Peter Sullivan, Producer, Writer, and Director at Hybrid LLC, shares insights on differentiating your Christmas script. Valuable advice for writers aiming to stand out in a crowded market.
Takeaways
Our top takeaways include:
- The remarkable openness of executives to fresh ideas.
- The importance of standing out amidst the sea of Christmas movies.
- A reality check on the landscape of querying producers.
Transcript
[0:13] [Caryn] Hello and welcome to the Christmas Movie Screenwriter podcast. I’m your host Caryn McCann the Christmas Movie Screenwriter is a podcast about writing producing and selling Christmas movies I publish a transcript with every episode if you want to read something later Just go to the website at www.christmasmoviescreenwriter.com.
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If you like the podcast and find it helpful, it would mean a lot to me if you could rate this podcast. You’d be helping spread the word about the podcast, which would encourage even more industry experts to come on as guests. So it’s a win-win for everyone.
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Please leave a rating on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts or tweet this podcast to your friends. A quick few words about what I’m working on.
[0:59] Christmas is right around the corner, so I’m watching lots of Christmas movies.
I’m also working on a new script. This is the DIY script I mentioned the last time. I am deciding between writing this as a Christmas caper, so very lighthearted and sweet, or making it a Christmas thriller, more exciting and high stakes. I realize that perhaps would limit my buyers, but I’m considering it. I’ll let you know how it turns out. And now for the main segment.
Today, I am interviewing producer, writer, and director, Peter Sullivan. Here is the interview.
[1:32] Peter Sullivan was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, and graduated from New York University Tisch School of Arts with a degree in film and television. After making the move to Los Angeles, he worked his way up the development ranks at Paramount, Artisan Television, and Hearst Entertainment. Since becoming vice president of the production company Hybrid LLC in 2007.
[1:56] Sullivan has co-produced over 100 films. In addition to producing and writing, Sullivan has directed 40 films, including Secret Obsession, which with over 40 million viewers in its first 28 days, was one of the top 10 most-viewed Netflix originals ever.
Tips for crafting your Christmas script storyline
[2:13] And the romantic comedy Christmas Under Wraps, which remains the highest-rated program in Hallmark Channel History. In 2022, he directed the first original movie for Amazon’s freebie platform, Love Accidentally, starring Brenda Song and Denise Richards.
In addition to his film work, Sullivan has worked as an entertainment journalist for the website Latino Review and cowrote the graphic novel Burning Man with prolific comic book author Stephen Stern, Zen Intergalactic Ninja.
Severely hard of hearing since birth, Sullivan has recognized a need to provide a platform for filmmakers and artists with disabilities. Well, Peter, thank you for coming on the show today.
[Peter] Thank you for having me.
[Caryn] I told the audience a little bit about you, but why don’t you take a minute and tell us about yourself and your business?
[3:04] [Peter] Well, as you said, I’ve been doing this for some time.
A busy year with five films, mostly Christmas movies
[3:14] This year, I’ve done five films. It’s been a very busy year. And as a company, a lot of what we do are Christmas movies. So I thought that it would be wonderful to come in and share some of that with you.
And, you know, given the subject matter of your podcast. I thought it would be a great place to share some of what we’ve done in the past and some of what we’ve got coming up.
You know my love for the genre began, When I was in film school, one of my first student films was a Christmas movie and I did not realize at the time that I was you know typecasting myself, but the trend continues and, I’ve never looked back,
[Caryn] What are some key elements or qualities that you look for in a Christmas screenplay that would motivate you to produce it?
How not to pitch a Christmas script
[Peter] What we look for really is something different something interesting and unique, Conceptually, you know, I’ll get a lot of emails and queries from writers and other producers. They say – ‘Oh, I’ve got this project. It would be a great, you know, it would be a great lifetime or Hallmark movie.’
[4:40] Then they proceed to pitch me a concept that, not only have I, have I seen on these platforms already, but, that we’ve produced.
