How to Write and Sell a Script to the Hallmark Channel
Shari Simpson
Yes, we’ve heard the jokes.
“What has 27 actors, three settings, two writers, and one plot?”
“671 Hallmark movies.”
So when my writing partner and I (yes, two writers required, see above) were first hired to write the 2022 Hallmark drama, Color My World with Love, we knew we were going to be battling some expectations—our own, mostly.
But to our surprise, it was more challenging than anticipated and we really needed our Save the Cat! chops; especially since the subject matter, a romance between two young adults with Down syndrome, was slightly outside the norm of standard Hallmark fare.
The result was a moving little film (in my humble opinion, obvi) that hit all the beats, had a legit arc, and incorporated some Rites of Passage elements into a Buddy Love structure.
After writing two more dramas that did not make it to air for various reasons, we finally got the chance to go full romcom. Love Finds You premiered on Saturday, August 22 and you can catch it on the Hallmark Channel on September 5 and 19th.
I’d like to share a bit about what makes writing for Hallmark a unique and genuinely special experience.
When it comes to penning a Hallmark movie script, the easy parts are the STC genre—“Buddy Love,” always and forever, amen—and the obligatory happy ending. The tougher part is how to get to that happy ending in an original way, but not so original that you alienate their core audience.
I assume Blake Snyder never wrote for Hallmark, but his saying, “Give me the same thing… only different!” really applies here. Avoid tropes, lean into comforting familiarity.
First, the genre:
The 3 elements of a Buddy Love story are:
1. An incomplete hero who is missing something physical, ethical, or spiritual; (s)he needs another to be whole.
2. A counterpart who makes that completion come about or has qualities the hero needs.
3. A complication, be it a misunderstanding, personal or ethical viewpoint, epic historical event, or the prudish disapproval of society.
Let’s talk about the “incomplete” Hero protagonist in a Hallmark film—their incompleteness is rarely a genuine character flaw or something deep that needs to change.
One thing I’ve come to appreciate about Hallmark’s core audience is that they really want their main characters to be nice, decent people. But it’s surprisingly challenging to write nice and decent main characters, especially if you excel at sarcastic, messed-up sidekicks who curse like drunken stevedores.
If you get the Heroes in a Hallmark film just right, the characters will be kind and smart, have a gentle sense of humor, and the only thing they really need to be whole is true love. (And to own a bakery or flower shop in a small town where everyone wears cozy sweaters and loves Christmas, but that’s secondary.)
The “complication” that keeps the Buddy Lovers apart for 90 minutes shades more towards the “misunderstanding” side of things than a difference in personal or ethical viewpoint or anything too serious.
In Love Finds You, Alex thinks she may have found the man of her dreams and enlists her neighborhood delivery guy, Jack, to drive her there, but naturally there are twists and turns and surprises along that journey, wink wink, can you guess? Of course you can, but the journey is sweet and funny and romantic, nonetheless.
One of the quirks about writing a Hallmark movie is the “9-act” requirement.
To be clear, they’re not really “acts,” but the TV movie standard of blocks of scenes that end in a mini-cliffhanger to keep interest up during the commercial break.
Never fear, the 3-act structure is still intact, so start by mapping out your story with the STC beats, then construct the scenes into the 9 blocks: an opening block of approximately 25 pages, followed by blocks of roughly 10-12 pages each. I like to call them “9 chunks of happiness,” because I’m just witty that way.
(Regarding the STC 3-act structure, all the beats are there, just a bit softer; there’s an “All is Lost,” even a “Dark Night of the Soul,” but they tend to be more of the “This relationship isn’t going to work out” and “I’m really sad that this relationship isn’t going to work out” variety.)
One business tip: Hallmark doesn’t produce any films on their own, so any pitching to the company has to come through an outside producer.
Hallmark likes to work with producers they know and who understand their mandate, so developing a relationship with those producers is your best bet to break into writing for the company.
On behalf of my writing partner, Charlie Shahnaian, and myself, we hope you enjoy Love Finds You, a sweet, comfy little romance with a few zingers here and there.
And just to end on a note that sums up our entire Hallmark experience, the original title was “The Whole Package.” This was rejected, for obvious reasons. Wink wink, y’all.
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