So it goes with Badland Company, the staff have the week off, the "staff" being me. And maybe that hummingbird that greets me every morning, waiting outside the window for the Loquat tree to blossom again.
It took me years to figure out why Canadian thanksgiving is more than a full month ahead of the American holiday. It was patiently explained to me by an old man who said simply, "our winter comes earlier." Duh.
But this year, there's an added bonus for me, and that's my Hallmark TV movie will premiere on November 25. Thanksgiving Day, a great timeslot. It's also going to run several times right up to Christmas. The movie, starring Lauren Holly, will also play on Canadian TV on the W Channel aka the Women's Channel. They also placed it in aother great timeslot, Christmas Day. Two showings.
I even have the initial schedules for both cable channels. One thing to remember is that the times listed are EST, so if you're on the Pacific and have satellite, it's usually 3 hours behind. Meaning 8pm in EST is 5pm PST.
So here goes:
W Channel (check time zones for right time)
Dec 1 10pm
Dec 14 7pm
Dec 18 1pm
Dec 19 3pm
Dec 21 7pm
Dec 25 4pm
Hallmark Channel (all are EST timezones, could be 1-3 hrs difference)
Nov 25 8pm & 10pm
Dec 1 8pm
Dec 5 2pm
Dec 6 12:00amYou can also see a webpage at http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/thetownchristmasforgot/home
There will be additional screenings for Hallmark after December 6th, so I'll post those when I get them.
About the movie, consider this; It was filmed in Hamilton, south of Toronto in late August. Remember, this is a Christmas movie, an "evergreen". My screenplay begins with a fierce snowstorm and I'm curious to see how that can be filmed in late August/early September.
CGI maybe. Probably, but the budget was really low, around the $1.1 million range and you don't get a lot of production value for that. Also consider it takes place in a dying coal mining town with lots of extras that revolve around a pageant thought up by a local woman.
I haven't seen the movie yet, they are sending me a copy but I'll have my TiVo on anyways. It's a nice little friendly movie, and I hope it works. I've already got the sequel on my mind and have received some good interest.
And as far as the business, it pretty much slows down after Thanksgiving, the month of December is more of a clean-up and look pretty month, not to mention the best time for tourists as travel slows down in the 3 weeks between the two holidays. The town is virtually empty, well, sort of, lines are shortest during that time at Universal and Disneyland and all the other parks.
So have a good short week, eat lots of turkey, that tryptophane is a myth. I'll be cooking for my close friend and his daughter and we'll finish dinner just in time to watch The Town Christmas Forgot at 5pm in L.A.
(Thurs: Turkey!!)