Okay. We just pitched my movie to me. I think the challenge is because there are so many movies, both past and present, how do you come up with an interesting take? How do you come up with something different? How do you surprise viewers? Give them a little surprise. And the tropes that rightfully so have become like Saturday Night Live.
[Caryn] Yeah, literally. You’re right.
[Peter] I’m responsible for a lot of those clichés myself. And I get a residual Jack whenever Saturday Night Live makes fun of them. But it is, it’s about how we do something different and just, you know, present the holiday in an interesting way that I haven’t seen a hundred times.
The importance of strong character development in a Christmas script
[5:42] [Caryn] That’s great. That’s very refreshing because you hear a lot of talk about how you have to follow the Hallmark formula and it’s got to have, you know, the girl in the big city goes home to the farm and meets the ex-boyfriend. So you’re saying, is this new or is this…
[6:01] [Peter] Well, this is for us, but also, I mean, you know, talking to executives, even they’re always looking for new ways. I mean, they’re not looking to remake the same movie. I know that over the last couple of years, there’s been creative turnover in both Hallmark and Lifetime.
And I think the word coming down is we want to respect what we’ve done and what’s been successful, But show us something new, something different, something exciting. Something that’s going to get the audience’s attention.
Show us something new in your Christmas script
[Caryn] Well, I’m glad you said that. That is music to my ears.
[6:47] Now, on that note, some critics say Christmas movies are formulaic. How can writers – and you sort of answered this question, but let me have you expand on this—how can writers make their scripts stand out?
[Peter] Writers must create a story that hasn’t been seen before.
[6:59] First of all, this is just general screenwriting. I taught screenwriting at Culver City High School. One of the first things I told my students was that they needed to create a story that we hadn’t seen before.
Write a Christmas script we haven’t seen before
And just say, I want to write a story about an archaeologist who works for a university, and in his spare time he goes hunting for treasure, and I’m going to have him go look for a big treasure, you know, from the Bible, and there’s going to be some bad guys that want to get their hands on it.
I mean, that’s a great story, but I really wouldn’t recommend anyone write that, because it’s already been done.
So they point out – this story is different. Instead of going to a small town farm, she’s going to a small town bakery. That’s not different.
[7:58] [Caryn] That’s right.
[Peter] That isn’t different. And I’ll give you an example. There was a film that was on, it was on last year, I forgot exactly what it was called, but it was a take on three men and a baby (Three Wise Men and a Baby), you know, set a time with three of the sort of, you know, leading men in the Christmas genre.
And that’s something different. We haven’t seen it before. It’s just to treat the Christmas genre, the game of Mad Libs, and just insert different verbs here and there, right? Not putting in the effort that’s required to excite anybody.
[Caryn] You mentioned Hallmark and Lifetime, they had a change of management recently. Your fresh approach to having something fresh and new, is that adopted by your peers in the industry?
A fresh Christmas script will be embraced by the industry
[8:56] [Peter] I mean, it’s something that we hear as we’re pitching ideas and concepts, just generally is something that we’re being told from a variety of sources. We want something different. I mean, that would be a perfect example.
Last year, my company produced four, I directed two films for the Ion Network. I’ve been doing films for the Ion Network for a long time, and we’ve done our prince romances and this kind of stuff. But what they were looking to do last year was a different take on the Christmas genre.
A different take on the Christmas genre
So I did two Christmas movies for Ion last year that were very different from the standard, you know, there wasn’t the prince falling in love and that kind. Well, one was. But I’ll tell you how we managed to make a difference.
[9:45] You know, one was this very sort of Agatha Christie-style mystery where we had a group of characters in a house with a missing Christmas diamond.
[9:54] [Caryn] Oh, right, right, the Christmas diamond.
[Peter] Yeah, The Case of the Christmas Diamond. It wasn’t about murder or any of that. We took the Christmas setting and the Christmas, conventions and applied them to an Agatha Christie-style detective story. We’ve all seen, every year, there are two or three, I’ve done several myself, of these sort of prince romance movies.
This is where an American girl gets swept off her feet by a prince, and he’s from some European country. He comes to the United States for whatever reason, and he’s going to fall in love and take her back to his kingdom. And we’ve seen that so many times.
