A new Lifetime Christmas movie starring Melissa Joan Hart had to be changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Central New York couple that wrote it.
“Dear Christmas,” starring Hart and Jason Priestley (of “Beverly Hills, 90210” fame), is the latest from Juliet and Keith Giglio, a pair of professional screenwriters who live in Manlius. The holiday romance film premieres Friday at 8 p.m. on the Lifetime network.
“The day after Thanksgiving is like Christmas gold,” the Giglios said in a phone interview with syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. There are no pro sports on TV and most people are settled at home after the turkey holiday and Black Friday shopping — even more so this year due to Covid-19.
“Dear Christmas” shot in Lake Tahoe in July, and was the second movie to shoot in Nevada after the pandemic shut down film and TV productions across the country. Safety precautions required them to limit crowd scenes and eliminate extras, so a singalong in a bar had to be changed and a planned Ugly Sweater 5K (inspired by one the Giglios ran in Liverpool) was removed.
“Lifetime called in April and (asked us to) rewrite it to be Covid ready,” Keith said. “It forced us to focus more on the characters.”
The movie centers on Natalie Morgan (Hart) as the host of a popular podcast, Holiday Love, sharing true stories of holiday romance with its listeners. While to the outside world and her listeners everywhere see Natalie is an expert on romance, she’s never truly experienced a romance of her own. As Natalie prepares to embark on a promotional tour for her new book, she stops back home to spend Christmas with her family where she unexpectedly begins to experience her own holiday romance as sparks ignite with local firefighter, Jack (Jason Priestley).
“There’s a subtle... reference to first responders,” Keith added, noting how important essential workers have been during the pandemic.
The cast, cut down to just seven main speaking parts, also includes Ed Begley Jr. (“A Mighty Wind”), Robin Givens (“Boomerang”), Faith Prince (“Spin City”) and Nicky Whelan (“The Binge”), with cameos — filmed remotely — by Jamie and Doug Hehner, Hilarie Burton, and Antwon Tanner. Emily Moss Wilson directs, and Hart and her mother Paula Hart serve as producers.
Concerns about Covid-19 risks also meant the Giglios couldn’t visit the set, like they’ve done for other films they’ve written.
The pair previously wrote two other Lifetime holiday movies: “A Very Nutty Christmas” (2018) and “Christmas Reservations” (2019). Both also starred Hart, whose credits include “Clarissa Explains It All,” “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “Drive Me Crazy” and “Melissa & Joey.”
“It’s a real romance for us. It’s really about the wonderful things that can happen at Christmas,” Juliet said. “This year more than ever people are looking forward to them.”
The couple says they like to watch Christmas movies every year, including “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Love Actually” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” But the holiday season lasts a little longer in their house, as they finished writing “Dear Christmas” in January and February — which is easy with all the snow in Central New York.
“We write it to Christmas music. We created a soundtrack or a playlist, I should say, for the particular movie,” Juliet said. “So, like, ‘Nutty Christmas’ (which featured a nutcracker that came to life) was all Tchaikovsky.”
This provided photo shows "Dear Christmas" screenwriters Juliet and Keith Giglio, who live in Manlius, N.Y.
“Dear Christmas” is the third movie Juliet Giglio has written together with Keith, her husband of 30 years, since moving from Los Angeles to Syracuse nine years ago. Their credits include “Joshua,” “Noah,” “Return to Halloweentown,” “Tarzan” and “Pizza My Heart”; Keith Giglio also worked on Disney’s “A Cinderella Story” and “Another Cinderella Story.”
They moved to CNY to teach screenwriting; he’s a professor at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, and Juliet does the same at SUNY Oswego. They wrote a book together, “Proof of Concept: Writing the Short Script,” which is used in classrooms across the country.
The coronavirus pandemic has also changed how they’ve been teaching, often working from home and doing classes over Zoom video chats.
“We’ve each taken over a bedroom in our house,” Juliet said. “I’ll be in one room and Keith will be in the other. The big thing is we had to up our internet.”
“Dear Christmas” premieres Friday, Nov. 27, at 8 p.m. on the Lifetime network. See the trailer at mylifetime.com.
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