Have you ever ever watched a vacation rom-com on Hallmark Channel or Lifetime — or any of the opposite many networks and streamers that now air them — and thought, “I could write that”? It is tougher than you could suppose — however simply as enjoyable.
Common writers of Christmas fare for Hallmark Channel, Nice American Household and Lifetime share the ins and outs, misconceptions and exceptions to writing a Christmas TV film.
Christmas is one year a yr
Some say the vacation season goes by rapidly, however for these whose jobs depend upon it, Christmas is at all times on the mind. Writers are at all times on the lookout for their subsequent gig so there isn’t any actual relaxation or downtime between assignments. The stress is on to provide you with concepts, get them bought and get writing so the movies can get made and able to air.
“I feel like when I’m not writing Christmas movies I’m pitching Christmas movies, so I feel like it’s Christmas all year round,” said Anna White, who executive produced and wrote “The Holiday Junkie,” directed by and starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, premiering Saturday on Lifetime.
It may be difficult, nonetheless, to get into the mindset of Christmas when life outdoors does not match the world you are creating. Rick Garman, who wrote the 2023 Hallmark Channel hit movie “Christmas on Cherry Lane,” together with its three sequels this yr for Hallmark+, usually writes Christmas films in June.
A resident of Savannah, Georgia, he says the excessive warmth and humidity generally is a slog. When these moments bubble up, Garman has skilled himself to suppose large image. “I sort of flip back to this idea that people are going to watch this movie and it’s going to make them happy … and then I sort of get over myself.”
Cookie cutter tales
Generally writing a script for a Christmas TV film will be like listening to the identical vacation tune on repeat.
“If you look at the hundreds and hundreds of Christmas movies over the last several years, it is tricky to come up with a different idea or a new twist on an old idea or a classic,” said Cara Russell, an executive producer of “Christmas Under the Northern Lights,” which debuted on Nice American Household in November.
Promoting an thought or a script may cause deja vu says Nina Weinman, whose 2024 providing was “Debbie Macomber’s Joyful Mrs. Miracle,” for Hallmark.
“I pitched a Christmas thought and so they have been like, ‘It’s so good that we’ve got one thing an identical to that already in growth.’” You’re like, ‘OK, somebody else got their first.’ That happens.”
That is the place writers must push themselves to search out alternative ways to inform tales, stated White. She asks herself, “What is a new hook into this? What is something we’ve never seen? What is a world we’ve never seen? What is a topic we’ve never explored? That’s kind of hard because obviously now every channel everywhere does a million Christmas movies, but that’s the challenge.”
Garman admits attempting to consider contemporary concepts to maintain himself as properly. “There’s only so many times that they can bake cookies,” he stated.
No recipe required
Many marvel if there’s a method to writing a Christmas film with sure standards that should be met like “mistletoe kiss, check.” Weinman says completely not.
“That is not true. I don’t know where the rumor started that there’s a list out there. There’s not.”
Telling totally different tales
Weinman credit Hallmark Channel for branching out in recent times with their Christmas content material.
“There wasn’t a lot of creative freedom when I first started writing these movies. Now they’ve found you have to go bigger or go bolder if you want the people to keep coming back. And they are. I see a lot of feedback that the audience loves the big swings.” She’s especially proud of a movie she wrote that debuted last year on Hallmark called “Catch Me If You Claus” that was extra of a caper. “I wrote that film 10 years in the past. It was too broad for some time. They lastly stated sure.”
In recent times, Hallmark Channel and Lifetime added Christmas films with LGBTQ storylines and Hanukkah-themed movies too. This yr, Julie Sherman Wolfe, who’s Jewish, wrote each “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” and “Hanukkah on the Rocks” for Hallmark Channel. Her first Hanukkah-themed film was “Hanukkah on Rye” from 2022.
“I obtained to launch all the things anybody in my household has ever stated or achieved that’s humorous or touching or simply culturally important to Hanukkah. I simply threw all of it into that, however then one way or the other discovered some extra stuff for “Hanukkah on the Rocks.'”
White grew up Jewish and stated “one of many nice issues about these Christmas films is that they’re fairly like, you understand, non-religious. They’re just about identical to, what’s the popular culture of Christmas? I like that.”
Preserve the Christmas vibes
With no guidelines to comply with, it is useful to recollect those that tune in are followers of the style. In different phrases, if you wish to promote a Christmas film to a community, hold it Christmas-y.
“There’s not going to be sex, drugs and rock and roll. That’s never going to happen. It’s always staying on brand,” stated Weinman.
“It’s comfort food. The couple is going to end up together. Nobody’s going to die,” added Garman.
Garman has taught lessons on writing Christmas films and tells college students to keep in mind that Christmas drives the story. “How does the Christmas spirit assist individuals obtain their purpose or how does it deliver these two individuals collectively or how do they discover their approach again to one thing due to Christmas?”
And, on the planet of TV films about Christmas, dangerous guys aren’t “an outright villain or a caricature,” stated Russell. As an alternative, Garman describes them as “misguided” individuals who “usually learn their lesson by the end. Knowing that everything’s going to be OK at the end of this two hours is why people watch.”
The Christmas countdown begins early
Some individuals put their Christmas tree up as quickly as they’re achieved handing out Halloween sweet. Networks are conscious of this and able to meet the demand. Hallmark Channel kicked off its annual Countdown to Christmas with unique movies and repeats starting Oct. 18. Lifetime waited till pumpkin spice lattes had cooled and began their schedule on Nov. 16.
Invoice Abbott is the president and CEO of Nice American Media and previous to that was the pinnacle of Hallmark’s father or mother firm. Between each jobs, he’s watched the demand for Christmas films start earlier and earlier.
“Initially I would have thought that Christmas movies would be very popular between maybe the week before Thanksgiving through Christmas,” stated Abbott. “As it’s turned out, it’s popular from October through the end of the year.”
It needs to be no shock that Nice American Household began their vacation season off sooner than every other community. The primary Christmas film to air this yr on Nice American Household was on Oct. 10, which Abbott says is ”past my wildest expectations.”
So that you suppose you may write a Christmas film? Then do it.
White majored in screenwriting at Loyola Marymount College. After commencement she spent years doing grunt work jobs as a result of she wished to write down. She obtained the concept to write down a Christmas film and “watched a ton of them” for analysis.
“I wrote one on spec, which suggests, with out it having anyplace to go. I despatched it out to a bunch of individuals and obtained my supervisor that approach. He hooked me up with among the manufacturing firms that make these Christmas films. The ball stored rolling … There’s at all times demand for them and so they promote, I believe, rather well internationally.”