Christmas script crime – no, unless it’s funny
What if we did that story set against the backdrop of a crime, a criminal case? So we have our girl who was swept off her feet an FBI agent working the case.
[Caryn] I love it.
[Peter] And the prince bears a passing resemblance to the criminal that she’s currently involved with. And, it clicked on the prince and pauper. The prince and the criminal switch places and help her to solve the crime.
[11:18] So it’s not about how you just replace a word here or there and call it fresh. , It’s how you put all the ingredients in a big bag, shake it up, and dump out something completely different that we haven’t seen before.
How do you stand out?
And that was our own thing last year. They were making an effort to do something different. That’s what I love. I love doing Christmas movies that are unique, as well as just the usual. But I feel like because there are so many films being done by so many different networks, how do we stand out?
What do we do differently? Okay, we’ll put Eddie Murphy in it and make it more fantastical, or we’ll do an origin story about Santa Claus or, you know, you’re seeing these, you know, these streamers and networks step outside the comfort zone, and doing different types of Christmas.
So we’d like, for example, the three men and a baby idea that did quite well. I’ll get the name for that for you.
[Caryn] I’ll put it in the show notes. The one, the FBI Royal Christmas, is that called A Christmas Holiday?
Get inspired
[Peter] No, that was called A Prince and Pauper Christmas. The movie was called Three Wise Men and a Baby. It was a Hallmark film from 2022.
[12:44] It starred Paul Campbell, Andrew Walker, and Tyler Hynes. And it was, it was their take on Three Men and a Baby.
[12:55] How do you stand out when there are 40 of these things being made a year?
[Caryn] One hundred and seventy.
Generating Ideas and Assigning Writers
[13:13] [Peter] It can’t all be about the girl from the bakery.
[13:19] [Caryn] So how do you find scripts? Do you tend to hire WGA writers or nonunion writers?
[Peter] We tend to generate, well, we generate all, most of the ideas, I would say 99.9% of the ideas that we’ve done are generated in-house and then we’ll assign them to writers. And we have relationships, with writers.
While we’re always interested in finding new voices. We do have a stable writer that we’ve been working with for a long time. And that’s part of how we’ve been able to keep a strong output.
Finding Writers
Because we have a family and we have kind of a system in place where the producers, will come up with a concept. Then we’ll find which writer is best suited for this idea and then proceed from there.
And we, you know, we have expanded our writing roster, but it’s not something that we’ve been, you know, we’re not actively looking for new pitches ourselves because we find the market is so target-driven.
The odds of finding a script out there that was written that just happened to hit all of the marks that we need to hit, it would be a needle in a haystack to find the one that just happened to, you know, conveniently hit them all.
[Caryn] Can you share what some of those marks are?
Buyers
[14:47] [Peter] Well, for example, if a certain buyer is looking for something specific. Our films are not only designed for specific. We’re not doing films just for a network. We’re doing films for the international market. We’re doing films that have to sell on a streaming market.
And so everyone has their own specific needs, and it’s constantly changing too. I was doing some online webinars on screenwriting, and one of the topics they wanted me to cover was how to pitch to Hallmark and Netflix and Lifetime and that kind of stuff.
How not to pitch
And I said, well, that would be kind of false advertising because the minute I reported that thing, it would all change.
[15:37] And so now I’m giving outdated information. And this is just every phone call it changes.
So there is no silver bullet except to say one thing you probably don’t want to give them something that they already have. Because if they’ve already produced it. Chances are they probably have 30 others just like it and you’re not going to stand out.
Why producers pass
You’re not going get their attention because they’ll say, I already have those films and so on. This is a common reason why they pass. Because, as you said, 170 films. Chances are, unless you’re thinking outside the box, you’re not going to think of something they haven’t thought of.
[Caryn] Do you see that market as becoming oversaturated or still growing?
Standing Out in an Oversaturated Market
[16:26] [Peter] I think it’s growing. But how many Christmas movies could one possibly consume in a given time? That’s why, again, I think getting attention and standing out amidst all the noise is so important.
