy. First kiss or sometimes first sex at a mid-point. I mentioned all his loss being the January 6th. And then a third act, one final chance to see if something can be saved here, which in this movie happens on inauguration day, where both, where she’s cooled down about the fact that he, you know, was open to the January 6th rally, at least before it happened, even though he didn’t like what happened there. But the meantime, I was doing a second parallel story, which about her relationship with her housemate, who she’s trying to be friends with. And that also has a three-act structure to it, where, you know, the catalyst has to do with her convincing him to sort of like, basically talk to her and, you know, get to know her. And like, they have a falling out around the all his loss moment too. Like all his loss moment is like, everything falls apart for every storyline kind of, you know, in a movie, a lot late in act two. So that’s kind of what happens here is that there’s challenges in both relationships, even though there’s also some positivity or progress, but second half of act two leading to the end of act two, things tend to go South, which they do. And then they get rescued at least somewhat in a kind of climactic way in the third act.
