Scott Radley: Hamilton musician hopes to orchestrate the perfect Hallmark Christmas tale
A Canadian screenwriter and director who's had his fingerprints all over a bunch of Hallmark Christmas movies once gave away the secret formula behind the making of the schmaltzy-but-wildly-popular holiday flicks.
You take the same stuff you do in a regular movie," Ron Oliver said, and you Christmas the crap out of it."
Sage advice, Matt Stodolak thought. But why stop there?
What if the Stoney Creek musician took the concept of Christmas-out-the-wazoo and executed the entire thing in the form of a musical, which he believes Hallmark has never done. All the snow and trees and twinkling lights you can jam into a TV screen. With a love story. And tunes?
Voila. Yuletide perfection made even more perfect. The ideal recipe to propel his screenplay into the Hallmark anthology. Or so goes the plan.
Here's the premise.
His film is called Chris, Mrs." Clever title. It's about a guy named Ben Chris who has three young children but lost his wife five years earlier. He's about to propose to his girlfriend who the kids hate so they write to Santa for help. Which is when a new nanny named - wait for it - Holly comes along. You can probably guess the rest.
That's the Hallmark angle," Stodolak says. The cheesy love story with the terrible weather."
No word if Holly is really a busy big-city attorney who's had to return to her quaint hometown to take care of a family emergency only to arrive right before Christmas and if Ben is her former high school sweetheart (who now owns the local Christmas tree farm) and if they bump into each other at the annual tree-lighting ceremony in the town square while skating near the gazebo while the whole place is decorated as if by Clark Griswold and eventually get snowed in by a massive blizzard that gives her enough time to fall in love, abandon her career and decide to open an independent book shop. The traditional Hallmark movie plot, in other words.
But we digress.
Here's the catch. It isn't a movie yet. Right now it's a screenplay with songs written by the Bishop Ryan Secondary grad and his girlfriend-slash-writing-partner Katie Kerr. The two of them hired a company of singers, actors, choreographers and a film crew to perform and shoot one number a few weeks back at the Millworks Creative District in Dundas so they could show the folks running the Hallmark empire what it's all about.
The truth? The sample is good. Not good as in, you're-local-so-we'll-throw-you-a-bone-and-say-it's-good. No, legitimately good. With a catchy tune that combines new material with some familiar seasonal bits.
And to be sure it's not too understated for the folks buying Hallmark movies, it wraps with our leading couple eating a Christmas cookie as the camera zooms in to a tight shot of the mistletoe they've magically arrived under.
Subtle.
This probably shouldn't be a surprise, though. The quality, that is. Stodolak is music director at Canada's Wonderland and has performed at Theatre Aquarius. When he's not working as an occasional teacher in the Hamilton and Halton Catholic boards. Kerr was in the original cast of Come From Away." Which might help explain why this movie-to-be was originally written for the stage until COVID hit and nobody could do live theatre.
So we've pivoted and reconceived this for digital content," he says.
Whether the American media giant ever grabs it is uncertain. So he'll be launching a Kickstarter campaign to get the next stage of development done. The dream would be to eventually use a company of entirely Canadian actors and preferably shoot the whole thing in the Hamilton area.
Wouldn't be the first time. This city has provided the background for more than a few Hallmark offerings. A few years ago, The Hamilton Spectator newsroom was used for a flick starring Drew Scott (one of the Property Brothers from HGTV). Two years before that, four Hallmark movies were filmed here. And a couple new ones this year were shot in Dundas, Ancaster and Hamilton.
But this would be the first fully homegrown product from start to finish.
And it hits all the elements that Canadian director said any self-respecting Hallmark Christmas movie needs. A love story, a generous sprinkling of saccharine and enough candy canes, tinsel and tree lights to make Santa blush.
It's cheesy," Stodolak says. But at the end of the day, it's human."
Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com
Spotting Hamilton
Two new Hallmark Christmas movies filmed here will debut in the coming days, The Santa Squad" (Dec. 7, 8 p.m. on Lifetime) and Inn Love By For Christmas" (Dec. 11, 8 p.m. on Lifetime and Dec. 18, 8 p.m. on W Network. Note, W's listings call it Inn For Christmas"). Here are the local locations to look for, according to Hamilton's Music and Film Office.
The Santa Squad": Antiques stores on Ottawa Street North, Andrew's Tree Farm on Wilson Street in Ancaster, and the Ancaster Rotary Centre (Morgan Firestone Arena) on Jerseyville Road.
Inn Love By Christmas": Steve's Open Kitchen on James Street North, Dundas Valley Golf and Country Club, Taylor's Tea Room and The Hope Urban Market on King Street West in Dundas, and various private homes in the downtown, Dundas and Flamborough.