Because otherwise, you know, it’s just white noise. And it’s just something you turn on the TV, and it’s played in the background while you’re baking or cooking or whatever you’re doing. And it just becomes sort of background noise.
How do you stand out when there are 170 movies? And every streamer, Fox Nation is now doing original Christmas movies.
Everyone’s getting in on the action
I’m surprised at this point that CNN hasn’t announced a slate of original Christmas movies, maybe they have. The point is there are so many of them. How do you stand out? How do you do it?
[Caryn] And not just production companies. I mean, HGTV, that’s a bad example, but like Coca-Cola, I think, because they’re putting their product in there.
[Peter] And we’ve done that. And we’ve done that in the past with certain films.
[17:36] We’ve been involved with sponsors and in several cases, You know found ways to integrate certain things Because you’re right. It’s also a positive for them, right?
[Caryn] So what is your ideal budget for a Christmas TV movie?
[17:56] [Peter] Our movie typically falls within you know, the anywhere between one to two and a half million dollar range in there.
Don’t worry about the budget
[18:08] But again, I you know with talking to writers – I don’t want writers to think about budget. That’s not something that a writer really should be thinking about. I’m guilty of this as well.
When I’ve written my material and sent it out, if you’re writing with a budget in mind, what you think about, and unless you’re an experienced line producer, you don’t.
I mean, you can guess, but as a writer, you don’t know. You don’t know what the deals are. It’s like, oh, well, I read the state had a tax credit. So I set my script there so it should be a slam dunk. Well, maybe the production company doesn’t want to shoot a movie in that state.
Maybe they’re not interested in the tax credit. That’s not a selling point. You know, writing for a budget is not a selling point. If it’s a great concept, I’ll find a way to make it. And I’d rather have a killer concept than a script that, you know, is same old, same old, but quote, I could afford it. That’s not a selling point for me.
[Caryn] How do you finance your Christmas movies?
[Peter] We do them independently.
Financing Christmas Movies Independently
[19:15] Our films are financed independently by our company. And that also allows us a certain degree of control and ownership over the film.
[Caryn] Does that include pre-sales?
[Peter] We put together a package. It sometimes includes pre-sales, but sometimes we’ve done movies without details. And if we believe in an idea and a concept, if somebody’s not hungry for it right this minute, doesn’t mean they won’t be hungry and won’t be hungry for it in six months.
Relationships are the key
But by the time they are hungry for it, it might be too late to start cooking. So sometimes you have to, you know, make the meal in anticipation of what the hunger is going to be, not now, but, you know, four hours from now. So a lot of it is, is guesswork. But again, it’s based on relationships and experience.
[20:10] Those aren’t things that writers should be thinking about, but I worry about that. You show me something interesting and different, I’ll worry about when to put it in the oven.
[Caryn] I like that metaphor. How do you market and monetize your Christmas movies? Do you utilize sales estimates to attract sales agents and what strategies do you employ to recoup your investment?
[Peter] Well, we have a sales representative who works with us. So we do, we have foreign sales as well as domestic.
Licensing Agreements and Network Changes
[20:50] And we’ll make license agreements with various networks. When those license agreements expire, sometimes they’ll renew or we’ll take it to another network.
[Caryn] Okay. And how important, now you kind of already answered this question, but maybe you could expand on this. How important is originality in Christmas TV movie scripts and what advice would you give to screenwriters looking to put a unique spin on a well-loved holiday theme or trope?
[Peter] Well, here’s one thing I will say because I know I’ve been encouraging people to go outside the box. There is such a thing as a little too far outside the box. And I’m not saying that I want, a very Star Wars Christmas.
Genre Expectations for a Christmas script
[21:49] Christmas comes to Alpha Centauri is probably not a, it’s probably not going to work for a lot of people. You have to stay within, you know, the genre, I’ll say that. And by genre, if you look at most Christmas movies, they fall into what would be traditionally referred to as kind of like the rom-com sphere.
