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\n\tAs Divergent<\/em> author Veronica Roth pointed out in her opening of the \u201cRomance: On the Big Screen: Why It\u2019s About Damn Time\u201d panel Friday at San Diego Comic-Con<\/a> 2026, romance accounts for 23% of all book sales. So, while it may seem like the genre is having a moment on the big and small screens, it\u2019s really always been a mainstay, and the entertainment industry is just loading up on what women audiences have wanted for a long time.<\/p>\n \n\tRoth moderated the panel, which included Christina Lauren<\/a> author duo Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, The Love Hypothesis <\/em>and Love, Theoretically <\/em>author Ali Hazelwood<\/a>, One and Only<\/em> author Maurene Goo plus Magic Hour Entertainment<\/a> co-founder Max Siemers and Rebelle Media co-founders Laura Lewis and Amanda Palley<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cRomance onscreen has, and when I say onscreen, I\u2019m talking about the theatrical screen, has dropped over 75% the last 20 years,\u201d Rebelle Media<\/a>\u2019s Laura Lewis said. \u201cThat audience hasn\u2019t disappeared, and because of all the things that inspired us to get into the business \u2014 those Richard Curtis, Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron movies and TV shows \u2014 we want to bring them back. So that\u2019s what\u2019s inspiring us to get on these books.<\/p>\n \n\tLewis\u2019 partner Palley broke the news at the end of the panel that Rebelle Media has added Sarah Adams\u2019 When in Rome<\/em> series to their slate of book adaptations in development<\/a>. The panel discussion revolved around the draw of romance, both in book form and tv and film form \u2014 whether adapted from novels or based on original screenplays \u2014 with insights from both authors and executives about how to get past the generic formula of putting a romance together. Most of the panelists favored leaning into specificity and the details that lovers of the genre latch onto while consuming a book, show or rom-com film.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a really cool genre to be a part of because it is written primarily by women, not exclusively [and] primarily for, but not exclusively for women,\u201d Billings said of romance. \u201cIt is a genre that embraces diversity. It embraces queerness, embraces so many things, and it has so much cultural and socio-economic power.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBillings and Hobbs, who have their book In a Holidaze<\/em> coming to Netflix as a film adapted by Tiffany Paulson<\/a> later this year, met 17 years ago sleeping on the sidewalk at the San Diego Convention Center waiting in line for the The Twilight Saga: New Moon<\/em> panel featuring the cast of the then upcoming film. Reflecting on this anniversary, Billings commented on the growth of romance publishing\u2019s presence at the convention.<\/p>\n \n\tMax Siemers, co-founder of the newly-formed Magic Hour Entertainment, which is now behind an adaptation of Christina Lauren\u2019s Love & Other Words<\/em><\/a>, broached the idea that certain times of year (likely Christmas and Valentine\u2019s Day) provide windows to release romantic comedies and dramas set specifically around those holidays but with only really that as the framework.<\/p>\n \n\tRELATED: Rebelle Media Shifts Focus To Romance-Based Projects, Sets Book Adaptations \u2018The Paradise Problem\u2019 & \u2018The Heir Apparent\u2019 With Amanda Palley Joining As Co-Founder, Chief Creative Officer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYou get movies, and I\u2019m not going to name movies, but there are movies that come out on certain platforms at certain periods of the year,\u201d he said. \u201cThey all do really well, and because they do well, you have a lot of people thinking \u2018Well, looks like we can still get viewers without having to try very hard with how we\u2019re spending that money.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTo that point, Billings commented on producers she\u2019s worked with taking the time to see what fans love about a specific romance story versus going at it purely for the motivation of the baked-in book fanbase and anticipation for any level of adaptation of a title.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhen we\u2019re talking to our producers, who are huge fans of the genre and really, really care about it as a genre. They go in and they read the comments. They see what you\u2019re saying. They care what you guys want to see. They care who you want cast,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is what\u2019s really nice about this day and age of being an author. That talking about adaptations, for the first time, I feel like the people who are doing the adaptations are genuinely invested in the genre. They\u2019re not just seeing, \u2018How many eyeballs can we get?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRELATED: Laura Lewis\u2019 Rebelle Media Inks First-Look Deal With MGM Television; Sets \u2018The Sicilian Inheritance\u2019 Adaptation As First Project<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIn addition to observing that failure at the box office by a romance film trickling into the big screen trend at all for love stories in the past, Billings suggested where resources in a rom com could be devoted in order to get the core of a romance right: the chemistry.