Stage 32 is excited to welcome Matt back for his upcoming lab. In this exclusive interactive 8-session Stage 32 lab, you’ll get hands-on guidance to bring your fantastic idea to life from concept to treatment, one-sheet and pitch that you can sell, all while being mentored by an industry veteran and holiday romantic comedy producer.
You’ll learn who the TV and streaming buyers are for holiday romcom films, why you need a one-sheet and a treatment to meet with them to pitch your idea, what story elements they’re looking for, and how you can approach them with confidence.
Guiding you through the entire process is Matt Bierman, a studio executive and producer with over 25 years of experience. Matt has previously worked as an executive at Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount, Warner Bros., Village Roadshow, and more. He also developed and produced movies for Hallmark and Nickelodeon.
If you’re passionate about bringing your holiday romcoms to television, don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to work with and learn from Matt, and take your ideas to the next level!
https://www.stage32.com/classes/Stage-32-8-Part-Lab-Create-All-The-Tools...
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Looking forward to hearing what Matt has to share! :)
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Hi, all! Lovely meeting everyone today. I wanted to mention, when Matt talked about the end-of-the-second-act crisis, he mentioned one of the options was "a disagreement that points to a larger issue." I just watched "A Castle for Christmas" on Netflix, and in addition to very cleanly hitting all of Matt's beats, the crisis moment is exactly that: the heroine (Brooke Shields) says something to the hero (Cary Elwes) out of love and he gets angry and overreacts because it (very reasonably, given his character) sparks something he has not wanted to look at too closely for the whole movie. Elwes is great in this moment, and you can really see how legitimate his fears are and how they overwhelm him. Just FYI, if you're interested to see what that looks like. :)
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Thanks Laura. I found it impossible to find Matt's 2 Christmas movies here in NZ: we do get a lot of them, but Hallmark and Lifetime aren't offered specifically. Though I do have Apple+, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and a local streamer called Neon which buys a lot from HBO, etc. I watched A Hollywood Christmas where a specialist Christmas movie director clashes with a new studio exec with a finance-background who's been instructed to shut down the Christmas movie division. It's very meta! (And it's set in July in a studio lot in LA.) The director's assistant points out to her boss that they are experiencing a "real" Christmas romance movie as the director attempts - in the face of various obstacles - to finish her "movie within a movie" film. So lots of references to "Oh this is exactly what's supposed to happen! Don't you see??" (eg - she gets very excited when the director tells her that the studio exec when to Princeton - which the assistant sees as a sign that he's - kinda - like a prince. He he he). It was sort of fun - partly to see what sort of liberties they took with how a film set works! Like the 1st AD cancelling all the extras for the big finale scene without bothering to tell the director until the night before because "you wouldn't cut anything so I was left with no choice!" Yeah, right... LOL
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(Oh, and a plot point which revolved around the studio exec not being able to correctly interpret a film's budget!!) :)
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Alan, that sounds hilarious! I will check it out. Although, FYI, I did work on a TV show where the studio exec sabotaged an episode by locking in a bunch of guest characters (thereby using up the budget) because she objected to a recurring character being given a meaty role (for ageism reasons, it was truly awful) without telling the producers or the show runner. She just jammed the contracts through. On the good news front, she no longer works in entertainment -- although that wasn't why she was fired. It truly is a bananas business sometimes -- but great war stories!
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Hi, friends! Just FYI, I saw that the road-trip movie mentioned last Saturday, Holiday Road, is on air tomorrow, Wed, 12/6, on the Hallmark Channel. I'm recording it, it sounded like so much fun!
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Hello! I am a little bias this year:) but Hallmark's My Norwegian Holiday even with its bonkers beginning was fantastic. (And there was surprisingly no "all is lost moment" between the leads, and it totally worked.)
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I watched "Christmas on Cherry Lane" and there was NO romance story. Crazy. It was about 3 different families who lived in the same house in different times.
Has anyone watched the Jenna Kramer movie on Lifetime? It has an intimate scene. Curious to see how it does in the ratings.
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Two Hallmark movies I thought were 1) charming and 2) nailed Matt's story points have been One Royal Holiday (2020) and Holiday Hotline (2023). I've enjoyed watching a bunch of 'em, but so far, these are the two that have stood out.
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Some of you have likely already seen this, but in case not, it seems both informative and fun. :) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/23/upshot/hallmark-lifetime-christmas.html
Merry Christmas!
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Happy New Year, everyone! Alan how is 2024 looking for all of us?! :) Really enjoyed hearing all of your log lines yesterday. I'm working on tweaking Faking a Connecticut Christmas (and taking some pictures of the not so CT town that is loosely based on the small town I'm from in upstate NY. Hitting Main Street to get some inspiration (My favorite - we have a Tattoo shop called Bring In Your Skin. That's going into the script somehow:)
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Happy New Year! Robyn, love the tattoo parlor!
Quick question: has anyone else seen Round and Round? New this year on Hallmark, a Groundhog's Day take on the holiday (Hanukkah) romcom. I thought it was the best thing I've seen so far this year, really charming. Anyone who wants to share their favorites, I'm in!
I loved everyone's stories yesterday, can't wait to see them on screen. Have a great 2024, all!
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My Norwegian Holiday, My Christmas Guide and Yes, Chef Christmas (Lifetime) were at the top of my list. A Biltmore Christmas was great too. I actually thought Sealed with a List Hallmark's Christmas/New Years hybrid was Hallmark perfection and highly recommend. (LOL I should add I enjoyed Christmas by Design. It was very different from my book, but they did use same character names (switched occupations between the female and male leads which was a little disappointing in that in my book the male lead is the fashion designer and the female lead is the mechanic), kept the town name, and the spirit of everyone loving Christmas jammies:)
I did not see Round and Round yet, but it's on my DVR!
Some themes I noticed in addition to more diversity/inclusion: Hallmark leaning in to magical realism and ground hog day-esque stories. They love their road trips (There was a princess/body guard earlier this year, two co-workers (road trip romance I think); and then the holiday one this year) They love destination stories all over the world especially at Christmas which is fantastic!