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Nina Weinman (Encore) · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

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Speaker 1: Hi, friends. Technically we're on break over here this week,
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Speaker 1: but it is International Women's Month and we thought in
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Speaker 1: light of that, we would share some encore presentations of
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Speaker 1: interviews with some of our favorite Hallmark ladies.
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Speaker 2: We hope you enjoyed these episodes. This is a Bramble
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Speaker 2: Jam podcast.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a Hallmark review podcast. I'm
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Speaker 1: Megan and I'm a longtime Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm
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Speaker 1: a former Hallmark hater. Today we are joined by Hallmark
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Speaker 1: writer extradnaire Nina Weinman, who has thirty six writing credits,
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Speaker 1: including this weekend's The Perfect Setting, airing on Saturday, January
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Speaker 1: twenty fifth. Some other notable movie you might recognize favorites
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Speaker 1: around here, a Carol for two, Haunted Wedding, Catch Me
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Speaker 1: if you claws, Flip that romance, Pumpkin Pie Wars one
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Speaker 1: of Wendy's favorites. Nina, thank you so much for joining us.
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Speaker 2: For having me which just for a while.
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Speaker 1: I know it's been a long time coming. I'm so
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Speaker 1: glad we could make it happen.
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Speaker 2: Work it out.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, we did just wrap the holiday season and you
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Speaker 1: had three movies come out in a really short period
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Speaker 1: of time, you had Haunted Wedding, a Carrol for two,
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Speaker 1: Missus Miracle, and now the perfect setting like back to
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Speaker 1: back to back to back. Yeah, you have been quite busy.
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Speaker 2: Yes.
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Speaker 1: Is that typical for you that you have so many
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Speaker 1: projects overlapping.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. In generally, I have anywhere between three and six
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Speaker 2: projects in development at any given time. Right now, I'm
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Speaker 2: waiting for a couple to see if they're going to
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Speaker 2: get picked up. But right now I only have two
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Speaker 2: and that's really thin for me for my schedule. But
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Speaker 2: I have a bunch of pitches in that, you know,
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Speaker 2: hopefully they'll pick up or they call me a lot
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Speaker 2: to do rewrites. So often, because I work so much
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Speaker 2: for Homemark, I kind of let them dictate my schedule.
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Speaker 2: That all have things that are on the docket for
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, and they'll call me and go, I
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Speaker 2: need you to put that aside because we need this
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Speaker 2: rewrite done for you know, it's something that's slated for
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Speaker 2: summer or fall or whatever. They'll they'll tell me how
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Speaker 2: to prioritize my projects, so it's not super overwhelming, except
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Speaker 2: when they all happen at once.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I would imagine it does.
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Speaker 2: Happen that happened with Missus Miracle. I had a couple
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Speaker 2: of other things, and Missus Miracle was originally not written
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Speaker 2: for Christmas. It was just a family coming home for
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Speaker 2: their grandmother had passed away, and we sat on the
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Speaker 2: shelf for a while. It was done for a while,
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Speaker 2: and it sat on the shelf because they were like,
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Speaker 2: it's not Christmas, and we feel like Missus Miracle really
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Speaker 2: needs to be Christmas. I said, great, let me know,
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Speaker 2: I'll make it Christmas. And they called and they were like, okay,
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Speaker 2: we need it for Christmas, and we need it this year.
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Speaker 2: So they bumped me off something else and me and
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Speaker 2: had me do Missus Miracle right then. So they tend
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Speaker 2: to dictate priorities based on what slots they need.
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Speaker 1: You mentioned rewriting for people outside of industry like us.
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Speaker 1: What's that process?
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Speaker 2: Like?
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Speaker 1: I mean is someone has someone submitted a script and
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Speaker 1: it's just not like the Hallmark formula that they bring
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Speaker 1: you in for or it varies.
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Speaker 2: Perfect setting was a rewrite and they came to me
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Speaker 2: right before production. They were like, we're starting prep on
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Speaker 2: Monday and we need this script. It's just not quite
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Speaker 2: where we need it to be. So that was a
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Speaker 2: nine day to and around for me because they were
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Speaker 2: already in Belgium and location scouting. That's not the norm. Yeah,
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Speaker 2: it was, you know, written by a couple of wonderful writers,
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Speaker 2: Canadian writers, and it just I don't even know what
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Speaker 2: the process was up to that point to get it
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Speaker 2: where it was, but it wasn't ready, but they had
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Speaker 2: it slotted, so they brought it to me and I
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Speaker 2: just worked twenty four to seven for nine days so
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Speaker 2: that they and was communicating with them while they were
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Speaker 2: in prep and saying, this character's gone, don't cast that one.
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Speaker 1: You know, wow wow.
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Speaker 2: But you know this this location is gone. Tell me
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Speaker 2: what locations you found. I'll write those into the script now.
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Speaker 2: So it was all that one was super fluid. That's
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Speaker 2: not always the case. Haunted Wedding was a rewrite also,
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Speaker 2: and it was I believe a spec script from Spence
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Speaker 2: who was the original writer. It was his wonderful idea
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Speaker 2: and Isha Francis. They had done a couple of drafts
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Speaker 2: and this happens to all of us as writers that
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Speaker 2: you're so close to something and I have been replaced
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Speaker 2: on my own projects before you need to bring in
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Speaker 2: fresh eyes so sometimes they'll say, you know what, you're
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Speaker 2: just it's just not getting there. And they'll say to me,
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Speaker 2: we need to put somebody else on this project because
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Speaker 2: it's just not it's not getting there, and you're so
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Speaker 2: close to it is a lot easier for me to
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Speaker 2: figure out how to fix somebody else's work than it
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Speaker 2: is to fix my own. So with that one, they
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Speaker 2: had gone through the development process for a while and
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Speaker 2: so they brought me on and it needed fresh eyes
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Speaker 2: and so we were able to it was it was
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Speaker 2: a pretty big overhaul. But there's a thing that we
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Speaker 2: as writers call getting noted to death, where you get
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Speaker 2: so many notes that you don't know what to do
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Speaker 2: with it anymore. After you know, a third draft, of
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Speaker 2: fourth draft, after however many you're just like your head
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Speaker 2: is spinning and you're like, I don't even know what
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Speaker 2: this is anymore. So sometimes it is it is the
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Speaker 2: best thing for the project to like take me off
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Speaker 2: of it and put somebody else on and let them
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Speaker 2: get it there. And I've had projects where I was
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Speaker 2: like relieved to be taken off because I just didn't
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Speaker 2: know how to fix it anymore.
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Speaker 1: Oh interesting, that's so interesting, Like I never thought of
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Speaker 1: that part of it do you find as a writer,
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Speaker 1: like you write the script and so you start with
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Speaker 1: a story in mind, and when you realize it's not
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Speaker 1: going to be that, sometimes it's hard to reroute to
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Speaker 1: a completely different story.
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Speaker 2: Say probably seventy five eighty percent of the time, the
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Speaker 2: final product is not exactly what I originally pitched. It's
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Speaker 2: the great thing about it is it's it's no longer
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Speaker 2: my story once it goes into development. Now it's ours.