Christmas script – think Rom-Com, not an action movie
Sometimes drama, but, you know, it’s usually, it’s either drama or romantic comedy, I would say. They’re not science fiction, they’re not, you know, usually not, you know, without maybe a fantastical element in the way like a Christmas Carol or something.
They’re not Lord of the Rings. They’re not Star Wars. They’re not action movies. Typically, they fall into the romantic comedy and drama category. Now, that having been said, there are outliers. Ion, last year was expanding that. They were doing these sorts of crime mystery movies, but they were still very comedic.
[23:02] In fact, A Prince and the Pauper Christmas is probably one of the most comedic films I’ve ever directed. It had a lot of slapstick and gag humor with, you know, mistaken identities. The elevator door would open and the prince would come in.
Adding comedy to your Christmas script
Then the next elevator door would open and the criminal would come out. It was near misses and that kind of stuff. It was very much based on physical humor.
[23:34] So we didn’t stray too far from that. We weren’t making Heat as a Christmas movie. It’s still very much fallen into the comedy. Even The Case of the Christmas Diamond, which was our sort of Agatha Christie Christmas mystery.
We didn’t do murder. You know, it wasn’t who killed, you know, who killed the Santa Claus or whatever. It was it was a theft. So there was no body count. Because again, it was about trying to keep it on the lighter side.
Maximizing your Christmas Script Potential
[24:03] There are outlines such as Lifetime, and I have one coming up this year, Lifetime Movie Network has what they call Slay Bells, S-L-A-Y Bells, which is a programming stunt they do every year where they’ll run these thrillers.
However, the thrillers, most of them are not specifically Christmas-themed. Mine is. The one we did last year was. And again, that’s one network, that’s one stunt.
So if you wanted to maximize the attention that your screenplay or idea would get, it’s probably best not to aim for something that’s very limiting like that, where there’s only one network doing that.
Aim for many Christmas script buyers
[24:55] [Caryn] Is that network Lifetime?
[Peter] It’s Lifetime Movie Network. So it would be better, it’s not even Lifetime proper, it’s Lifetime Movie Network. And there’s only a handful of films. So again, if you’re talking about trying to maximize your potential as a screenwriter, I would aim for the biggest market possible.
So my recommendation would be not to go for the niche, the crime, the mystery, or the thriller, but let’s go for something in the comedy, romantic comedy space.
And the reason I say that is, when it comes to genre tropes, you know, romantic comedy, comedy, drama, you know, this is a very wide, varied target that we’re talking about. If you look at a romantic comedy, on the one hand, it could be, it could be Notting Hill, you know, on the other hand, it could be Tootsie, you know, very different movies.
Creative Potential and your Christmas script
So if you think of Christian movies in that way, it’s like, there’s a lot of space in between Notting Hill and Tootsie, or Pretty Woman, or other seminal romantic comedies over the years, these movies have nothing in common. Other than the fact that of their very broad genre sense, Mrs. Doubtfire. So the idea is, how do you present your story thing in that genre?
[26:22] Thinking about how varied those movies I just named are, you know, that’s a lot of creative potential to play with. Without saying, okay, we’re going to do a Star Wars universe.
[Caryn] Right. But there are outliers, for example, Silent Night, Fatal Night.
[Peter] Yes. So that was something that, again, was something that we developed internally. We had a relationship and we knew there was a need and we filled it But if I’m a screenwriter writing a spec script, right? I wanted to pick the best chance for my script to be made right? It’s not the Christmas movie that I would suggest you write.
[Caryn] Besides that advice what advice would you give to your younger self about producing Christmas movies?
Breaking the Mold of the Christmas script
[27:19] Peter] Overall, I’d say I’m pretty proud of what I’ve done. If not a whole lot, I would do differently. Because one of the things that I am most proud of is consistently breaking the mold over the years.
You’re starting with the first Hallmark movie ever directed, Christmas Under Wraps, you know, yes, that has become the cliché. But back then it wasn’t. You know, I mean, they, you know, we were at the forefront of that.
And, and so, you know, we kind of, you know, in a way that from, you know, The Imitators, you know, had a lot of influence on that. But back then, it was new, it was different.
