Podcast Highlight: You Had Us At Hello

Here at Rom Com Fest, we love to celebrate romantic comedies on and off the screen! We have met many fellow rom com lovers and we want to connect this community who appreciate the ins and outs of what make rom coms our favorite!

We want to highlight all types of romantic comedy content! And what better place to start than with “You Had Us At Hello’ : A podcast about rom coms, for rom com lovers and haters everywhere. With Tess Morris and Billy Mernit. Although, there are only 10 episodes available to listen (Apple Podcasts) they are totally binge-worthy for those of you looking for a new podcast to fly through.

We were curious what brought the two together, so we asked Tess and she said:

“Well, we started it about 2 years ago, because we felt it was NICHE, and also because we just love to talk to each other about rom coms! It’s for rom com lovers and haters everywhere, as we like to say… And we met because I (Tess) wrote Man Up using Billy’s book, Writing The Romantic Comedy. When I sold it, I found him on the internet and emailed him to tell him that, and it all evolved from there! Then the movie got made, as did a friendship!”

About Tess and Billy

TESS MORRIS, born and bred Londoner, has been writing since she could walk (not 100% true) and her first words were ‘Elvis is the King!’ (100% true). Her first screenplay, the romantic comedy Man Up, made the 2011 Brit List, was picked up by Big Talk Pictures, co-produced by Studio Canal and BBC Films and released in 2015 directed by Ben Palmer and starring Simon Pegg and Lake Bell. Tess has done numerous rewrites on both sides of the pond, and began her career in the UK, writing soap opera and sitcom. In 2015 she was named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit. Currently, Tess resides in LA with her rescue cat Nora Ephron. She most recently worked on Hulu’s upcoming series, The Great, and was on the final series of Hulu's Casual. She is currently working on a romantic comedy for 20th Century Fox and Scott Frank, and on ANOTHER romantic comedy, Textbook Behaviour, for Nira Park and Rachael Prior. Tess also hosts a sporadic but highly informative rom com podcast with Billy Mernit, You Had Us At Hello, available at all good podcast providers.

BILLY MERNIT is a script consultant, a story analyst at Universal Pictures, and was a Distinguished Instructor at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. Author of the bestselling screenwriting textbook Writing the Romantic Comedy (Harper/Collins), the novel Imagine Me and You (Random House) and co-author (with Claudia Nizza) of That’s How Much I Love You (Tallfellow Press), he has also published twenty romance novels for Harlequin and Berkeley/Jove under a female nom de plume. During his many years in the entertainment industry, he has written for NBC's Santa Barbara, and composed songs recorded by Carly Simon, Judy Collins, and Morrissey.

1st Rom Com Fest Viewing Party!

Because we are big fans of the podcast, and Tess and Billy’s undeniable ability to banter… we have asked them to host our first ever virtual viewing party, April 2, 2020! Our Rom Com Fest team, Tess, Billy, and all of YOU will be logging on at 6PM PST to watch Moonstruck, starring Cher and Nicolas Cage. There will be live chatting available during our virtual screening, and a post-viewing discussion hosted by Tess and Billy.

To RSVP visit our Eventbrite page: Virtual Moonstruck Screening Tickets

The event is free to everyone, with the option to donate!

We will send you a direct link on Thursday to log in once the time comes. We can’t wait to have everyone “come out” and celebrate one of the classics with us. Subscribe early on, and we will give you fun movie facts and snack tips throughout the week!