What are the secrets to breaking into Christmas movies? Screenwriter Kelly Peters offers valuable insights on making your script producible and effective ways to network with producers.
Chapters
0:00 Introduction to the Podcast
2:01 Journey into Screenwriting
5:34 Balancing Expectations and Creativity
6:42 From Script to Production
12:15 Networking for Writers
17:06 Navigating Film Markets
18:07 Cold Outreach Strategies
24:18 Maintaining Work-Life Balance
27:10 Advice to My Younger Self
30:35 The Future of Christmas Movies
32:01 Action Checklist Summary
In this episode, I speak with Kelly Peters, an award-winning screenwriter with over 20 produced features, about her journey in the Christmas movie industry. She discusses the importance of originality in storytelling, the logistics of script production, and effective networking strategies. Kelly also reflects on the demands of the industry, the evergreen appeal of Christmas movies, and her personal approach to balancing her professional and personal life.
ACTION CHECKLIST
Optimize Your Script for Production: Secrets to Breaking Into Christmas Movies:
Focus on creating scripts with fewer than 12 speaking parts and minimal locations to increase producibility, especially on a low budget. Some guests have said 6-8 main speaking parts. Either way, you’ll need to be very creative to keep your cast numbers down.
Secrets to Breaking Into Christmas Movies: Network Through Platforms Like InkTip
Expand your network and get your scripts noticed by using platforms like InkTip. Smaller producers often look for Christmas movie scripts on such sites. One thing that’s nice about Inktip is besides making your script visible to production companies, you could get 6+ leads a week and you can email those companies directly on the site. It’s a blind email. You don’t know who is getting your email pitch until after you hit send. Then Inktip informs you who the producer is. Those leads are a mini snapshot of the market. What are the producers looking for right now which is helpful. I joined it. I’ll let you know if I have any success.
Maintain a Healthy Work-Life Balance: Secrets to Breaking Into Christmas Movies:
Track your work hours and set boundaries to avoid burnout. Consider integrating hobbies or personal interests, like Kelly’s mixed media journals, to maintain balance.
Writers Groups: Secrets to Breaking Into Christmas Movies:
Kelly started with a small group – only three people. She advises not to go over four people. Good idea. Once, I was in one writers group that had over 20 people. I never could get my script read. So, stick with a small group. You’ll have to write more content that way.