Your Christmas Script – Think outside the box
[28:07] And, I did another movie for a lifetime that I still get a kick out of called Secret Santa, which, which I mean, talking about really outside the box. We were doing a Christmas movie about the theory of wormholes, time travel, and alternate dimensions. We were doing a Christmas movie about the multiverse before anyone knew what the multiverse was. This was just 10 years ago.
[28:34] Almost 10 years ago, we were doing this movie. We were doing diverse casting, long before it became an industry mandate. I’m very proud of the films that we’ve done over the years, pushing the genre in different ways.
Fill-in-the-bank Christmas script
I’ve done movies that were almost musicals, which is very unique and fun. I’ve gone from, you know, a world where an executive said, you know, we don’t want songs in our movie to do a movie that was almost a musical.
[29:43] I’ve seen this genre grow and expand. My advice to my younger self would be to continue to challenge the genre. Don’t become so complacent that your script just becomes mad libs. A blank from big city blank opens a blank in a small town called blank, and falls in love with a blue-collar blank who helps her overcome her blank.
[30:00] [Caryn] We’ve been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.
[Peter] Yeah. I have. It’s so funny. I went on Etsy, and I bought a sweatshirt with my own movie’s catchphrase on it.
[Caryn] Which is?
Marketing your Christmas Script outside the box
[Peter] That’s Garland for you. And I went to the screening and everyone’s like, oh man, you made that? And I was like, no, I bought that online. People are selling these things. Like we’ve created this industry, and this marketing and stuff. Even the producers themselves, it’s like they’re not even aware of the impact that it has on the audience.
And that’s the thing. I try to always keep in touch. Whether it’s talking on shows like this. I always try to be involved with the audience and reach out to the audience and hear what they have to say. I read all the boards, I read all the messages in the post because I want to hear what people think of our work. And that’s something else I do.
Advice to younger self
I say, what can I do differently? And maybe tell my younger self, don’t take the criticism so personally. Because you know, there are people out there that will say negative things. Several comments came up after, we started making films for Netflix because there’s such a large market.
[31:27] You know, there was a lot of good stuff, but there was also a high number of positive comments, It’s also a higher normal number of negative comments. It hurts when you read some of that stuff. I would tell the younger self – just take it all with a grain of salt. Everything is a learning experience. Learn what you can adjust. Block out what you can’t.
[Caryn] What’s that catchphrase that you had on this?
See your Christmas Script dialogue on a t-shirt?
[31:57] [Peter] That was the catchphrase from Christmas Under Wraps. When we did the follow-up film a couple of years ago, it was like, how many times can we squeeze that phrase?
The funny thing is, one of the items I bought on Etsy with that slogan on it was like a wall hanging. And I hung it in the movie on the set.
And it’s in the film, and I took a picture of it, and I sent it to the Etsy artist that created it. I said, hey, you know that thing I bought? Well, there you go. And now you’re part of the world. Wow.
[32:41] [Caryn] That’s a selling point. I bet her sales just skyrocketed after that.
[Peter] But, because I just, again, I just, I love the fact that our films are so inspirational to people and motivate people. and there are so many people interested in it. Because for me, I don’t make movies for myself, I make movies for the audience.
Your Christmas script matters
And I love it when it works, and we just make people happy. One of the greatest stories, I was told I’d done a film, one of the first films that I directed, we had an actress in it who was also a comedian.
And very much in the faith-based world. And she’d gotten a letter from a fan that said that that movie almost saved her life, that she was at the end, she was having a really hard time, and she felt like she was alone, and all of that. When she saw that movie, it was such a motivating factor for her to just kind of put it all behind her and find the strength to move on.
[33:56] That to me was, that made my year. That’s all I could ever ask for from one of these films is just, you know, to touch one person. To change one life or make somebody’s holiday just a little bit brighter.
Christmas script – submitting to producers
[34:12] [Caryn] Yeah, that’s great. That’s great. Now this next question, I know you earlier said 99% of your scripts are from a circle of writers that you have, a roster of writers that you use again and again. But let me just ask anyway, what is the best way for screenwriters to connect with you and submit their ideas or scripts for that 1% opportunity?
