For the writers in the room, before you submit your manuscript or script, run your romantic storyline through this checklist.
The Appeal Audit:
Often the most realistic and enduring, this arc relies on existing intimacy.
Audiences hate a pushover. Appeal requires parity. Whether it is verbal duels (Molly and Sherlock in Elementary) or strategic chess matches (Aragorn and Arwen’s sacrifice), the couple must look like equals. If one character is a doormat and the other is a god, you have a fantasy, not an appeal relationship. True appeal requires mutual awe.