Have you 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’s tougher than you might suppose — however simply as enjoyable.
Regular writers of Christmas fare for Hallmark Channel, Great American Family and Lifetime share the ins and outs, misconceptions and exceptions to writing a Christmas TV film.
Christmas is 12 months a yr
Some say the vacation season goes by shortly, 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 is not any actual relaxation or downtime between assignments. The stress is on to provide you with concepts, get them offered 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, displaying on Lifetime.
It may be difficult, nevertheless, to get into the mindset of Christmas when life outdoors would 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+, typically writes Christmas films in June.
A resident of Savannah, Georgia, he says the excessive warmth and humidity is usually a slog. When these moments bubble up, Garman has educated himself to suppose huge 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
Sometimes writing a script for a Christmas TV film may be like listening to the identical vacation track 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 Great American Family in November.
Selling 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 had been like, ‘It’s so good that we’ve one thing an identical to that already in improvement.’” You’re like, ‘OK, somebody else got their first.’ That happens.”
This is the place writers need to push themselves to seek 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 think about recent concepts to maintain himself as effectively. “There’s only so many times that they can bake cookies,” he stated.
No recipe required
Many surprise if there’s a formulation 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.”
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 latest years, 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 bought to launch the whole lot anybody in my household has ever stated or performed that’s humorous or touching or simply culturally vital 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 realize, non-religious. They’re just about similar to, what’s the popular culture of Christmas? I like that.”
Keep 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, preserve 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 courses on writing Christmas films and tells college students to keep in mind that Christmas drives the story. “How does the Christmas spirit assist folks obtain their aim or how does it deliver these two folks 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. Instead, 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 folks put their Christmas tree up as quickly as they’re performed 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.
Bill Abbott is the president and CEO of Great American Media and previous to that was the top of Hallmark’s mum or dad 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 must be no shock that Great American Family began their vacation season off sooner than every other community. The first Christmas film to air this yr on Great American Family was on Oct 10, which Abbott says is ”past my wildest expectations.”
So you suppose you possibly can write a Christmas film? Then do it.
White majored in screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University. After commencement she spent years doing grunt work jobs as a result of she needed to put in writing. She bought the thought to put in writing 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 bought my supervisor that approach. He hooked me up with among the manufacturing corporations that make these Christmas films. The ball saved rolling … There’s at all times demand for them and so they promote, I feel, rather well internationally.”
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