5. Actors That Have No Chemistry
Whew, this is a big one. Romantic melodrama is much easier to write than it is to film for one reason - readers. People who read romantic melodrama (on which most, if not all, young adult fiction is heavily founded) are very quick to imagine themselves in place of the characters, to live vicariously through the sexy flirtation, and all that follows. But when actors are cast only based on their bland attractiveness and not on how they relate to each other, there lies the problem. There is only so much awkward conversation and staring seductively across the chemistry classroom can do for on-screen romance, eventually the actors have to actually have chemistry in their romantic scenes. And there is no way to get around the awkward truth - the directors who take on Young Adult films rarely (if ever) see this pitfall coming until it is too late (if even then). The screenwriters also do their characters few favors by having the romance blatantly planned out from page one, so that any romantic development feels contrived no matter how seductively they glower at the camera. the best on screen romances feel spontaneous, fun, and most importantly, genuine. That is the sort of feeling you cannot get from casting the talented Saoirse Ronan with bland hunk Max Irons (are we sure he is related to Jeremy Irons? The lack of talent seems to indicate otherwise...)