Joany Kane: Content creator, producer and screenwriter in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Back in the mid 1990s I came up with an idea for a Christmas romance movie about a young woman who sends a Christmas card to a serviceman which sparks a love story between them.

The kernel of the idea originally came when I was watching TV with my mom and a holiday music video by Vince Gill came on; the song was "I'll Be Home For Christmas." My movie idea was a way to honor both my parents; my dad who served as a medic in the European Campaign of WWII and my mom who sent out hundreds of Christmas cards every year. Handwritten cards. Cards often bought in the Hallmark Store.

Back in the mid 1990s there was limited cable, there was no internet/Google, no streamers, there wouldn't be a Hallmark Channel until 2001. The only real place for my movie idea would be the movie theaters. I really wanted to see a Christmas romance movie, there weren't any back then and I was determined to make that happen.

Jump ahead to the first week of 1999. The Christmas romance movie idea was still tugging at my gut but I didn't really have any of the details of the story and characters figured out. I had been writing screenplays at that time; Bette Midler read my first screenplay ever written a comedy titled 86 Management, I had other Christmas ones in the works including one about a town in Vermont home to the real Santa Claus, I had just finished an American West retelling of "The King and I," and I was passionate about a little known slice of Mae West's life that really really really should be a movie/documentary/Broadway musical. (Which I still whole heartedly believe.)

To support my screenwriting habit (at this time I was only optioning screenplays I hadn't sold one yet) I took a job at a lumber mill working in the office. My first full work week was the first week of 1999. On that Friday the loggers came to the office to get paid. As soon as one of the loggers walked into my little office and my eyes met his it was love at first sight. I was in my early thirties and up until that moment I had never ever felt that feeling before. It was overwhelmingly epic.

As soon as I got home from work that day I took a seat at my desk and began typing on my clunky chunky Apple computer (there were no laptops back then.) The story, characters, setting for The Christmas Card flew into me the day I first saw the logger.

The owner of the mill, seeing the spark between us, arranged for me to spend a day in the woods with the logger, for research of course.

Welcome, Joany! So good to hear from you again. I hope all is well.

Your screenplay of The Christmas Card is still my favorite.

As you may recall, I write Christmas novels but not screenplays. I take my hat off to you.

Question for you - I've had two of the larger Hallmark production companies express an interest in reading the manuscript for my latest book - Under the Christmas Moon.

How long does it take before they move to the next step?

Take care & be well. Welcome to Stage 32.

Bryan Mooney

Author

Spring cheers, team Stage 32! I've been in the business for a couple of decades. My first movie was "The Christmas Card" for Hallmark back in 2006. It received an Emmy nom and was one of the inspirations for their current Christmas craze. Off of the success of that movie I had a whole bunch of Christmas movies made. In 2013 I switched gears and worked to launch an OTT platform that I created, Passionflix, that turns romance novels into movies and series. I teamed up with 2 partners for that in 2016 and that finally launched officially in 2017. I'm now launching a scary movie holiday franchise, publishing a couple of books, and have a number of fun projects in the pipeline. I've always been a "cave dweller" when it comes to social media, but with this new season, and so much happening that's hopeful I figured it's finally time to reach out and connect. One of the things I really love doing, which is why I created Passionflix, is celebrating and honoring writers/creatives. Happy spring and may all of your dreams come true! :) xo

Hi Joany. I'm RB, Founder and CEO of Stage 32. As a screenwriter, producer, actor and filmmaker, I know first-hand the challenges all creatives face finding work, landing representation, launching projects, securing funding and simply making the connections that will make a difference in their careers. That's why I created Stage 32. Since our launch in September of 2011, the community has grown to 1,000,000+ members representing every country on the planet making Stage 32 the social network uniquely populated with the most creative people on Earth.

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Thanks for joining the movement and for being a part of this most talented and inspiring community. I very much look forward to your contributions.

Thanks, and have a creative day!

RB

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Hello Joany -

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