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Speaker 2: So the collaboration aspect, which for me as a writer
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Speaker 2: and being very like solitary in my workday, I love
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Speaker 2: that collaboration. And sometimes it is like, oh, that's a
7:14
Speaker 2: great idea. I wish I had thought of that. You know,
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Speaker 2: they definitely morph and develop and change over time as
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Speaker 2: you're as you're developing a project. But it's it's a collaboration.
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Speaker 2: And then sometimes when we bring a director in, it
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Speaker 2: morphs even further. And that's okay because it's always about
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Speaker 2: what is best for this project. And that's I think
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Speaker 2: all of our all of our philosophy is what's going
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Speaker 2: to make the best movie. I'm not precious about my
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Speaker 2: stories in general. I have a tendency to go Okay,
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Speaker 2: I'm not going to die on this hill for a
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Speaker 2: plot point that's not working.
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Speaker 1: That's really interesting. Have you always spend that way when
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Speaker 1: you say you're not precious about these stories, because I
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Speaker 1: feel like it's a super like your perspective. You're like,
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Speaker 1: it's great to have a collaboration in me. I'm the
8:09
Speaker 1: kind of person who's like, can I offer you a suggestion?
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Speaker 1: I'm like, oh god, please, I can't. I'm going to
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Speaker 1: take it so personally.
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Speaker 2: Well, it's it's that was absolutely a growth process as
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Speaker 2: a writer, because you know, I've been doing this now
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Speaker 2: fifteen years as a working writer, and oh my gosh,
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Speaker 2: Like there are some notes that you're just like, you
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Speaker 2: learn how to you know, let it just roll off
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Speaker 2: your back, because it's in the beginning, when you're putting
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Speaker 2: your heart and soul into a project. It's very personal
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Speaker 2: and it's a process to learn that this is not
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Speaker 2: a slight it's not about you. Learning how to be
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Speaker 2: a collaborator is one thing that writers very early on.
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Speaker 2: It's an adjustment because we are so solitary and when
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Speaker 2: you're first starting out or when you're writing specscripts and
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Speaker 2: trying to get a career as a writer, it's just you,
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Speaker 2: and that is not the case when you're being paid
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Speaker 2: to write. You are being paid, you have a boss
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Speaker 2: that you have to report to, and the boss wins.
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Speaker 2: I think a lot of writers have a hard time
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Speaker 2: at first adjusting to that and accepting that all of
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Speaker 2: us have the dream that we're going to turn in
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Speaker 2: a script and they're going to go, it's perfect, no notes.
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Speaker 2: That has never happened, and that will never happen.
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Speaker 1: Ever, So for writers who are getting into it, like
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Speaker 1: would you just suggest they get into like collaborative groups
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Speaker 1: where they're getting that feedback at least from their peers
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Speaker 1: or back.
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Speaker 2: Is so is so crucial. And that doesn't mean that
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Speaker 2: Beck is always right right, But there's a difference between
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Speaker 2: notes from peers that you respect and notes from somebody
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Speaker 2: who is paying you to write something. If you're being
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Speaker 2: paid to write and you're fighting notes a lot of
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Speaker 2: the time, I think writers fite notes because they just
10:20
Speaker 2: don't want to do the work. That's that's you know,
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Speaker 2: kind of the ugly truth of this. But you may
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Speaker 2: get notes from a friend that you think are totally
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Speaker 2: wrong and you don't have to take them. You may
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Speaker 2: get notes from a network or a studio that you
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Speaker 2: think are totally wrong, and you've got to figure out
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Speaker 2: how to make.
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Speaker 1: That work if you.
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Speaker 2: Notes when That's another thing that I think I've learned
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Speaker 2: throughout my career, and it's taken a while to figure out,
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Speaker 2: is I don't like this note, but how do I
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Speaker 2: address it so that everyone is satisfied? And there's a
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Speaker 2: way to do that. And sometimes it's about I had
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Speaker 2: a mentor who when you first join the Writer's Guild,
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Speaker 2: they assign a mentor to you who helps you like
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Speaker 2: kind of navigate the process and stuff. And my mentor
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Speaker 2: is the showrunner of NCIS, and he, you know, I
11:22
Speaker 2: would reach out to him and be like, I don't
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Speaker 2: know what to do. I just got all these notes.
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Speaker 2: I don't know what to do. What do I do?
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Speaker 2: And he would say to me, always look for the
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Speaker 2: note behind the note, because that what are they trying
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Speaker 2: to say? If you don't understand what the notes mean,
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Speaker 2: read them all, step back, take a look at it.
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Speaker 2: What is the note behind the note? And it helps
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Speaker 2: you get it. You can figure it out when you
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Speaker 2: stop being precious and insulted and upset about it and
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Speaker 2: just really look at it from a practical standpoint, and
11:53
Speaker 2: that's a skill. I think that writers learn the more
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Speaker 2: they go and the more they're hired to do things
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Speaker 2: they may not agree with.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's great life advice in general. You know,
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Speaker 3: any feedback, like step back and look at it. What
12:10
Speaker 3: are they really trying to say here? And move forward
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Speaker 3: with that so it might not.
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Speaker 2: Be delivered in the most eloquent or the most delicate manner.
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Speaker 2: And you know, I tell that to my kids too.
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Speaker 2: It's just like kind of a life lesson is that
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Speaker 2: nobody is here on this earth to coddle you except me.
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Speaker 2: I'm here to caddle and nurture you. But in the
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Speaker 2: real world, your teachers, your friends, your bosses, all the stuff,
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Speaker 2: they're not going to coddle you. So you have to
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Speaker 2: learn how to take criticism but not let it in here. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is a skill that. That is a skill
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Speaker 1: that and it takes time, it right, Really, the only
12:55
Speaker 1: thing you can do is experience it, Like that's the
12:57
Speaker 1: only way to practice is it by going through it.
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Speaker 1: You mentioned you've been writing for Hallmark for fifteen years,
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Speaker 1: you know, your.
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Speaker 2: First about fifteen years.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. IMDb reports Backyard Wedding in twenty ten as your
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Speaker 1: first sale movie. Since then, you know, you've written a
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Speaker 1: total of thirty six movies, and almost exclusively on air. Yes, okay, yes,
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Speaker 1: thank you.
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Speaker 2: That's what I didn't get made. Some may still get made.
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Speaker 2: I mean, I would say I've probably I probably have
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Speaker 2: written for Hallmark maybe around forty five oh wow, including
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Speaker 2: like what I have in development now things. I did
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Speaker 2: a couple of uncredited rewrites on two movies that were
13:44
Speaker 2: sort of last minute production polishes that I didn't get
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Speaker 2: credit on. One was called at Home in Mitford and one
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Speaker 2: was called Oh my gosh, I can't what is it called?
13:53
Speaker 2: I can't think of It was a Christmas maybe with
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Speaker 2: Brookdoor saying Daniel Lissing.
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Speaker 1: Wendy looks at me because she thinks I'm the authority
14:00
Speaker 1: on all things richters in my face, you know, uncredited
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Speaker 1: rewrites that were just like last minute poliges and and
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Speaker 1: things like that.
