Hallmark Christmas movie writers tell all (anonymously): "You’re not allowed to use the word hate or the word crazy"
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"Everything goes through a mildness filter," says one of two Hallmark Christmas writers speaking anonymously to Entertainment Weekly. "You have to mild-ify everything that you do just to kind of take all the edges off. It’s like everything gets sanded, filed down so the sharp edges come off. 'Off-brand' is the word they use for anything that doesn’t fit, like if you use the word 'stupid' or 'crazy' or if someone is too mean or sexual, all those things are off-brand." The other writer adds that creating a Hallmark film is "like writing a movie in the ’40s, but then I look at a movie from the ‘40s and it’s edgier, so it’s not like writing a movie in the ‘40s. They don’t want anything to offend anyone. It’s comfort food and I guess a lot of people like that nothing is going to rattle them. No cannibalism, no brutal murders, nothing like that." The writers also revealed there are other regulations they must follow: "The first rule is snow. We really wanted to do one where the basic conflict was a fear that there will not be snow on Christmas. We were told you cannot do that, there must be snow. They can’t be waiting for the snow, there has to be snow. You cannot threaten them with no snow. Our idea for Christmas in Miami? Never. Not in a million years. At least not at this point in the way they approach these movies. They’re very, very, very specific about what they want to see."
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TOPICS: Hallmark Channel, Christmas, Holiday Programming
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