Forget about screenplay structure, sometimes the audience stays engaged just by having fun.
While I was in college I spent a weekend with a friend and her family. We enjoyed a perfect Sunday--while still wearing PJs we made popcorn on the stove, mixed up a batch of brownies, and then watched a classic romance movie.
The characters' onscreen chemistry developed and just as he was going to kiss her for the first time, there was an epic misunderstanding between them. He changed his mind.
That's when the entertainment in the room took off. In unison, my friends' family exclaimed: "Kiss her, you fool!" As the story unfolded, they must've shouted "Kiss her, you fool," 15 times during the movie.
It was as obvious that the characters would eventually be together but if they had hooked up immediately, with no drama, my friend's family wouldn't have had nearly as much fun.
A few years later a roommate would often talk about a guy she had met at the hospital where they both worked. They were attracted to each other and everyone around them could feel the tension and sparks. Finally a mutual friend took them out to breakfast. The waitress hadn't even brought their coffee before she said, "I brought you both here because you know you like each other and you're driving everyone at work crazy."
She was telling him, "Kiss her, you fool," and she was telling my roommate--"You know you want him to kiss you, you fool!"
I learned about what had happened during their breakfast when my roommie came home, slammed the door, and immediately called the girl who had invited them to breakfast and began screaming at her.
Things were awkward but within a few weeks the guy took her advice; I was in their wedding about a year later.
Nothing in life is simple and we probably wouldn't value or cherish the people in our lives as much if it were.
Movies do mirror real life, and that's part of the magic.
NOTE: These entries are inspired by the final assignment for "The Business of Writing for Screen and Television," a School of Cinematic Arts' course taught by Frank Wuliger. Hoping to help his students become working screenwriters, he asked us to create a personal, five-year road map into the industry.
This post is day 28.
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