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Speaker 2: So yeah, they've been incredibly good to me. Like I
14:13
Speaker 2: could not be more grateful for this. You know, that's
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Speaker 2: the industry has had a lot of really horrible years
14:21
Speaker 2: and strikes and COVID and shutdowns, and I am so
14:26
Speaker 2: thankful that homework has given me a home where I
14:29
Speaker 2: get to do what I love and I get to
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Speaker 2: do it on a regular basis.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, we were looking at your resume and like, you've
14:36
Speaker 1: kind of been through like a lot of the evolutions
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Speaker 1: happening at Hallmark. So how did you ultimately get did
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Speaker 1: you sell a specscript to them?
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Speaker 2: As I got started, So, I was working at Lifetime.
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Speaker 2: I was a development assistant in the movie department, and
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Speaker 2: some of the people that I met when I was
14:54
Speaker 2: working there are still people that I make movies with today.
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Speaker 2: And I had heard my old boss, a woman named
15:02
Speaker 2: Barbara Fisher, was the head of programming at Lifetime and
15:09
Speaker 2: she was let go and probably a year later ended
15:12
Speaker 2: up as the head of programming at Homemark. And I
15:14
Speaker 2: had heard they needed a wedding movie. I had a movie,
15:19
Speaker 2: and I had put in my notice because I was like,
15:21
Speaker 2: I cannot keep like working all day and then come
15:25
Speaker 2: home at night and write. It was just not tenable.
15:28
Speaker 2: And we were about to get married. My husband had
15:31
Speaker 2: a good job, he was my boyfriend at the time.
15:33
Speaker 2: We were living together, and he was like, you know what,
15:37
Speaker 2: just we're fine. Our overhead was like twenty seven dollars
15:40
Speaker 2: a month. We had this little apartment. We had no
15:42
Speaker 2: kids yet, you know, it was like no overhead at all.
15:46
Speaker 2: He was like, we're fine, quit your job and really
15:49
Speaker 2: give the writing a shot. So I put in my
15:53
Speaker 2: notice in two thousand and seven at Lifetime and I
15:58
Speaker 2: was about to leave, and then the strike of seven
16:03
Speaker 2: h eight hit, and I thought that Hallmark was going
16:06
Speaker 2: to buy this Christmas movie from me that that Lifetime
16:10
Speaker 2: was like maybe going to buy. But then they didn't.
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Speaker 2: They weren't going to do that for somebody who worked there,
16:15
Speaker 2: because if they did it for me, they had to
16:16
Speaker 2: do it for everyone. And they did all these policies.
16:19
Speaker 2: So I thought I thought Hallmark was going to buy
16:22
Speaker 2: the script. Then the strike hit and everybody's like potential
16:26
Speaker 2: just went, you know, and that was done until the
16:30
Speaker 2: strike was over. So they ended up making that movie
16:33
Speaker 2: that I thought they were going to buy them. They
16:35
Speaker 2: ended up making that movie. And I want to say
16:37
Speaker 2: it was like twenty fourteen or twenty fIF out. They
16:42
Speaker 2: did end up making that movie years later. So I
16:44
Speaker 2: also say to aspiring writers that sometimes no is just
16:49
Speaker 2: not right now. Yeah, because I've had a lot of things.
16:53
Speaker 2: I had a bunch of projects that they passed on
16:57
Speaker 2: that I revisited and that have been made. It's just
17:02
Speaker 2: a timing thing sometimes. So anyway, I left. I left
17:06
Speaker 2: Lifetime and the strikes hit, and it actually ended up
17:11
Speaker 2: being eighteen months until I actually sold something to Hallmark.
17:16
Speaker 2: I was told that they needed a wedding movie, and
17:19
Speaker 2: so I sat down and I spent a week just
17:24
Speaker 2: like writing NonStop, and I wrote Backyard Wedding as a spec.
17:29
Speaker 2: And I was about to take a job working for
17:33
Speaker 2: some cuckoo like billionaire guys, a job working for some
17:37
Speaker 2: cuckoo bird. And I had an I had an interview.
17:44
Speaker 2: He was in China or somewhere on business and I
17:49
Speaker 2: had an interview planned with him to get on the phone.
17:54
Speaker 2: I had already met with like the CEO of S company,
17:57
Speaker 2: Like the job was mine to lose. This was like
18:00
Speaker 2: the last step. I was going to take this job.
18:03
Speaker 2: And it was my husband's birthday. And I kept saying
18:06
Speaker 2: to I kept saying, like he kept postponing our call.
18:11
Speaker 2: Oh he's not ready yet. Can we do it in
18:12
Speaker 2: an hour? I said, you know what, It was night
18:15
Speaker 2: for us, in morning for him in China, And I said,
18:18
Speaker 2: can we do this tomorrow? It's my husband's birthday, were
18:20
Speaker 2: waiting to go to dinner, like, can we just do
18:23
Speaker 2: this call tomorrow and they were like yeah, yeah, sure.
18:25
Speaker 2: So the next morning, I'm sitting in acupuncture and I'm
18:28
Speaker 2: like fantasizing, calling these people and saying I can't take
18:32
Speaker 2: the job. I sold a script like fantasizing about this,
18:36
Speaker 2: and five hours later I get an email from Barbara
18:40
Speaker 2: at Hallmark that they were buying backyard Wedding and I
18:44
Speaker 2: literally called this woman and said, I can't take the job.
18:49
Speaker 2: I sold the script manifesting that's what you were he
18:52
Speaker 2: it was it was like what happened like in the
18:56
Speaker 2: universe that day? And how do I recreate that one?
18:59
Speaker 2: Because that was like I was just so did not
19:03
Speaker 2: want to take this job, so ready to you know,
19:07
Speaker 2: really get going on my writing and stuff. So they
19:10
Speaker 2: bought the script. I was paid like nothing for it.
19:13
Speaker 2: It was my first you know, produced project, and you
19:16
Speaker 2: have to pay your dues. The first couple of projects
19:19
Speaker 2: were nonunion. I wasn't paid a lot, but it was
19:22
Speaker 2: you know, it was a movie.
19:25
Speaker 1: I got your name was on it.
19:27
Speaker 2: I went and I went and visited the set and
19:30
Speaker 2: I was pregnant out to hear and I was like,
19:33
Speaker 2: please let me not give birth on set, and like
19:37
Speaker 2: room the shot, like I didn't want. Six days later,
19:40
Speaker 2: I went and visited the set. My manager came with me.
19:43
Speaker 2: I was super pregnant, and six days later my daughter
19:47
Speaker 2: was born.
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Speaker 1: My goodness, I can't believe it. How often do you
19:51
Speaker 1: get to do that, visit sets of movies that you've
19:53
Speaker 1: worked on.
19:54
Speaker 2: A lot, Like once COVID hit, I used to go
19:59
Speaker 2: to every movie and like would go up to Canada
20:03
Speaker 2: and I would. I would try to visit every set.
