Richard Curtis stated in interviews about Love Actually that he was inspired to write the film with its multiple storylines by other ensemble films. He cited the work of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Altman as his main inspirations. Film like Pulp Fiction and Nashville feature many different intersecting stories, and the fragmentary nature of the scripts create a sense of vibrance and simultaneity.
Ensemble films have existed nearly as long as films have existed. One of the first examples of an ensemble film is Intolerance, directed by D.W. Griffith in 1916, and featuring 4 different plots. Since then, ensemble films have become wildly popular in the world of cinema, and Love Actually is perhaps one of the best-known examples. Other examples include most of Robert Altman's films, as well as Crash, Babel, Daughters of the Dust, Ocean's 11, Dazed and Confused, and Magnolia.
With the rise of television, ensemble casts and a multiplicity of storylines have become central to how people consume fiction. Nearly every television show now features many different storylines that all intersect and coalesce in different ways.
