HALLMARK MOMENT’
JJulie Sherman Wolfe always knew she wanted to live in New England. So the Hallmark Channel screenwriter did what she has done on the screen for some 20 TV movies: she made a happy ending. After visiting a cousin in Simsbury, Wolfe, who lived in Los Angeles, fell in love with the Farmington Valley and moved to Avon. Five years later, she discovered that her Russian grandfather initially lived in Ansonia before moving to San Francisco. “I didn’t realize how much connection to Connecticut I had until I got here.”
When she can, Wolfe tries to set her movies in Connecticut. “Taking a Shot at Love,” for instance, featured a hockey player in a fictional Avon. Although it was filmed in Vancouver, Canada, Connecticut viewers could enjoy the Wolfpack gear featured in the movie. In a life-imitating-art moment, the fictional Avon Winterfest in that movie is now going to happen in real life this December in Avon, thanks to the work of some local Hallmark Channel enthusiasts. “One Royal Holiday,” last year’s new Christmas movie, was shot in Putnam and set in Kentsbury, a fictional mash-up of Kent and Simsbury. While a Jew writing Christmas movies might seem odd, Wolfe said she and her family love the culture of Christmas. “We’re very much the Christmasloving Jewish family,” she says, noting her husband wrote a children’s book called “Shmelf the Hanukkah Elf.”
Wolfe is hard at work on next year’s Christmas movie when we meet in summer’s swelter. “It’s always Christmas in July in
“There’s something about fall and winter in Connecticut in particular that feels romantic.”
my world,” she says. As for the Grinches who pooh-pooh Hallmark Channel movies, she offers this: “They make people so happy, especially the last two years. It’s a place they can go and they know everything is going to work out. It’s an idealized world. This work for Hallmark is the most satisfying to me professionally because of the effect it’s had.”
Wolfe got her start in sitcoms — “Dweebs,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “3rd Rock from the Sun,” to name a few — but her focus for the past eight years has been writing Hallmark Channel scripts. She has a new Christmas movie, “You, Me & the Christmas Trees,” which debuted Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. When we talk, she is writing her 20th Hallmark movie.
When you were asked what you wanted to be when you grew up, what was your answer?
A writer. But I started as an ad copywriter. If you didn’t grow up in the industry, it didn’t occur to you that writing other things could be a career. I did stand-up comedy at the same time and got dumped and laid off the same day. I decided to do stand-up that night. A comedian was there and he was a writer for “Roseanne.” He said, ‘You’re funny. Why aren’t you doing sitcoms?’ I moved to LA and pounded the pavement.
You got your start in sitcoms like “Everybody Loves Raymond.” What were some of your favorite parts of writing for sitcoms?
The best part about it is it’s not a solo career. You’re sitting around a table with funny, boisterous people trying to make people laugh all day. The hours are crazy. It’s not something I could maintain when I wanted to start having a family. So I started to transition to different genres like TV movies.
How is movie writing different
from sitcom writing?
With movies you have more time. In a sitcom you have 22 minutes to tell a story. We have 85—86 minutes. It gives you time to develop the characters.
What is it that you like about writing Hallmark scripts?
Romantic comedy is not easy. I love the genre. I love writing meet-cutes. I love to write the banter between two people as they fall in love. The challenge is always trying to find an original way to get to the end, which we all know is going to be happy, and yet surprise the audience a little bit too … If you develop a good enough character, all the dialogue comes from that character, not just romcom tropes. That’s my goal every time.
How involved are you in the production of your scripts?
Once a pitch is approved, I write a 10—15-page outline of where I’m going with the story. That gets approved. Then I
write the teleplay. It could sit there for a year or two until they’re ready or it can sit there for three days. Once a director is hired, I work with them if they have questions. It’s collaborative. Sometimes an actor will have their own notes to give. You just try to make everybody feel happy and ready to go. I have nothing to do with casting. Sometimes I’m called for tweaks. I like doing that. Hallmark respects their writers and wants us to be involved as much as we can throughout.
Walk us through your writing process. How do you get ideas?
Sometimes it will be a book adaptation a producer will bring to me. Sometimes it’s an original pitch. “We need a Christmas movie about a Christmas tree farm, do you have any ideas?” Then I come up with 2—3 ideas. Sometimes it’s a rewrite that needs a little zhuzh. The network will sometimes have an area — “We want a Hanukkah movie, do you have any ideas?” Then it’s my job to narrow it down to something we haven’t seen before. Sometimes I pitch and it sits there 3—4 years. I usually have 5—6 pitches sitting there waiting and I write 2—3 movies a year.
Some of your Hallmark movies — “Taking a Shot at Love” and “One Royal Holiday” — are set in Connecticut. Why is Connecticut a good place to set a Hallmark movie?
There’s something about fall and winter in Connecticut in particular that feels romantic. It’s a sense of place that has that Norman Rockwell vibe to it. There’s something about it that’s so beautiful. It’s an idealized romantic notion of a place that everybody feels when they come here.
You’ve written for the Hallmark Channel now for eight years. What evolutions have you seen in terms of topics?
Last year the new CEO asked for more inclusion and diversity. That’s the primary focus. They want us to keep the essence and spirit of what makes Hallmark Hallmark but have it look more like what this world looks like. So we’re telling stories from a cultural perspective in addition to whatever holiday it is. One of my movies [”Wedding Every Weekend,” 2020] had the first same-sex kiss in Hallmark history.
Does your life have any Hallmark moments?
Moving to Connecticut made my entire life a Hallmark moment. Every time I see the snow fall, I feel like it’s a Hallmark moment. There’s always something new to discover here. It always just feels like we’re in a special place, like we’re in a movie set.
This article appears in the November 2021 issue of Connecticut Magazine . Follow on Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag.