When I grow up, I want to be like... Nora Ephron.

I spent all of yesterday watching Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, and While You Were Sleeping. I was in a 90s rom-com mood so I watched all three in a row, crying and laughing and falling in love with the movies. 

A legitimate excuse for such behavior (if I were to make one) would be that I was doing some research for a major screenplay rewrite. I did need some inspiration, and I'm happy to say that watching those films helped me gain some insight on what makes certain stories work and why. So it's kind of a plus that I watched those films; I got to satisfy my nostalgic cravings AND do some work. 

I am so amazed with Nora Ephron (writer and director of Sleepless and You've Got Mail) and her creativity - she really knows how to make audiences fall in love with her films. Her lines are so spot on and so...so unforgettable, that it makes the films even more special. Her films work because she has all these little details that make the whole picture, in a sense, magical. Like in Sleepless in Seattle, there is a scene in which Annie (Meg Ryan), wide awake in the wee hours of the morning, decides to peel a green apple in the kitchen. She takes this kitchen knife and starts peeling the apple in one, long, curly strip.  A few scenes later, when Jonah wakes up from a nightmare and Sam (Tom Hanks) rushes upstairs to comfort him, they talk about Maggie (Jonah's  deceased mother and Sam's late wife) and how she could peel an apple in one, long, curly strip. It was such a tiny little detail but it immediately connected Sam and Annie - even if they hadn't met each other yet! Ephron's stories are strong and structured - the log line of that film says it all: "What if someone you never met, someone you never saw, someone you never knew, was the only someone for you?" What if, indeed? Annie and Sam were meant for each other, and the whole film is spent figuring out how they both will find that out. I rooted for them and wanted them to get together so bad, that the last scene of the film made me cry like a baby. 

I must say, Nora Ephron is a genius.