An Inside Look of the Stage 32 Writers' Room: Writing Romantic Comedies
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Webinar hosted by: Jason Mirch
Creative Producer & Executive at FearWorks
Jason Mirch is a feature film and television producer and executive with over 15 years of experience. Jason also serves as the Director of Script Services at Stage 32 where he works directly with screenwriters, filmmakers, and leading industry executives. In addition to his work with Stage 32, Jason runs production and development for a company which produced low-budget genre pictures for an international audience, as well as serves as a business advisor to a successful post production vfx company which contributed to The Peanut Butter Falcon, Crawl, Martin Scorsese's Silence, Arctic, and Let them Talk for Steven Soderbergh and HBO. Most recently, he produced a 3D animated feature film starring Jacob Tremblay, Emmy-winner Christopher Lloyd, Oscar-winner Mel Brooks, Emmy-winner Kenan Thompson, and Emmy-winner Carol Kane. Mirch was the Head of Feature and Television Development at Image Nation, a finance and production company based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. There, he supervised the Image Nation contributions in the development of Flight, The Help, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Contagion, Careful What You Wish For, Ghost Rider 2, and 100 Foot Journey. Prior to his work at Image Nation, Mirch was Co-Head of Development at Storyline Entertainment (Oscar-winning Chicago, Footloose, The Bucket List) where he developed a slate of feature film projects for New Line, Paramount, Summit Ent., and CBS/Paramount. He also developed and sold television projects and mini-series to CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, and Lifetime. He has lectured on all areas of filmmaking, speaking on panels at the Producers Guild of America, Austin Film Festival, the Harvard Screenwriting Group, American Film Market, University of Southern California Film School, Chapman University School of Film & Television, NYU, as well as several international film festivals and markets. In addition, he has consulted brands, including Burberry and Creative Artists Agency. Mirch graduated Cum Laude from Chapman University’s School of Film and Television, where he received a B.F.A., in Film Production, with an emphasis in Writing and Directing. He was mentored by Academy Award Winning Writer/Director David S. Ward and is the winner of Chapman University Student Filmmaker Award, for Best Director for his film Ally. Full Bio »
Webinar Summary
A Vice President of Development at an A-List production company recently said,"Every studio executive is asking me for Rom Coms!"
If you look at recent trends, it is clear they are on a come back. With the tremendous box office success of CRAZY RICH ASIANS, BOOK CLUB and THE BIG SICK and the streaming successes of SET IT UP, SIERRA BURGESS IS A LOSER, and TO ALL THE BOYS I LOVED BEFORE, romantic comedies are making a huge comeback for all types of audiences. Variety called Rom-Com's the "Hottest genre". If you have been sitting on a Rom-Com script or been thinking about writing one, now's the time to learn about the current marketplace for romantic comedies.
So how do you as a writer approach writing a Romantic Comedy without falling into the trap of tired cliches? Or, how do you take the storytelling conventions and turn them on their head?
Jason Mirch is a 10+ industry veteran who's worked in development on films for Image Nation such as THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, FLIGHT, CONTAGION, as well as in management, financing and producing. Jason is Stage 32's Director of Script Services and has helped dozens of writers in the Stage 32 community springboard their careers. He's the host of the Stage 32 Writers' Room which is a weekly online writers' group that meets online with writing challenges and one-on-one access to top industry professionals who serve as mentors and provide advice on the group's projects.
During this 90-minute look inside the Writers' Room Breakdown Webcast, Jason will go over the history of romantic comedy as well as the anatomy of a romantic comedy. He'll teach you the 7 essential story beats in a romantic comedy and you will learn to develop your romcom with a theme or dramatic question. Plus, Jason will break down scripts including WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, THE APARTMENT, KNOCKED UP, WHAT WOMEN WANT and more.
Jason will discuss what makes these projects work and how we can apply those same principles to our writing! Plus! Jason will be taking ANY of your writing questions!
Like what you heard from Jason during this webcast? Send him your screenplay and speak with him privately for an hour by clicking here!
"Thanks for this summary! Loved the rundown ad the clips!" - Bethany B.
"Such an insightful breakdown, thanks so much." - Crispin
"Jason, you always overdeliver! THANKS so much!" - Petula
"This was an amazing breakdown. Wow." - Ricki L.
"Great breakdown as always, Jason, with superb choice of clips." - Stephen P.
What You'll Learn
- The History of Romantic Comedy
- The Anatomy of a Romantic Comedy
- The 7 Essential Story Beats in a Romantic Comedy
- Developing your Romantic Comedy with a Theme or Dramatic Question
- Tips for Writing a Romantic Comedy
- Jason will breakdown scripts and examine films including:
- WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
- 500 DAYS OF SUMMER
- THE APARTMENT
- KNOCKED UP
- WHAT WOMEN WANT
- and more
- Live Q & A with Jason!
This Breakdown Webcast is part of a series of weekly webcasts that take place in the Stage 32 Writers' Room.
What is the Writers' Room?
About Your Instructor
Jason Mirch
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Testimonials
"Thanks for this summary! Loved the rundown ad the clips!" - Bethany B.
"Such an insightful breakdown, thanks so much." - Crispin
"Jason, you always overdeliver! THANKS so much!" - Petula
"This was an amazing breakdown. Wow." - Ricki L.
"Great breakdown as always, Jason, with superb choice of clips." - Stephen P.
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Reviews Average Rating: 5 out of 5
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Jennifer Ritch Invaluable! I feel like I just had a private class with a talented and invested teacher. Jason was engaging and offered a ton of relevant and actionable information. Greatly appreciated. -
Jacquelin C Devlin Excellent webinar! Even though I thought I already knew the basics, Jason’s explanations and definitions made some more subtle points clear to me. The multiple film clips showing degrees of conflict were very valuable and “freeing”. And, I realized that the term “anti-Rom Com” was not someone’s attempt at humor. Thanks, Jason. Well worth the time. -
Katharina Mag.art.Kahler I have watched this webinar about RomCom lately, and I was impressed and really grateful for the clear and detailed hints on how to construct a RomCom in this webinar. It is a brilliant webinar and I would recommend it to every writer interested in that genre. I have seen most of the film examples in Jason´s webinar which are a good mix between classics and modern cinema and It is interesting to learn about the first film where a "MeetCute" was defined as term in screenwriting and other screenwriting language specifics for Rom Com. -
Robin Bradford Great job by Jason. Concise yet thorough. Fast-paced with lots of examples from successful rom-coms. Thank you!
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