[Peter] Look, they can always email me.
The Difficulty of Getting Queries to Production
[34:42] Or message me on Instagram. However, you know, I, I’ve never, I’ve never gotten a query that made it to production.
[Caryn] That’s good to know.
[Peter] Because I have to get through, I’ve met, I’ve met writers that way that I’ve hired. By that, I mean, over 20 years, maybe three or four. Considering the three or four queries a day, that’s not a huge margin.
[35:28] Our niche is so narrow and what we’re looking for at a given moment is so narrow, the odds of hitting that are very hard. And I’m only one person, and we’re a small company.
Needle in a haystack Christmas script
I don’t have tons of people that can read scripts and that sort of thing. It’s very time-consuming to do. We don’t have the infrastructure that’s set up to go through that haystack and find the needle.
It’s, you know, the right place at the right time. I’ll give you a perfect example. There’s a writer I met, and it was a project we ended up with, we haven’t produced it yet, but it was a project we were developing, not a Christmas movie. It was set in the world of fur trapping.
You know, and against like the Westwood expansion and that sort of thing. Kind of like if you remember the movie The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio. It was set very much in that kind of world.
Timing is everything for your Christmas script
[36:33] And it was something we were working on and developing. It was a true story. We were looking at writers. And out of the blue, I get an email from a writer. That writer that’s like, here’s my spec, and would you be interested in taking a look at it? And it was about fur trapping.
[Caryn] Amazing. That’s synergy.
Luck and your Christmas script
[Peter] We did a couple of projects together. None of which, none of which yet has been produced. Not for lack of time. We just haven’t gotten through yet. But that’s a hundred, that’s a thousand to one shot. That email just happened to hit when I was having a conversation about who the heck we’re going to find knows anything about fur trapping. And the email just happens to pop up.
[Caryn] Well, you put it out there in the universe. You never know.
[Peter] And I apologize, and it’s sad because as an aspiring writer, I know how hard it can be. I wish I had better news.
Be realistic about your Christmas script
[Caryn] No, it’s good to be realistic.
[Peter] I’ve worked at companies before that I, where I, as a development executive, employed a staff of readers who did nothing but read scripts and just read, read, read, and cover and do script coverage, and that sort of thing.
Script coverage on your Christmas Script
[38:01] I’ve worked at companies where I had more people doing script coverage than I have at my entire company. We’re a small entity. We’re not a big studio. We’re a small company. We’re the film equivalent of that mom-and-pop store, we’re not corporate., We don’t have the corporate infrastructure. So that’s just the truth.
Do writers graduate to bigger-budgeted movies?
[Caryn] I just thought of a question. I’m just curious if you can answer this. Do you find that it’s like the same writers are still writing Christmas scripts? Or is there a stage where a writer will sort of graduate to maybe higher-budgeted movies or studio movies? Do these writers just stick with it for their careers?
[Peter] It varies. There are writers that we were working with.
[39:04] I was working with her. If we weren’t her first produce group, we probably were up there, one of her first movies for sure. She just really liked the Christmas genre and doing Christmas movies with us. Then she graduated to bigger network movies. But she’s still doing Christmas movies.
Switching up your Christmas script
And I’ve had other writers, we go back and forth. As a director, I go back and forth. As a writer myself, I go back and forth. I did a Christmas movie years ago for Lifetime called All About Christmas Eve with Haley Duff, and we wrapped the picture.
And about a week later, I got a call saying we’re going to start another film for a Lifetime. And it was a horror film starring Super Junior, a week later.
[39:59] I don’t like to only do one type of song. So if you look at the films that I’ve done, I’ve done everything from Christmas movies to non-Christmas romantic comedies to mystery, thriller, horror, and sci-fi. I’ve run the gamut.
I’ve written action films myself, as well as Christmas. To me, I value a good story above anything else.
