New Poll: So what kind of romance DO we like??
Hollywood loves romance, but tends to turn up its nose at books “officially” in this category. Producer, reps, and viewers explore why, and what elements make a project successful.
Hello again!
Thank you for your patience while I’ve been sick these past few days. I promise we have some exciting projects and posts in the very near future!
Okay so when I worked in the book-to-film department of my local neighborhood talent agency, part of my job was to flag upcoming books that our agents might be interested in representing. (Much like we do here every Thursday!) I was told explicitly not to bother with a few categories that didn’t typically have film & TV friendly narratives - Lifestyle, Hobbies, Politics, etc. - but one of those categories was anything that was officially labeled ‘Romance’. (Actually I think when I started all those books were still labeled “Women’s Lit”, gag.)
Well, no good IP tracker avoids Romance anymore. Authors like Emily Henry, Ali Hazelwood, and Colleen Hoover have achieved such mainstream success, that every producer in Hollywood at least makes a mental note of when they have new books hitting the shelves. I think this is partially because readers and buyers have started to overcome their biases against female-led genres, and partially because social media has made juicy, indulgent, fanfiction-style writing fashionable. (Is this Ali Hazelwood cover not an illustration of Rey and Kylo Ren??)
Even before it had mainstream respect, romance has always been making authors rich and famous - yesterday it was Barbara Cartland and Jackie Collins, today it’s the above three and more. But if there’s all this success on the publishing side, why have so few of these projects made it to screen? What is it about straight romance that makes Hollywood nervous? We explore below!
Thanks so much for your input, see you next time!
Best,
TIP
was really hopeful for the Meg Ryan/David Duchovny film "What Happens Later" but didn't quite hit the mark... I really think there's still a lot of untapped potential in nostalgic later in life romances starring beloved romcom actors of the nineties though!