Romantic comedies annoy me. Not only are they formulaic and stereotypical, but the formula and stereotypes in play are usually pretty offensive: women are almost always neurotic, whiny, and shoe-obsessed, and men are often one-dimensional and insensitive.  But instead of just complaining about this flawed genre, I'm trying to do it better, by writing a romantic comedy that stays within the general comedy and romance format without talking down to its audience. My screenplay, "Fixing Jenna," is about a man who once dumped his college girlfriend in a terrible and public manner. Years later, he runs into her again and finds her a different person: harder and more lifeless.  Feeling responsible and missing their time together, he decides to see if he can find a way to bring her back to who she was - a concept that she quite reasonably finds ridiculous and offensive.  How does our treatment of exes affect our futures? Can you fix mistakes this big? Can you change a person who sees nothing wrong with herself?

 

If you're interested in reading an excerpt from "Fixing Jenna," or any of my other work, please contact me.