The inciting incident matters, but not in the way you think. A "meet-cute" works because it contains a promise of joyful chaos. But a "meet-ugly" (where characters begin as enemies, rivals, or even indifferent strangers) often produces deeper narrative fuel. The pivot is the moment when one character suddenly sees the other not as an archetype (the boss, the roommate, the enemy) but as a person . In You’ve Got Mail , it’s when Joe Fox realizes that his online lover is his brick-and-mortar nemesis, Kathleen Kelly. The pivot is vertigo. And vertigo is addictive storytelling.
The best romantic storylines aren't about finding a partner; they are about the protagonist finding a version of themselves they didn't know existed.