The “friends making a pact” is a popular plot, especially for screenplays.
You know the type of thing:
- Friends agree not to marry unitl they're a certain age
- Friends agree that if they’re not married by a certain age they’ll marry each other
- Friends agree to be celibate for a year
If you are writing a totally silly film, you might get away with it although the concept will still feel stale. However, most of the movies using that kind of premise want to make some kind of serious point about love or friendship later in the story.
That doesn’t work for a simple reason: it doesn’t hold up to logic or rational thought for more than a minute.
Imagine the situation: on some occasion that has involved the consumption of a lot of alcohol (because that’s the only time you’d make such a pact in the first place), you and a couple of single friends pledge that you won’t give up the freedom of the single life until you’re 40. I’m imagining you’re young at this point because that’s also a prerequisite for making this kind of promise.
Then you meet somebody, fall deeply in love and want to marry them. Oh no! There’s a conflict! You promised two drunken friends you wouldn’t do this! Maybe you’d better hide the fact that you’re in love! Maybe you’d better pretend that your beloved is actually your sister/brother, or gay best friend! That might get you through Act II if nobody in the audience has an IQ over 70…no, wait, 60.
The most recent example: That Awkward Moment. One reviewer referred to the movie’s “contrived misunderstandings and cringe-worthy comic set pieces.” That's usually what's required in order to try to keep the premise alive past page 15.
The moral of the story: let’s all make a promise that we won’t write a screenplay based on such a premise. But if you fall deeply in love with such an idea, you have my permission to break the pact.