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThey need to capture the chemistry. I\u2019m so not a movie maker, right? I don\u2019t even know what word I should use there. But, as a viewer and a writer, what drives me crazy is that we have these huge budgets for sci-fi special effects or whatever it is,\u201d she said. \u201cThe budget for romance needs to go to getting that tension right in the scene, giving enough time to the shot to make the two leads have that moment of eye contact or touch or whatever it is. That tension where you\u2019re just, like, \u2018Urgh, smash your faces together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s chemistry, too, that is the \u201chook\u201d studios are looking for, according to Rebelle Media\u2019s Amanda Palley and Laura Lewis, who traced the care and investment translating to success in shows like Off Campus<\/em> and Heated Rivalry<\/em>, two titles dominating the romance conversation currently and the hockey subgenre. Siemers also brought up Voicemails for Isabelle<\/em> as an example of a film with its fingers on the pules of dating life today.<\/p>\n \n\tRELATED: \u2018Voicemails For Isabelle\u2019 Writer-Director Leah McKendrick Breaks Down Big Script Changes, Hidden Rom-Com References And Pitches To Taylor Swift & Robyn<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYou can tell with Off Campus<\/em> that the whole creative team cared so much about the genre. They were students of the genre. There\u2019s so many nods to romantic in comedies in the past. You could tell they love it, and you could tell that with Heated Rivalry<\/em>,\u201d Lewis, whose Rebelle Media has an adaptation of Christina Lauren\u2019s The Paradise Problem<\/em> in the works<\/a>, said. \u201c[Romance] did become a commodity for so long, especially in theatrical film. It became more about, \u2018What\u2019s the hook? What\u2019s the marketing angle?\u2019 Not, \u2018What\u2019s the story?\u2019 What\u2019s been the hard part for us in Hollywood is we were having to fight those people who are like, \u2018What\u2019s the hook? What makes this theatrical?\u2019 The hook is just chemistry and dialogue and people falling in love with that, and that\u2019s really hard to sell up.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAnother key element needing more attention, Siemers emphasized, is the look of a romance film.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThere\u2019s been \u2014 in the past five or six years \u2014 a lack of love and care to the visual aesthetic of these films. We all grew up on Nancy Meyers, and most people don\u2019t realize, when Nancy Myers did the Parent Trap<\/em> she hired the director of photography for Jurassic Park<\/em>,\u2019 Siemers said. \u201cLittle Giants<\/em> was the same DP as Schindler\u2019s List<\/em>. They were hiring brilliant cinematographers and production designers, costume designers, and they really thought about color palette and how everything\u2019s tied together.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRELATED: 16 Of The Best Romantic Comedy Films And Where To Stream Them<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tSiemers, who, with Magic Hour Entertainment partner Tanner Anderson has Ali Hazelwood\u2019s Love, Theoretically<\/em> in development with Prime Video and Colleen Hoover\u2019s Heartbones Entertainment<\/a>, traced this to an example he felt was successful, the first To All The Boys I\u2019ve Loved Before <\/em>(2018) film he worked on at Netflix, based on the book by Jenny Han.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOur DP came in and was like, \u2018We are going to shoot this like a John Peters film, or a Wes Anderson film, and the color palette is going to match the production design. It\u2019s going to match the costumes, and this movie is going to look hyper specific,\u201d Siemers said. \u201cAnd it got to the point where, on the third To All the Boys <\/em>movie, we were calling the Empire State Building to get the color palette of the Empire State Building in the background of our shots. So it\u2019s about attention to detail and making sure these movies look as good as whatever you think a prestige movie looks like. There\u2019s no reason [not to.]\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s more than just romance as a label that will attract viewers at this point.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIn the before times between Nancy Myers and the now, it would be people thinking, well, romance theaters or viewers don\u2019t care about [details]. No one\u2019s going to notice that. They just want to see people kissing,\u201d Billings added. \u201cWhereas it\u2019s actually not true. We want to feel like we are watching an elevated version of these things that we love.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tPanelist and author Maurene Goo echoed a sentiment People We Meet on Vacation<\/em> and Beach Read<\/em> author Emily Henry recently expressed: the desire of actors to go for leading man roles in romance.<\/p>\n \n\tRELATED: Patrick Schwarzenegger To Star Opposite Phoebe Dynevor In 20th Century\u2019s Adaptation Of Emily Henry Bestseller \u2018Beach Read\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cGlen Powell is smart for doing Anyone But You<\/em>, to be honest, because Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, everyone back in the day did rom-coms, and it made them into movie stars,\u201d she shared. \u201cAnd I feel like a lot of male actors today are like, \u2018I don\u2019t want to do that\u2019 because they have a negative association with it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSometimes it comes down to availability for whichever actor is cast, Rebelle Media\u2019s Amanda Palley added.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIf you have a director who can start on May first, and you have your dream actress who you\u2019re so excited to play the female lead on May first, then you\u2019ve got to look at the guys who are the right age, who are the right vibe, who can start on May first,\u201d she said of the \u201cinside baseball\u201d factor in the industry.<\/p>\n