Stephen Follows and Walt Hickey pull the curtain back on a staple at this time of year: the Hallmark Movie.

Stephen actually quotes from the Hallmark Playbook!

Requirements like:

• A strong female lead (early to mid-thirties).
• Lean into the holiday/give leads a POV about the holiday (this is especially the case for Christmas. We like a lot of holiday traditional elements and, more importantly, to give our leads a strong point of view of the holiday).
• Script should be 105-110 pages typically.
• 9 Act Structure.
• Act 1 is 23-25 pages.
• The other acts are shorter but should be generally consistent — 8-12 pages usually.
• Midpoint is at the middle of Act 4.
• Acts 7/8 needs to be the low point/breaking point before things get better.
• Act 9 is often 7-10 pages.
• Total runtime we aim for is 86:30 and then after we screen the producer’s cut internally, we will typically take it down to 84:00 (with credits).
• We’re generally not fans of montages or slow motion.
• We don’t do cursing, dirty jokes, innuendos, etc.
• Our content is not sexual in nature at all (a kiss is enough to show the romance in our movies), and we usually save this moment for the end when our lead gets her fairytale ending.
• We don’t like karaoke or singing scenes in our movies and no bowling.

Vancouver Magazine explains How Hallmark Movies Get Made in BC.

This uncredited post exposes the typical Hallmark Movie plot structure:

1. The Intro! Someone (usually a woman) is leading a happy life.
2. The Complication! requiring the lead character to travel somewhere (home, small town, the big city).
3. The Chance Encounter! with the soon-to-be romantic interest, usually with negative or neutral/ambivalent, at best, feelings. This is often an ex/long-lost first love. Sometimes, it’s a family friend, sister’s groom’s best man, etc.
4. The Challenge! The situation gets more challenging and, somehow, the romantic interest is always just there, resulting in many more encounters where the interest makes himself helpful, at the initial chagrin of the lead character who begrudgingly accepts the situation.
5. The Warm-up! Additional encounters between lead character and romantic interest result in a warming up of the relationship and they begin to enjoy spending time together. This is also where they gaze into each others’ eyes (because they dropped something and both bent down to pick it up) before one of them says awkwardly, “I should go…” or something to that effect.
6. The Near Kiss! They finally get over that hump, find themselves outside, and get interrupted just at the last moment before their lips meet.
7. The Misunderstanding! Lead or romantic interest overhears part of a conversation or observes some romantic-looking situation and thinks, “Oh, this was never going to work out anyway, I should just go back home and give up on my newly-realized dream of love and happiness.” Often, this happens because the one or both are afraid to or unsure of how to express themselves.
8. The Reconciliation! Someone musters up the courage to tell the other how they feel or to say sorry or to say they understand if they want to be with the other person — thanks to a parent, friend, mentor, confidant who puts them on the right track and helps them see things for what they really are. Forgiveness happens and the feelings are requited!
9. The Happy Ending! They agree to spend their days and years together with the farm or inn or shop or restaurant or lodge, kiss, maybe a closing scene surrounded by friends/family, and le fin.

My take: is it sacrilege to admit that I’ve never seen one? Well, maybe only one — that my friend acted in. Happy Holidays everyone!