Why TV networks and streaming brands pump out more holiday films every year
Why TV networks and streaming brands pump out more holiday films every year
Juliet Giglio is a Christmas fanatic — the kind who puts up four trees every year, each with its own theme.
It’s fitting because she’s in the Christmas business. She’s co-written a bunch of holiday films with her husband, Keith. There’s “A Very Nutty Christmas,” in which Melissa Joan Hart falls in love with a nutcracker who’s come to life. She wrote “Dear Christmas,” which also stars Melissa Joan Hart, and “Christmas Reservations,” which, you guessed it, also stars Melissa Joan Hart.
That’s part of the holiday movie trope, stars reappearing in straight-to-TV film after straight-to-TV film. They’re usually Christmas themed, though Hanukkah gets sprinkled in here and there. And the storyline is always familiar.
“They’ve got a meet-cute. Girl wants boy, girl gets boy, girl loses boy and at the end they wind up happily ever after,” said Giglio. “They’re romantic comedies.”
It seems like the holiday season starts earlier each year. That applies to TV as well, with some networks showing movies as early as before Halloween. Because for certain content providers, holiday films are a blockbuster money-making season.
And that’s true despite how formulaic these movies can be.
“That’s part of the comfort and the joy of them,” said Amy Winter, head of programming at Lifetime, which is premiering 26 holiday movies this year. “If it wildly diverges from a certain type of plot line, it’s not fulfilling the expectation of hey, I could possibly step away, wrap a present, come back and know what’s going on.”
These movies are made to be holiday wallpaper, playing in the background while people bake cookies and decorate their homes. The business strategy is quantity and the demographic is a coveted advertising group, young women.
“I don’t think we’re ever not working on Christmas,” said Winter. “It’s the Super Bowl.”
Lifetime’s competitor Hallmark started its “Countdown to Christmas” movie marathon on Oct. 21. It’s also going for quantity, with 41 new movies.
Lisa Hamilton Daly, executive vice president of programming, says each film costs a couple of million dollars and is filmed in just a few weeks, usually in a small town that has that Main Street, America, vibe — or that’s the illusion.
“People find like a cute part of Vancouver or some other Canadian town usually, honestly, and they shoot there a lot,” said Daly.
Canada gives production companies a 25% labor tax break.
But just because these movies are inexpensive to make, it doesn’t mean they’re easy to make. Filming often happens during summer when there’s no snow.
“There is a lot of fake snow used, different kinds. Some of it is just literally blankets,” said Daly.
Other trade secrets include actors tucking ice packs into their parkas so they don’t overheat while sitting around the campfire in 80 degree weather. Cold winter breath is added in post production.
Daly said all these workarounds are worth it because seasonal content is becoming a bigger piece of the network’s strategy.
“Fall has become a thing in the last few years, with like pumpkins. We had a movie called ‘Pumpkin Everything’ that did really well for us,” she said. “And so we’re looking at doing like more really seasonal movies.”
Stay tuned for Loveuary, Hallmark’s monthlong celebration of Valentine’s Day. For every season, there is now movie wallpaper.
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