20:07
Speaker 2: Then COVID hit and I couldn't. My first couple of
20:10
Speaker 2: movies actually shot here in La Oh Nice. It was
20:13
Speaker 2: awesome because I wasn't going to be able to go
20:15
Speaker 2: up to Canada for my first movie if I was
20:18
Speaker 2: that pregnant, you know, on a plane. But yeah, I
20:23
Speaker 2: try to go as much as possible. I really love
20:25
Speaker 2: going to visit the set. And my ultimate goal right
20:29
Speaker 2: now is I want to produce my movies. So I'm
20:33
Speaker 2: learning a lot, and I have a couple of producers
20:36
Speaker 2: who are mentoring me, and I'm going to go on
20:40
Speaker 2: my next one that's gonna shoot probably in March. I
20:44
Speaker 2: think it's scheduled to shoot I'm going to pay my
20:47
Speaker 2: own way to go up for a week of prep
20:50
Speaker 2: and shadow the producers while they prep the movie, because
20:53
Speaker 2: I know what to do once you're in production. That's
20:56
Speaker 2: the easy part. It is not easy. But I want
20:59
Speaker 2: to learn had a prep a movie because I would
21:02
Speaker 2: like to. I would like to produce them.
21:04
Speaker 1: How exciting. Yeah, it's so exciting.
21:08
Speaker 2: It's like putting together a big puzzle. And I love,
21:12
Speaker 2: I don't like. And I've never been a person who
21:14
Speaker 2: would just turn in my script and go away, Like,
21:18
Speaker 2: I want to watch every cut. I want to watch
21:21
Speaker 2: the process. I want to see how the editing changes things.
21:25
Speaker 2: I want to see how the music changes things. It's
21:28
Speaker 2: all really it's just really fascinating to me how a
21:35
Speaker 2: movie gets made, and I want to be a part
21:37
Speaker 2: of all of it, and not just the script.
21:40
Speaker 1: Very cool.
21:42
Speaker 3: I'm guessing you can't tell us what that movie is
21:45
Speaker 3: that's shooting in March rade.
21:47
Speaker 2: I don't think I'm allowed to because it hasn't been
21:49
Speaker 2: announced yet.
21:50
Speaker 1: But March is just around the corner. Though maybe it
21:53
Speaker 1: might be a summer movie.
21:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely a summer movie. And you know, I
21:59
Speaker 2: just I'm not really like until they announced things they
22:02
Speaker 2: don't talk about it. Another Christmas movie that I'm writing now,
22:06
Speaker 2: that'll be nice Christmas. You know, we always it's always
22:09
Speaker 2: Christmas inside my head. Yeah, I've always working on something
22:13
Speaker 2: Christmas y.
22:14
Speaker 1: Speaking of prep, some of the movies you've written have
22:16
Speaker 1: been like really immersed in like a specific world. Like
22:19
Speaker 1: I remember Wendy messaged you back when we did Flip
22:23
Speaker 1: that Romance. We just did it just last summer because
22:26
Speaker 1: you had like really detailed, specific, accurate information about like
22:32
Speaker 1: home renovation because you at the time of writing.
22:34
Speaker 2: Is really important to us. Also for that movie, they
22:39
Speaker 2: actually built on a set a replica. So they had
22:43
Speaker 2: chosen the two condos that were like a side by
22:46
Speaker 2: side condos, So they had chosen that and they kind
22:48
Speaker 2: of messed up the outside. But for the construction, they
22:52
Speaker 2: built on a sound stage a replica of the inside,
22:57
Speaker 2: just kind of a bare bone so that when like
22:59
Speaker 2: Tyler comes cronushing through the wall and stuff, that was
23:01
Speaker 2: all on the set on the soundstage.
23:04
Speaker 1: So fun.
23:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that they could so that they could do
23:08
Speaker 2: do like all of the construction and stuff. You're not
23:11
Speaker 2: gonna you're obviously renting somebody's home and you're not going
23:14
Speaker 2: to go in there and like knock down their walls and.
23:16
Speaker 4: Do all while I was working on that one, because
23:21
Speaker 4: that was also a rewrite, and that was one that
23:23
Speaker 4: I was brought on earlier than not, like, oh, we're
23:27
Speaker 4: starting prep on Monday earlier to rewrite that one.
23:32
Speaker 2: And it was while we were renovating my house. So
23:37
Speaker 2: I had a lot of information as to like all
23:41
Speaker 2: the things that could go wrong while I was renovating
23:45
Speaker 2: my house and writing that movie. And they were really
23:49
Speaker 2: like our executive at the time, who's not at Hallmark
23:51
Speaker 2: anyo anymore, her name's Lori for now. She was like
23:55
Speaker 2: a big fan of like the home renovation shows. So
23:59
Speaker 2: we would be like, well, I saw this show where
24:01
Speaker 2: this happens. When you're trying to figure out, like what
24:03
Speaker 2: can we do, because what you do in any of
24:06
Speaker 2: these movies is you give people a setup, a world,
24:11
Speaker 2: and then you just throw a bunch of stuff at
24:13
Speaker 2: them and see how they how they get out of it,
24:15
Speaker 2: how they fix it, how they you know, that's that's
24:19
Speaker 2: script writing. What can I throw at these people to
24:23
Speaker 2: make it harder for them to achieve their ultimate goals?
24:26
Speaker 2: And so we had a lot of options on that one.
24:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was such a fun movie speaking of the
24:33
Speaker 1: perfect setting, which we did not know. You only had
24:35
Speaker 1: nine days to turn around that rewrite, and that's like,
24:38
Speaker 1: you know, immersed in the world of like jewelry making.
24:41
Speaker 2: So I had I had the fortune, the good fortune
24:44
Speaker 2: of the original writers had done all the research on
24:49
Speaker 2: not only jewelry making but Belgium. Nice. So what I
24:55
Speaker 2: did when I rewrote it is I would go through
24:58
Speaker 2: and I would say, what are the fact some figures
25:00
Speaker 2: and the things that I that I want to keep
25:03
Speaker 2: because they did the research. Yeah, like that half of
25:07
Speaker 2: my job was done as far as that goes. I
25:09
Speaker 2: didn't have to I didn't have to spend a lot
25:14
Speaker 2: of time. I didn't have a lot of time, so
25:16
Speaker 2: I didn't have to spend a lot of time learning
25:18
Speaker 2: about how do you make sure? Like there were little
25:20
Speaker 2: speeches and things that I would go, oh, there's a
25:22
Speaker 2: nugget in here that sounds like I know what I'm
25:25
Speaker 2: talking about with jewelry making. So I would cut and
25:29
Speaker 2: paste and put it on a separate document. These are
25:33
Speaker 2: all the things that I want to keep in the
25:35
Speaker 2: new draft. Oh my god, did you watch the movie
25:39
Speaker 2: we did?
25:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we've seen a rough cut, which is funny
25:41
Speaker 1: to hear you talk about, like, yeah, it's funny to
25:45
Speaker 1: hear you talk about like everything that goes into it
25:47
Speaker 1: because the rough cuts have you know, like on screen
25:49
Speaker 1: notes about it, and it's so interesting.
