JWARC - Have your say on the final product of Jess' rom-com!
Hello friends!
I'll be putting this post both here and in the Patreon facebook group, so that as many people as possible have access to it.
We are approximately six weeks away from the final epsiode of Jess Writes A Rom-Com, and I had always imagined it would be a collaborative project with you, the listener.
Writing is under way, and I would love your suggestions on the following things:
Where is it set
Female main characters name
Her job
Who is her voice of reason (a sibling? Work bestie? Aunt? Grandma?)
Male love interests name
His job
Where do they meet
What causes the falling out / break up / miscommunication
You don't have to make suggestions about all of these options, it can just be one or two.
And if you don't have suggestions, you still have an important job to do - read the comments and 'like' the ones you like the most, and that can help to influence the final result!
Thank you for listening along, it's been so fun to make this podcast, and I can't wait to see what we come up with together!
Jess
Comments (38)
I’ve had the name Debra Debois bouncing around in my head. I have no outlet for it, but maybe it has some use here. I feel like it’s a boss that is out of touch with reality. Like she asks you to drive an hour each way to pick up her dry cleaning, but if she calls you “darling”, then in her mind, that makes it ok. Also you doing her errands is no part of your job description.
Male love interests name is Gary Debont
Name: a completely unreasonable, borderline psychotic abbreviation of an otherwise common name that also already has a common abbreviation. Like 'Ty' for 'Felicity', or 'Sab' for 'Isabella'
Or the opposite! Main character is May and then half way through you find out that some of her lack of confidence is because it's short for Mayonnaise
I like the idea of the protagonist being a comedian. So many of your guests have cast themselves as the funny best friend…how fun would it be to explore how the funny one deals with love? For location, set the whole thing in a submarine. That would just be silly.
I think one of their jobs should be something very new and buzzwordy, (AI Synergy Manager, Cryto Disruptor, Green Healthcare, Hybrid Work schedule Ethics Liaison) and the other should be an old timey, possibly extinct job (Elevator Operator, payphone coin collector, Soda jerk etc)
Ideas from others that I really like: Protagonist name is Pam Balam She is a comedian Set in Ireland Voice of reason is a recurring minor character who turns out to be a secret genie (Dave)
Upvoting Pam Balam
He’s an accountant - so she obviously immediately hates him - but love prevails.
Titled "Acounting for Love" 🤣
Where is it set - small town in the outback (desert) where she's on remote work placement. Her job: nurse Who is her voice of reason: Gray nomad in the caravan next door, who never speaks directly to her but voices advice by pretending to be the koala who lives in a tree between their caravans. Male love interests name: Felipe. His job: working at the caravan park, and the one pub in town (getting up those rural work hours for visa purposes) Where do they meet: caravan park reception, she gets locked out in her bikini. There is no swimming pool. What causes the falling out: he goes to ask her out and overhears a phone call he assumes is to her lover back home. It's actually her talking to her cat via her pet-sitter. Meanwhile, he's constantly talking about how much he loves and misses Sorena, who she assumes is his lover. It's actually his home town.
It’s set in Brisbane. They meet in London. Female lead is named Chili. Male love interest is named Bandit. He works as an archaeologist. Voice of reason is their eldest daughter. Cause of their fight/split is him wanting to movie the family to another city for work.
Why is it a male love interest 🤔
Her name? Melissa Timmons, also responds to Mel, Melly or Melly Mel (reserved for best friend or sister) Where does she work? It might sound indulgent but I do think as a stand up comic would be kinda refreshing. Locale? Small-ish hometown visitting for... some reason. Some of the locals make passive agressive comments about her very 'modern' profession, thinking she's 'too good for them bumpkins' (even though she never does bits about them; they wouldn't know, they never listen to her comedy) They also don't like it because a woman with opinions being clever? Gross. Voice of reason character? Roommate Dani. Dani used to bartend and they met and became friends when Melly Mel was doing shows at bars. What does Dani do now? Running gag is we never find out. Love interest? Landon. He runs the local antique store in hometown, inherited the store from his parents. They're both retired now and living separate lives after a bitter divorce when he was nine. Mom took the shop, Dad took the shop girl. Landon acts like the shop is a big inconvenience but it's revealed he's turned down several offers on it and he'd never part. The kefuffle? Mel and Landon were close childhood friends but fell out when they were around nine. Through wacky circumstances it's revealed that lil Mel found out lil Landon's dad was involved with the shop girl and maybe let it slip to Landon's mom. Adult Landon finds this out somehow and blames Mel for his parents' divorce. The resolution being his mom revealing she already knew even back then and shop girl was after they were already talking about divorce. What his nine-year-old brain read as a bitter divorce was simply two people who outgrew each other. Mel's meddling didn't change anything. I can probably think of more but I want sleep first.
Voice of reason: elderly neighbor from same apartment complex who protagonist normally encounters smoking outside, when picking up mail, taking out trash, doing laundry, etc. The neighbor usually doesn't say much, but observes a lot. After the protagonist is dumped or has miscommunication with partner, the neighbor catches the protagonist pounding head against wall, etc. and offers plainspoken wisdom.
Might the neighbor secretly be a genie...?🤔
Who is her voice of reason? Her talking dog Sebastien
Her job, pilot. His job, coal tester
Voice of reason: lesbian best friend with a wonderfully dirty laugh. What causes the falling out: the guy sabotages the heroine's big presentation at work because he's too insecure to handle a boss lady with more career prestige than him. Resolution: involves heroine's bi awakening and she falls for her friend. There is a (hunky?) genie, but he's just a smug character that the heroine keeps seeing on a billboard or something. At the 11th hour, the genie ad gives her a "genie-us" idea to save her career. The billboard genie winks at the end of this scene, which he has never done before and never will again.
Where is it set: Canton Ga USA Female main characters name: Amanda Kyle Her job: pharmacist Who is her voice of reason (a sibling? Work bestie? Aunt? Grandma?): Best friend Simon Male love interests name: Tyler Edwards His job: Corporate insurance broker Where do they meet: They attended the same college but didn’t officially meet until a blind(ish) date set up by two mutual friends (who both got married the year before, with Tyler and Amanda in the wedding parties but seeing other people at the time). What causes the falling out / break up / miscommunication: Tyler pushing too hard to get he and his wife worked into a rom com written by one of their favorite podcast hosts…
Voice of reason should be a ghost or cryptid of some kind. I would take love advice from mothman and I think this is a rational stance.
A genie, perhaps? Dave’s ideal role
Okay okay okay I'm so keen - here goes Where is it set: Country Ireland 🇮🇪 Female main characters name: Juniper (Juni) 🫐 Her job: Art conservationist or art historian 🖼️ Who is her voice of reason: She becomes close friends with her barista and they becomes housemates. Her name is Saoirse 👱♀️ Male love interests name: Cillian 🧔♀️ His job: Gardener 🪻 Where do they meet: Something in the vein of "Australian moves to country Ireland for a specialist job opportunity and falls in love with gentle local gardener and the Irish land" 🌫️ What causes the falling out / break up / miscommunication: He dies but she stays in their martial home because this is truly her home and community now. Too brutal?! 😂
Yes! Massive coincidence, I was going to suggest as a backup choice something similar. Specifically set in Dublin City, the town of Bray and the broader natural beauty of county Wicklow. She's an urbane, chic, city girl who doesn't know how to slow down. He's a strong and gentle man of the land, 3rd generation gardener/designer. His life is paced to the passing of the seasons. Love your idea!
Is it too Passé to suggest our protagonists name is Pam Balam? 😂😂 (Or at least our Best friend!)
Female main character HAS to be a baker.
Definitely set in Melbourne; but travel to a tropical paradise come winter. (Melbourne is the setting for lots of good romcoms, The Rosie Project was an international hit and it was set in Carlton.) Female lead's job: Vessel Traffic Services controller at Port of Melbourne. Stressful job akin to Air Traffic Controller only the teams are smaller and there's usually less than 5 people rostered on at a time, so it is easier to keep track of her work friends names. Voice of reason: Grandma Love interest job: Professional scuba diver. Meet: Through work Falling out: While travelling in a tropical paradise, have a maritime emergency on a tour boat where they have to captain the vessel. Conflict arises over trust issue in one refusing to let the other help in the emergency. The usual clash of two powerfully capable, independent personalities unable to accept help from anyone else.
I’d like to put forward that the voice of reason is not someone the protagonist is especially close to but would pay attention to. Maybe a stern-but-fair boss who is otherwise unimpressed by the romantic antics of the workers but is able to present a terse-and-complete assessment of the situation. “For god’s sake Taggy [protagonist], the [love interest] is clearly interested in you, isn’t one of the hundreds of losers you’ve dated so far, you’ve been practically glowing for months and now your complaining because you *think* you heard them say something about you that you haven’t actually confirmed with them. Pick up the phone, have a goddamn clarifying conversation, live happily ever after and GET BACK TO THE QUARTERLY REPORTS!” (Etc.)
This story takes place in the Pacific Northwest city of Tacoma Washington. Our main protagonist, Jessica, is a young rising star medical malpractice attorney looking to make a name for herself. Jess's voice of reason is her father and law mentor Jim, who is the most kind, loving, and brilliant attorney in the state. Her love interest is Brian. At this point in their story he's a firefighter in the Air Force on his final deployment overseas and looking for love back home when he writes to Jess on a dating app knowing she's way outside his league. After months of talking on the phone and over email, their first date is her picking him up at the airport returning from deployment. The rub is an unfortunate series of events where Jess keeps randomly running into Brian's ex-girlfriends and fearing he might be a playboy breaks it off before she falls too deep.
She should be named after the town she was born in. A constant reminder that she's not left her hometown. Even better if the town isn't a normal name for a person.
Fake or real hometown? Assuming she's Australian, Albury, Bright or Lorne sound like they have promising futures, but Dookie, Tittybong and Banana are going to have a tough time...
Louise lives on Phillip Island with her younger brother (voice of reason). They both work at the penguins. Love interest is a big hot shot developer from Melbourne who comes to the island to develop things. It’s her dream to own her own bookshop/cafe/florist but the shop she has been eyeing off is exactly where hot shot wants to develop. They meet at the penguins and she gives him a little behind the scenes tour where they fall in love after a few hours of chatting about wildlife.
Melbourne! Female character: Sydney. Podcaster. Gay best friend. Dylan. Orthopedist. Hospital after a Vespa accident. Confusion over her name vs. city of Sydney
Set in Melbourne (write what you know, you know?) Female main character’s name: Katie Job: Museum curator Voice of reason: girl bestie/roommate Male love interest’s name: Connor His job: historical art buyer Where do they meet: an art auction, bidding on the same piece/s What causes the falling out: Connor is trying to buy a particular piece for Katie that she really wants but she finds out and thinks he’s trying to purchase it from under her.
This one is so good!!! Can she start with wearing glasses then there’s a scene where she takes them off and Connor realizes she was beautiful all along?
Main character needs to be Jessica, radio show host
Can one of the main characters be called Walker, as an homage to JWARC (if you say it with a kiwi accent like me)
If it’s set in America then we could have her be called J. Walker and the meet cute could be some kind of misunderstanding with a police officer who is under the impression she Jaywalked because he heard someone call her J Walker *Matt Stewart voice* Is that anything?