By NICOLE HORTON
CULTURE EDITOR
Warner Bros. acquired the screen rights to “40 Days of Dating,” a multimedia blog that details the actual whirlwind dating experiment of two graphic designer friends, Jessica Walsh, 26, and Timothy Goodman, 32, as they search for happy relationships and overcome their relationship habits and fears.
The New Yorkers had been friends for four years, but after finding themselves single at the same time, they commiserated about the drudgery of the New York City dating scene and juggling both work and relationship commitments. They acknowledged that they found the other attractive, and the thought of dating became a temptation. They composed six rules in order to dedicate time to each other and the experiment: We will see each other every day for forty days, go on at least three dates a week, see a couples therapist once a week and go on one weekend trip together as well as document everything. In addition, the potentially most difficult rule would be refraining from seeing, dating, hooking up or having sex with anyone else.
According to “Deadline,” Michael Sucsy, whose director credits include The Vow and Grey Gardens, will direct the film, which has also secured the life rights of Walsh and Goodman. Even though Sucsy’s recent endeavor The Vow, starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, is a romantic tearjerker, “40 Days of Dating” is a methodical, realistic view of personal habits and relationships.
“40 Days of Dating” utilizes a unique mode of storytelling through Q&As, video blogs and graphics. Some may enjoy reading it each day for 40 days, just as the experiment took place. Others may like to read through it like a novel. The audience will be taken aback by its honest representation of two openly flawed people. It is not a simple “opposites attract” situation, instead showing how two different people attempt to navigate through the day-to-day struggles of their professional and personal lives, which have been morphed together. It would not be surprising if Warner Bros. looks to add more passion and romance to this realistic, at times dull by movie standards, depiction of dating.
The “40 Days of Dating” blog serves as both a social experiment and a design project, enabling readers to see how the pair advances both as individuals and a potential couple, while giving them a fitting outlet to share their creativity. This movie gives credence to blogging as a form of mass media and a viable entertainment entity. By 2013, it is projected that 128 million people in the US will be blog readers.
The most active demographic group for blogging is 21-to-35 year olds with 53.3 percent of the total blogging population, which appeals to the target audience of Hollywood rom-coms. It is apparent that there is a growing shift in the romance or “rom-com” genre.
For instance, in 2012, Wanderlust grossed $17 million and The Five-Year Engagement grossed $28 million. The highest-grossing rom-com of the year was Kevin Hart’s Think Like a Man at $91 million, which never truly broke out beyond its predominantly African-American target audience. Other movies such as Knocked Up and Juno are sharp, humorous rom-coms. “It is the hardest time of my 30 years in the business of doing them,” said Lynda Obst, the producer of romantic comedies such as Sleepless in Seattle, One Fine Day and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days.
On a deeper level, perhaps our generation is weary of seeing the same formulaic design of skirt-chasing men paired with a hopelessly romantic female who tries to reform them, or a jaded female who he must fight for in the form of a climactic, passionate monologue. In a generation characterized by hookup culture, typical romantic comedies are losing their influence and relevance. Thus, it will be interesting to see how blogs continue to gain prominence in the Hollywood movie industry, coinciding with the evolution of romantic comedies.