25:52
Speaker 2: To see there were like ADR thinges and see in
25:56
Speaker 2: the rough cut, and that rough cut that you probably watched,
25:58
Speaker 2: the same one that I watched didn't have the music's
26:01
Speaker 2: not in there, so composer so there was like no
26:04
Speaker 2: music and it wasn't color corrected, so you can see
26:07
Speaker 2: as it jumps back and forth that kind of things
26:10
Speaker 2: don't match and.
26:11
Speaker 1: The sound changes.
26:13
Speaker 3: Yes, it's it was fascinating on our end. Yeah, I
26:18
Speaker 3: was like, Okay, I'm watching a story, but I'm also
26:20
Speaker 3: taking in so much about like how different this is
26:23
Speaker 3: going to be from what we're going to see.
26:25
Speaker 1: It airs right, and it would be.
26:27
Speaker 2: Like lines on screen that's notes for the network to
26:31
Speaker 2: see that we're going to add an ADR line later
26:34
Speaker 2: where she says, oh, hey you're early or whatever to
26:37
Speaker 2: try and just make things track better. Yeah, a lot
26:41
Speaker 2: of ADR lines when things are like we cut this
26:45
Speaker 2: scene and there was this little nuggetive information that in
26:50
Speaker 2: the scene that was cut for time. We kind of
26:52
Speaker 2: need that nuggetive information. So when we're on Wendy's back
26:59
Speaker 2: and on Megan's face, Wendy says blah blah blah blah blah,
27:04
Speaker 2: and then we cut to the actual dialogue so that
27:08
Speaker 2: you can add that piece of information in that might
27:11
Speaker 2: be necessary to the continuity of the story. Yeah.
27:15
Speaker 1: Did they just send actress to like a local studio
27:18
Speaker 1: to do that sort of thing?
27:19
Speaker 2: And they do. They generally do ADR, like if they're
27:23
Speaker 2: in Tennessee. Rachel Boston did ADR in a studio in
27:28
Speaker 2: Tennessee because that's where she lives. They don't make them come.
27:32
Speaker 1: They're not like flying them back out to the studio.
27:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think, but generally they're able to do
27:37
Speaker 2: it where they are. But sometimes they may mean to
27:41
Speaker 2: fly somebody in, or if they're on location somewhere, they
27:45
Speaker 2: have to do ADR, you know, varries. But for the
27:48
Speaker 2: most part, they can find a studio and just do
27:51
Speaker 2: it there and hire a local studio to record.
27:54
Speaker 1: Did you get to go on set on set with
27:56
Speaker 1: perfect setting or was the turnaround too No, it.
27:59
Speaker 2: Was way too fat. Yeah, they shot Oh my gosh,
28:03
Speaker 2: where did they shoot they shot like four days in
28:06
Speaker 2: Belgium and then they shot in Ottawa. So Ottawa is
28:13
Speaker 2: really beautiful with this sort of like old world European
28:17
Speaker 2: charm that it doubles very well for European cities, as
28:22
Speaker 2: does oh my gosh, now I can't even think of Montreal.
28:25
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that makes sense.
28:27
Speaker 2: They they both double very easily for these European settings.
28:32
Speaker 2: So they shot most of it in Ottawa, and then
28:36
Speaker 2: they went to Belgium for four days and they just
28:37
Speaker 2: brought I think number one and number two, which the
28:40
Speaker 2: actors on the call sheet are. You know, Lacy would
28:45
Speaker 2: be number one, and then David David Elsindorn is that
28:49
Speaker 2: his name. It's so cute, right from Ted Lasso, I
28:56
Speaker 2: thought they were really sweet together. And what we really
28:59
Speaker 2: liked was that there's just a little bit of initial conflict,
29:03
Speaker 2: but we liked having like the secret like these two.
29:06
Speaker 2: And I a little bit stole from myself when I
29:08
Speaker 2: was pitching them how I wanted to fix it. I
29:11
Speaker 2: a little bit stole from myself and said, I did
29:13
Speaker 2: this movie called Pumpkin Pie Wars. It was really fun
29:16
Speaker 2: to have these feuding families and they have a sort
29:20
Speaker 2: of a secret and they really like that idea of
29:25
Speaker 2: how to to put that in.
29:29
Speaker 1: I love that. One thing I like about this movie
29:31
Speaker 1: that I think viewers should look out for is David
29:34
Speaker 1: And I don't know if it's an acting choice or not,
29:36
Speaker 1: but like there's a little bit of Contenson, but you
29:38
Speaker 1: know between the two.
29:39
Speaker 2: Not a lot.
29:40
Speaker 1: It's not like strongly enemies to lovers. But he smiles
29:44
Speaker 1: the entire time he's talking to her, So it doesn't
29:47
Speaker 1: set it up that they're like ez yes, that they're
29:50
Speaker 1: like having to work backwards from this place of like
29:53
Speaker 1: we hate each other, Like every time he's speaking.
29:56
Speaker 2: What I like smiling gys like I always want that
30:00
Speaker 2: to be a little bit even if they're kind of snarky,
30:03
Speaker 2: they're a little bit like toying with yes with them.
30:08
Speaker 2: And there's some guys like Chris Palaja was so great
30:10
Speaker 2: about that, Paul Campbell is so great about that. There's
30:13
Speaker 2: some of these actors that are just so good at
30:17
Speaker 2: In other hands, they might come across as kind of
30:20
Speaker 2: a jerk, but they just come across as charming, like
30:25
Speaker 2: Poke the Bear kind of guys that. And there are
30:29
Speaker 2: other actors that are great at that too. But I
30:32
Speaker 2: just don't like in my experience, I wrote these characters
30:35
Speaker 2: that could come across as kind of a jerk, and
30:40
Speaker 2: they're not because of the hands that they're in with
30:44
Speaker 2: those guys.
30:46
Speaker 1: Okay, speaking of character choices and the way you write,
30:48
Speaker 1: Wendy has a question, catch me if you claw?
30:50
Speaker 2: Oh, catch me if you claws?
30:52
Speaker 1: Okay.
30:53
Speaker 3: So this was one of our favorite movies. And you
30:56
Speaker 3: know that steamy kiss seing that Italia Ricci and Quinland
31:00
Speaker 3: have in the car?
31:01
Speaker 1: Was that your original idea?
31:04
Speaker 2: Did you see that?
31:05
Speaker 3: Like, was that on the page that they would have
31:07
Speaker 3: like the steamy kissing or did that They.
