No, I'm not talking about all the packages we're receiving in the mail these days, though it does make a difficult situation a bit more festive. In fact, when we get a delivery, we ask Alexa to play "The Wells Fargo Wagon" from The Music Man as we're wiping down the packages.
Yes, we're getting a bit loopy.
When I'm referring to Christmas here, I'm talking about screenplays. Now, I'm not of those people who look forward to the Hallmark Channel's "Christmas in July" promotion. In fact, I don't usually watch the station at all. It's not my jam, as the kids say.
But a few years ago, I wrote a holiday-themed screenplay (a comedy featuring kids) that I thought was pretty good, but like most of my scripts, I kept it in the virtual drawer, awaiting an opportunity to pitch it. A writer friend of mine had told me he was on the lookout for a live-action holiday film project as a producer friend of his was in the market for a made-for-TV film to pitch to studios like Hallmark.
Even though I had envisioned my project as a feature film for the theaters, I sent him my script. My friend liked it enough he ran it by his producer friend, who in turn liked it enough to tell him with some editing, it could be something he could use.
I readily agreed to make my friend a 50 percent partner in the project so we could tune it for the producer's needs. I won't go into the long, involved process to meet the requirements (that would entail a whole post by itself), but we finished it. And of course, as is the way in the film business, it's now in someone else's drawer, awaiting an opportunity to pitch it.
In 2018, when my dad was at home and dying of pancreatic cancer, I was back in NY in July to help with his caregiving. At night, I began watching Hallmark's Christmas movies as a way to escape from the daily sadness as I watched my father's decline. The whole experience inspired me to write my second holiday-based screenplay, this time a dramatic piece about a dying father and a son's reconciliation with him before his passing.
Author's note: the dying part was the only biographical part of the screenplay. My dad and I never had a falling out. In fact, we grow closer over the years.
Last summer, I was in NY visiting my mother and she was watching the Hallmark Channel's holiday movie offerings. Not to belittle those who write those movies, but it didn't take many viewings to realize they were very similar. I thought, hey, I could write those without a lot of effort.
Then this past Christmas, my wife and I watched a bunch of movies in this genre and I got a flood of more good ideas.
Since then, I've written three more Christmas-based scripts, some rom-coms, some dramatic, including one I just finished yesterday. I sent that off to my friend to see if he wanted to partner again. He liked the logline so much, he asked me to send him the rough draft.
Who knows where this will go?
Yours in holiday spirits,
Michael
Yes, we're getting a bit loopy.
When I'm referring to Christmas here, I'm talking about screenplays. Now, I'm not of those people who look forward to the Hallmark Channel's "Christmas in July" promotion. In fact, I don't usually watch the station at all. It's not my jam, as the kids say.
But a few years ago, I wrote a holiday-themed screenplay (a comedy featuring kids) that I thought was pretty good, but like most of my scripts, I kept it in the virtual drawer, awaiting an opportunity to pitch it. A writer friend of mine had told me he was on the lookout for a live-action holiday film project as a producer friend of his was in the market for a made-for-TV film to pitch to studios like Hallmark.
Even though I had envisioned my project as a feature film for the theaters, I sent him my script. My friend liked it enough he ran it by his producer friend, who in turn liked it enough to tell him with some editing, it could be something he could use.
I readily agreed to make my friend a 50 percent partner in the project so we could tune it for the producer's needs. I won't go into the long, involved process to meet the requirements (that would entail a whole post by itself), but we finished it. And of course, as is the way in the film business, it's now in someone else's drawer, awaiting an opportunity to pitch it.
In 2018, when my dad was at home and dying of pancreatic cancer, I was back in NY in July to help with his caregiving. At night, I began watching Hallmark's Christmas movies as a way to escape from the daily sadness as I watched my father's decline. The whole experience inspired me to write my second holiday-based screenplay, this time a dramatic piece about a dying father and a son's reconciliation with him before his passing.
Author's note: the dying part was the only biographical part of the screenplay. My dad and I never had a falling out. In fact, we grow closer over the years.
Last summer, I was in NY visiting my mother and she was watching the Hallmark Channel's holiday movie offerings. Not to belittle those who write those movies, but it didn't take many viewings to realize they were very similar. I thought, hey, I could write those without a lot of effort.
Then this past Christmas, my wife and I watched a bunch of movies in this genre and I got a flood of more good ideas.
Since then, I've written three more Christmas-based scripts, some rom-coms, some dramatic, including one I just finished yesterday. I sent that off to my friend to see if he wanted to partner again. He liked the logline so much, he asked me to send him the rough draft.
Who knows where this will go?
Yours in holiday spirits,
Michael
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