Exploring the Creative Process in your Christmas script
[40:45] What attracts me, both a creative and a producer is just a good story. And the writers that we work with, they do go back and forth. So the films, the Christmas movie, we’ll do a Christmas movie written by somebody. Then that same writer will go on from there to do a thriller.
[Caryn] That’s good. That’s inspiring. So to wrap up would you like to share any links or social media details so our audience can keep up with what you’re doing?
[Peter] Absolutely. You can always follow me on Instagram My Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/petersullivan_director/. And that’s why I usually post up-and-coming material.
[41:39] And additionally, in addition to the movies that I’ve done, I am also, this holiday season, I have something new that I’ve tried and it’s available now, is I’ve adapted one of my Christmas movies, Case of the Christmas Diamond, into a novel.
And that novel is now available, you can get it on barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, ebook, or in print. And, you know, it’s just because I love writing. I wanted to just try something different to keep it fresh.
[Caryn] Well, maybe your next adaptation will be a play. The Christmas Diamond play. Yeah, why not?
Adapting your film into a play
[42:18] [Peter] I will tell you this. The comments that we got after screening Silent Night, Fatal Night, which is my upcoming Lifetime Movie Network Christmas movie for this year. This would make a good play. You never know.
[Caryn] Well Peter Thank you so much for your knowledge and your experience. Thank you especially for giving a clear-eyed view. Writers out there need to hear this and again. Thank you for coming on the podcast today.
[Peter] Thank you.
[Caryn] And now for my takeaways today, I have three takeaways.
Executives are open to new ideas
Peter mentioned that executives at Hallmark and Lifetime are open to new ideas. You can take a typical Christmas movie and give it a fresh spin.
For example, in Hybrid’s movie, The Case of the Christmas Diamond, Peter took a Christmas idea and gave it an Agatha Christie mystery feel. The good news is, that more and more production companies are opening up to adding a unique spin to Christmas movies.
Surprise the audience
There are so many Christmas movies, past and present, that it’s hard for a writer or producer to get attention. The only way to get through the clutter is to stand out. How do you do that?
You need to challenge yourself. Don’t be complacent.
Don’t be that guy or gal who writes a fill-in-the-blank script. A blank from big city blank opens a blank in a small town called blank and falls in love with a blue-collared blank who helps her overcome blank.
[43:45] Here’s an example.
A driven marketing executive from Chicago opens a holiday-themed pop-up shop in a small town called Snowfall Springs and falls in love with a carpenter who helps her overcome her fear of taking risks and embracing spontaneity.
Yep, already seen it, been there, done that, got the t-shirt. So, I put a unique spin on Peter’s formula. What do you think?
A mermaid from big city Atlantis opens a taco stand in a small town called Angel Falls and falls in love with a unicorn who helps her overcome her fear of seashells.
I think I like number two better.
Reality check
Peter said in all these years, he’s never produced a script from a query email. Now, I know that’s hard to hear for writers, uh, but he has worked with writers that perhaps queried him in the past, but we need to look at the hard numbers.
In 20 years, he’s only worked with three to four writers who have queried him and he gets three to four queries a day. So getting into screenwriting, any genre, even Christmas movies, which seem to be unlimited.
[44:55] There are 170 that were made last year. But despite that, you have to keep your eyes wide open. So don’t get complacent and write fill-in-the-blank scripts. Now more than ever, you need to think outside the box. And that just maybe what you need to stand out in a crowded market.
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Thanks for listening. My name is Caryn McCann and I’ll see you on the next Christmas Movie Screenwriter podcast. Bye.
The Christmas Movie Screenwriter Podcast – Episode 07
Peter Sullivan, Producer Writer, Director
Show Notes
HOST: Caryn McCann
Website: https://christmasmoviescreenwriter.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristmasMovieScreenwriter
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MerryScriptmas
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caryn-mccann-5718058/
GUEST: Peter Sullivan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petersullivan_director/
Company: https://hybridpresents.com/
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0838289/?ref_=fn_al_nm_2
Film adapted into a book: The Case of the Christmas Diamond (The Candy Cane Mysteries)