31:09
Speaker 2: Weren't way steamier than I would have thought that they
31:13
Speaker 2: that they would. So that movie shot during the strike,
31:16
Speaker 2: so I couldn't go because I wrote that movie ten
31:21
Speaker 2: years ago, Oh my god, get out years ago. I
31:26
Speaker 2: wrote it originally for another network that Hallmark would never
31:32
Speaker 2: ten years ago. Hamework would never have made that movie
31:35
Speaker 2: like in the old days, that was like way too
31:38
Speaker 2: broad and comedic and a little bit out there. So
31:42
Speaker 2: I had written that movie for ABC Family back before
31:47
Speaker 2: it was even free form, and it was one of
31:50
Speaker 2: the last movies they put in development before they stopped
31:53
Speaker 2: making original movies. Oh and so we you know there
32:01
Speaker 2: made this really like broad comedy. I think initially they
32:04
Speaker 2: may have been in a phone booth kissing and the
32:08
Speaker 2: really early draft, but Pallmark wouldn't and back then have
32:13
Speaker 2: really allowed that, even just like in the old old
32:17
Speaker 2: early days. This was twenty twelve. Yeah, And I remember
32:20
Speaker 2: specifically because I had a meeting like our original kickoff meeting,
32:28
Speaker 2: and I had to call them and say, I cannot
32:31
Speaker 2: make this meeting because I am going to the hospital
32:34
Speaker 2: right now. My water broke and my son is being
32:36
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, So I had to cancel. I had
32:39
Speaker 2: to cancel that meeting. So I was in twenty twelve,
32:43
Speaker 2: and for years I was like, how about now, you
32:46
Speaker 2: guys want to make this? Because they stopped making original
32:48
Speaker 2: movies and they dropped the project, so it came back
32:51
Speaker 2: to me. The rights came back to me, and for
32:55
Speaker 2: years I was like, how about now, how about now?
32:57
Speaker 2: How about now? How about now? And then the executive
33:00
Speaker 2: who was my executive ABC Family is a woman named
33:04
Speaker 2: Kelly Garrett, and she came over to Hallmark and joined
33:08
Speaker 2: the Christmas team, and she was like, We're going to
33:12
Speaker 2: make this movie. We're finally going to make this movie.
33:14
Speaker 2: She never forgot about it. She always loved it. She's like,
33:17
Speaker 2: we are making this movie. And so finally Hallmark said
33:22
Speaker 2: yes and we were able to make it.
33:24
Speaker 1: I'm so glad they did.
33:26
Speaker 3: I think it still remains a standout movie to me too.
33:32
Speaker 3: They've put a lot of movies out every year, it's
33:34
Speaker 3: like fifty movies.
33:35
Speaker 1: And I still remember Catch Movi to clause. I love
33:37
Speaker 1: that movie.
33:38
Speaker 2: And they were so great together, and they had such
33:42
Speaker 2: good chemistry and they loved working together. They loved each other.
33:47
Speaker 2: They had such a good time, and so we were like,
33:50
Speaker 2: you guys want a sequel. We have an idea, and
33:54
Speaker 2: I don't know, they're so weird about sequels, like, yeah,
33:58
Speaker 2: everybody wants to make a sequel movies and sequels can
34:01
Speaker 2: be really tricky. And we have a really good idea.
34:04
Speaker 2: But you know, they they have it. They've had it
34:08
Speaker 2: for a really long time. I don't know if they'll
34:11
Speaker 2: ever decide to make it, but that's.
34:14
Speaker 1: Exciting to know that it's out there. Though. Yeah, but
34:17
Speaker 1: it's so interesting knowing that script has been out there
34:19
Speaker 1: for so long, because you're right, like twenty twelve Homework
34:22
Speaker 1: was never gonna make a movie, even with a mid
34:24
Speaker 1: movie kiss let alone like a mildly steamy and the
34:28
Speaker 1: public situation then.
34:30
Speaker 2: Was everything had to be grounded in reality. There was
34:33
Speaker 2: no no magic, no Santa Claus, no reindeer on the rooftops.
34:38
Speaker 2: It was all gonna be like girls.
34:42
Speaker 1: You could see yourself in this.
34:43
Speaker 2: Line plan Zebo Festival and you know, like that was
34:48
Speaker 2: that was it, That was what that was our Like
34:52
Speaker 2: that was a directive. Yeah, it all just had to
34:55
Speaker 2: really it wasn't only that, but it had to be
34:58
Speaker 2: grounded in reality. They weren't go to do any kind
35:00
Speaker 2: of fantasy stuff. And I think they they realized, you know,
35:04
Speaker 2: in the last couple of years with the newer regime,
35:08
Speaker 2: they got to take some bigger swings and I think
35:12
Speaker 2: they've really paid off. They've done some you know, Three
35:15
Speaker 2: Wise Men, a Hallmark movie with three male leads, like
35:20
Speaker 2: you know that that kind of stuff is. It's different,
35:26
Speaker 2: but it works and it's still on brand. Because that's
35:29
Speaker 2: the most important thing is Hallmark is like one hundred
35:32
Speaker 2: and ten year old brand, stam brand. You know, we're
35:36
Speaker 2: not gonna we're not gonna go crazy and have you know,
35:40
Speaker 2: Oh they meet in rehab, you know, that's like I'm
35:43
Speaker 2: going to go too far that.
35:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was wondering with the changes that are happening
35:52
Speaker 3: and over up top at Hallmark right now.
35:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, is that coming down to you yet in terms
35:59
Speaker 1: of like what you can write or what.
36:04
Speaker 2: Place I know? And this is honestly, it all just
36:08
Speaker 2: happened and then these fires hit and everybody is sort
36:12
Speaker 2: of right now just like oral, kind of in survival
36:17
Speaker 2: mode a little bit. There hasn't been a lot of
36:19
Speaker 2: work talk. I mean at the same time where business
36:23
Speaker 2: as usual, like they have an amazing team in place
36:28
Speaker 2: that the trains are still gonna run on time. If
36:32
Speaker 2: I know Hallmark, and you know, I'm not privy to
36:35
Speaker 2: a lot of that internal information, but I just can
36:38
Speaker 2: say that I know the people who are still in charge,
36:43
Speaker 2: and those trains are not gonna derail. Those trains are
36:46
Speaker 2: gonna run on time, and they're still gonna have everything
36:50
Speaker 2: done and ready for all of their deadlines, all of
36:55
Speaker 2: those seasons and stuff seasons. You know. As far as
36:57
Speaker 2: the changes hasn't affected me, I mean, it's all very new,
37:01
Speaker 2: and we haven't really had a lot of conversations. But
37:06
Speaker 2: I'm business as usual too. I have I have my
37:09
Speaker 2: marching orders, and I'm just steering clear of any you know, drama, gossip,
37:15
Speaker 2: any of that, and just like head down doing the work.
37:19
Speaker 2: Yeah good, I think that's how everybody is right now.
37:24
Speaker 2: It hasn't it hasn't trickled down to me and any
37:27
Speaker 2: you know big way good.
37:30
Speaker 1: Can we throw it back really quickly to during a
37:33
Speaker 1: very busy season. You also went on the Hallmark cruise
37:37
Speaker 1: sale number two.
37:39
Speaker 2: I know you guys are on cruise number one. What Wendy,
37:43
Speaker 2: what did you do for clothes? Oh?
37:46
Speaker 1: My gosh, I had to go shopping.
37:49
Speaker 3: Like I literally got into Miami that morning, like at
37:53
Speaker 3: seven am, and then met up with her.
37:55
Speaker 1: We hit Northstrom Rack. I just cleared the shelves, we
37:59
Speaker 1: ubered over, bought a suitcase, bought a full war like underwear, socks, everything, shoes, everything,
38:06
Speaker 1: and then went to Target and did like the toilet trees,
38:08
Speaker 1: and then back to our hotel. She packed a suitcase
38:11
Speaker 1: in the lobby of our hotel that we had already
38:13
Speaker 1: checked out of because what are we gonna do? And
38:15
Speaker 1: then right to the ship. She made it work. I
38:18
Speaker 1: made it work, Yes, And then.
38:19
Speaker 2: I was so impressed with like every time, cause I
38:22
Speaker 2: watched all your stories, and every time your attitude about
38:26
Speaker 2: it was just so like going on a CRUISESE Okay,
38:29
Speaker 2: I was so deliriously tired.
38:32
Speaker 3: I don't even know, Like I spent twelve hours of
38:35
Speaker 3: the airport.
38:35
Speaker 1: It was.
38:35
Speaker 2: Were you so scared if you just weren't gonna make
38:38
Speaker 2: it and the ship was gonna leave, I's that would
38:40
Speaker 2: have been my panic. I think Megan was worried I
38:43
Speaker 2: wasn't gonna make it in terms of like I was like,
38:45
Speaker 2: I'm gonna just get on a plane and go home
38:47
Speaker 2: because I'm like, this is not worth it.
38:49
Speaker 1: Well, because the night they canceled her flight and they
38:52
Speaker 1: were like, your flight's not till noon the next day,
38:54
Speaker 1: and at that point she wasn't there's there was no
38:56
Speaker 1: chance she was gonna make it, and I knew that
38:59
Speaker 1: her next step was going to be getting on a
39:01
Speaker 1: plane and going home. And it's three o'clock in the morning.
39:03
Speaker 1: I was like, just stay right there, and I was like,
39:05
Speaker 1: there is a flight in three hours at five forty
39:08
Speaker 1: five am on Spirit Airlines. And I know you would
39:11
Speaker 1: sooner chew broken glass than fly Spirit Airlines. Actually, I'm like,
39:15
Speaker 1: I can't go on this cruise. But what am I
39:17
Speaker 1: gonna do for a week by myself on this cruise.
39:20
Speaker 1: I don't know anybody, so obviously I wanted her to
39:24
Speaker 1: be there, but it was down to the wire. I
39:27
Speaker 1: was convinced that she was not going to make it.
39:29
Speaker 2: I'm glad I made get to Miami.
39:33
Speaker 1: I think it was like ten am.
39:34
Speaker 2: It was okay. It wasn't like because the ship left
39:37
Speaker 2: at like you had to be on board what like
39:38
Speaker 2: four o'clock.
39:39
Speaker 1: By four, so we had a little bit of time.
39:42
Speaker 1: Once she was there, I was like, we're fine, We're fine.
39:44
Speaker 1: There was a Norse trom rack and everything, and you
39:49
Speaker 1: had a good time. I had a great time. I'm
39:51
Speaker 1: so glad I made it. I'm so glad I didn't
39:53
Speaker 1: turn around.
39:53
Speaker 2: And go home the next Yeah, I can get it.
39:56
Speaker 2: That's an ordeal.
39:58
Speaker 1: So what was Jonathan Bennett describ Cruise two as a
40:01
Speaker 1: younger and drunker crowd, What was your experience?
40:05
Speaker 2: Like, Yes, because I was only on one, so I
40:07
Speaker 2: didn't have any reference. I will say this, I don't
40:12
Speaker 2: have a lot of fan interaction just because you know,
40:16
Speaker 2: I'm behind the scenes and I was, so it was
40:21
Speaker 2: so special to get to interact with the fans to
40:25
Speaker 2: hear their stories too. I was on a zoom yesterday
40:29
Speaker 2: with Paul Campbell and Kimberly Sestad because we're cooking something
40:33
Speaker 2: up together, the three of us, which is I'm super
40:35
Speaker 2: excited about. And we were talking about the cruise because
40:38
Speaker 2: I hadn't talked to them since we were talking about
40:41
Speaker 2: the cruise, and we said, you know, listen, it's like,
40:44
Speaker 2: we're not curing cancer. We're not making Schindler's List and
40:50
Speaker 2: you know, making people, you know, think, and we're not
40:54
Speaker 2: changing the world here. But what we did see and
40:59
Speaker 2: learn from this fan interaction, for me, which I don't
41:02
Speaker 2: have often, is that like we're giving joy where joy
41:08
Speaker 2: is needed. Of course, it was so touching for me.
41:14
Speaker 2: And just just like I called it, I said to
41:18
Speaker 2: Nikki Deloche and she had this like Christmas like sale,
41:24
Speaker 2: bizarre thing in her backyard. So I went over there
41:26
Speaker 2: and people were asking us how is the cruise? I
41:28
Speaker 2: said it was like a giant floating hug and she
41:32
Speaker 2: said that is the best way to put it, because
41:34
Speaker 2: they get that a lot. You know, the actors definitely
41:37
Speaker 2: get that a lot. But we just were so it
41:41
Speaker 2: was so moving to hear people come up to us
41:43
Speaker 2: and say I Hallmark movies got me through chemotherapy, or
41:49
Speaker 2: I used to watch with my mom and she passed
41:52
Speaker 2: away last year and I watched these movies and I
41:55
Speaker 2: can feel her with me. You know, these kind of
41:58
Speaker 2: stories that you're just like, wow, you don't we don't
42:02
Speaker 2: know that this is the impact. But and for some
42:06
Speaker 2: people it's just comfort food and it's just you know,
42:10
Speaker 2: background noise while they fold laundry, and that's okay too,
42:14
Speaker 2: you know, but just learning how much the reach that
42:18
Speaker 2: it has was really special. That was my favorite part
42:22
Speaker 2: of it.
42:23
Speaker 3: I will say Hallmark has some of the most passionate
42:26
Speaker 3: fans I've ever come across. And you know, we have
42:30
Speaker 3: our little Girls Gone Hallmark community and Facebook group and
42:34
Speaker 3: there are some real, like really passionate fans in there
42:38
Speaker 3: who know every detail about things. Or we'll be in
42:42
Speaker 3: there and talk about how how they how the movies
42:45
Speaker 3: made them feel, or there's some sort of emotional connection
42:48
Speaker 3: to it, like so your work matters, Nina, and I'm
42:53
Speaker 3: I'm I'm so happy you got to see that on
42:55
Speaker 3: the cruise that thank you.
42:57
Speaker 2: I appreciate you saying that it was nice to hear.
43:00
Speaker 2: It was really nice to hear, Like again, I know
43:02
Speaker 2: that we're not you know, care and cancer, and what
43:05
Speaker 2: we do is just it has its need mmm and
43:11
Speaker 2: it has its impact. And that was just really special. Well.
43:15
Speaker 1: I think the choice to have you and Julie on
43:18
Speaker 1: those cruises, I think it was a really smart one because,
43:22
Speaker 1: like you said, the behind the scenes isn't often put
43:25
Speaker 1: in the forefront. And even in like our suggestions, we
43:28
Speaker 1: were like more of this, like put a whole production team,
43:31
Speaker 1: like the costuming and the light, like how does the
43:34
Speaker 1: movie get made? Because people are interested in this, Like
43:37
Speaker 1: when we have Keith Nielsen costume designer on our show,
43:40
Speaker 1: people are so fascinated by like the process ye and
43:44
Speaker 1: so like you know, next year, who knows what the
43:47
Speaker 1: plans are, but we love to see like more. We
43:51
Speaker 1: love the actors. Everyone loves the actors. They're the face
43:53
Speaker 1: of the brand, of course, but there's definitely an interest
43:57
Speaker 1: in how at process to me and say.
44:00
Speaker 2: That a lot of people what we did because on
44:02
Speaker 2: the first cruise, I think people got a little prickly
44:07
Speaker 2: about the line for the photo op because the line
44:10
Speaker 2: was so long, and they kind of figured out, like,
44:13
Speaker 2: what are the things that we need to adjust for
44:16
Speaker 2: Cruise number two. So they had quite a few of
44:18
Speaker 2: us going up and down the line talking to people,
44:22
Speaker 2: introducing ourselves, answering questions. So I met like every fan
44:27
Speaker 2: on that boat. I mean it was me, it was
44:29
Speaker 2: Jennifer Kramer, who's the head of the Christmas development team,
44:34
Speaker 2: Cass Walker, Andrew Walker's wife was talking to people, Tyler's
44:38
Speaker 2: mom was walking up and down and talking to people
44:41
Speaker 2: for a while. Tatiana erasme, who's the head of casting.
44:46
Speaker 2: You know, we were just walking up and down that
44:47
Speaker 2: line and talking to people, and I was I mean,
44:51
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, if people care what I have
44:53
Speaker 2: to say. Really, it was so nice, and the fans
44:58
Speaker 2: were really warm and special, and the number of hugs
45:03
Speaker 2: I got, I was like, oh, thank you. It was
45:06
Speaker 2: really it was really a great experience.
45:10
Speaker 1: I'm so glad. I'm so glad your experience was positive.
45:12
Speaker 1: I'm really curious see what the next one's going to
45:14
Speaker 1: look like, because I know they're bigger ship, bigger crowd.
45:17
Speaker 2: And I mean I haven't heard much. I don't know
45:20
Speaker 2: if they're going to invite me back, or if they're
45:21
Speaker 2: going to want to do you know, other writers for
45:24
Speaker 2: a Hallmark or other producers or whatever. I don't know
45:27
Speaker 2: what their plans are, haven't heard anything, but they know that.
45:32
Speaker 2: I do know that. They know that with a ship
45:34
Speaker 2: that's twice the size, they're going to have to double up. Yeah, everything,
45:39
Speaker 2: Like Jonathan can't do everything, they can't have everything in
45:44
Speaker 2: one place. They're going to have to do a bunch
45:46
Speaker 2: of different simultaneous things. That's all I've heard, because it's
45:52
Speaker 2: just on a small ship, you can do that, but
45:55
Speaker 2: on this ship is like twice the size. Are you
45:57
Speaker 2: going back?
45:59
Speaker 1: We are not. Yeah, No, we had that.
46:02
Speaker 3: I had a really I signed up for their pre
46:04
Speaker 3: booking and I had a great booking time. Both we
46:07
Speaker 3: decided that we're going to do something different this year.
46:10
Speaker 2: So you did it. You did it, You went you
46:14
Speaker 2: you broadcast from there, and.
46:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, well on top of that, we went to Kansas
46:18
Speaker 3: City too in December, right before Christmas, and I was.
46:22
Speaker 1: Like, put a pin in me, I am put a
46:25
Speaker 1: fork in. I think if there in the summer, it
46:28
Speaker 1: would be an easier sale. But to do it in November,
46:32
Speaker 1: an easier sale s a l e. I mean for us,
46:36
Speaker 1: it's just it's hard, you know, to take that much
46:38
Speaker 1: time away as you well know during the holidays.
46:41
Speaker 2: I don't know how the actors did it. They were
46:43
Speaker 2: just non stop. They had like the bus tour, I know,
46:48
Speaker 2: and then they had the Cruise and then there was
46:50
Speaker 2: Cruise two, and then they had Kansas City and Christmas Con.
46:54
Speaker 3: Like.
46:55
Speaker 2: I was talking to Paul Campbell and he was like, like,
46:57
Speaker 2: I'm not going to see my son.
46:58
Speaker 1: For like yeah, yeah, they must have been. I mean
47:01
Speaker 1: Jonathan Benna, I was like, how are you still standing?
47:04
Speaker 1: And then they're promoting these movies. Yeah, and then he
47:07
Speaker 1: was doing.
47:08
Speaker 2: I mean I literally was walking through Times Square with
47:10
Speaker 2: my kids on the day before New Year's Eve. We
47:14
Speaker 2: went into New York, but we were in Pennsylvania and
47:17
Speaker 2: I'm walking and I hear his voice like over the loudspeaker.
47:20
Speaker 2: They were doing some stuff like the New Year's Yeah
47:23
Speaker 2: he did in New Year's Eve.
47:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, he hosted in New Year's Eve.
47:26
Speaker 2: He and James hosted some New Year's Eve thing in
47:30
Speaker 2: Times Square. We left before New Year's Eve because we
47:32
Speaker 2: were like, get me out of here. There's yeah people.
47:35
Speaker 2: But I took my kids and we just took the
47:37
Speaker 2: train in from Pennsylvania to see a couple shows because
47:40
Speaker 2: we love theater and so I know.
47:43
Speaker 1: I saw that video he posted of people when they
47:45
Speaker 1: like opened the barriers for Time Square New Year's Eve,
47:47
Speaker 1: and I was like, that is my worst nightmare, like
47:50
Speaker 1: being stuck there.
47:52
Speaker 2: For me standing there with just crowds of people.
47:56
Speaker 1: Yes, my couch is much more comfortable.
48:00
Speaker 2: Happily watch it on TV too. I'm like, no hard
48:03
Speaker 2: pass for me.
48:04
Speaker 1: Nina, thank you so much for being here. I'm so
48:07
Speaker 1: glad we got to finally connect. Hopefully we can do
48:09
Speaker 1: this again. Everybody please check out The Perfect Setting Saturday,
48:14
Speaker 1: January twenty fifth on Hamewark And Nina, where can people
48:18
Speaker 1: find you?
48:19
Speaker 2: I'm on Instagram as Nino Wineman Swift. My husband's a Swift.
48:26
Speaker 2: We're no relation to Swift Trucking or or any of
48:32
Speaker 2: the good Swifts. We're just but I go by that professionally.
48:36
Speaker 2: I've always been Nina Wineman, but on social media on
48:39
Speaker 2: Instagram is really the only one I use. I don't
48:41
Speaker 2: do much else but Nino Wineman Swift.
48:45
Speaker 1: And we'll leave a link to that in our show notes.
48:47
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, and thank you for listening to
48:50
Speaker 1: this episode of Girls Gone Homework, a Bramble Jam podcast.
48:54
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time. Bye. All right friends, before
49:08
Speaker 1: we go, just a quick heads up. You're about to
49:10
Speaker 1: hear some ads. These little gems help us keep the
49:12
Speaker 1: show running and the Hallmark love flowing. So do with
49:15
Speaker 1: that info what you will, Grab a snack, hit the
49:18
Speaker 1: skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in and discover
49:22
Speaker 1: your new favorite product. Bye Sai.