Photo by Renee Bowen Photography – © 2015
A couple years ago I fell in love with the screenplays of Julie Sherman Wolfe. In particular, I was impressed with her adaption of “The Christmas Club” from a book into a movie, and how the characters were mature people having mature conversations during the holidays and falling in love. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and Julie’s contribution to that was mighty.
Around the same time I also had the good fortune of hearing Julie speak during the writer’s panel at 2019’s ChristmasCon. It was hearing her passion for writing good, funny stories that solidified my opinion of her as ONE OF THE GOOD ONES.
When I spoke to Julie earlier this week, she was open and game for sharing stories, quick to gush about her experiences working with Hallmark, and looking forward to projects yet to come. She even forgave me for asking Christmas questions despite the fact that she is Jewish (but is not shy about the fact that she really loves Christmas). I hope you are as delighted as I was to find out about her life as a screenwriter.
Julie: That’s very nice.
Jane: How did the jump to Hallmark take place?
Julie: I was always a writer. I did copywriting because that’s what I thought I needed to do. But I was soon as I started writing and doing standup, I thought the natural starting point from there was sitcoms. Even before “Raymond,” I was an assistant on a couple of other shows. I love being in the sitcom writers’ room. It’s really fun, but it’s also really stressful and there’s a lot of drama. In Los Angeles I was working in sitcoms then switched over and did a little animation, then ended up on a Disney show.
During all the sitcom stuff, I wrote a TV movie that got sold to Lifetime, probably more than 10 years ago. And then I was writing movies for Disney channel and I did “Avalon High.” I realized how much I really liked that form of writing something by yourself. You’re not performing in a writers’ room, and I could write witty banter.
So, I wrote a couple of romantic comedy film scripts on spec and sold those to Disney and Paramount. Those two sales got me in the Hallmark door. I met with a producer [who] had an idea that he needed help with and it just worked out. It was “Hello, It’s Me.” It’s a more dramatic movie but that was my first one. And luckily that one just really clicked with the people at Hallmark. It got a great reaction from within the company. That’s what got me the next movie. And I just kept saying yes. I was very grateful to have that consistency because it’s not so easy to be in a secure place with any kind of writing in Hollywood.
But it just really felt like after all the different kinds of writing I had done in the sitcom, animation, and tween world, it seemed like the right fit. People say, “Oh, don’t you want to write something different? Aren’t you bored writing all these things?” And I’m not. I love doing it. The challenge is: Can you write an eighth Christmas movie that doesn’t seem like the first seven? I try to do something different in every one. I try to really have these characters have personalities because on sitcoms all the jokes come out of the character. For instance, on “Raymond,” Frank’s jokes couldn’t be given by anybody else. They were all based on that character. And that’s what I try to do with the Hallmark movies.
Jane: When I look at your IMDb list of Hallmark movies they slowly and steadily get funnier and funnier until they kind of peak with last year’s One Royal Holiday, which I loved. It was my number one Hallmark movie in 2020.
Julie: I saw that. Thank you so much. The movie was so well done.
Jane: It brought back that charm and wittiness that had been missing for a couple of years from Hallmark movies. But like I said, each of your movies steadily gets to have more of that cleverness.
Julie: Maybe it’s just because they began to trust me more. I think it’s harder to write comedy than drama, to be honest. So maybe they realized that it could work if you get actors that you can trust with these moments. But honestly, I’ve been working with the same crew, the same executives and the same everything. We have a good working relationship and I know what they need. They know I’ll give it to them.
I take their notes and luckily, 99% of the time their notes are right. It’s my job to figure out how to still make it funny and interesting. I always try and throw in enough humor for the husbands that are stuck watching. I show the movies to my husband and I want him to like the movies, even though they’re not necessarily his cup of tea. But he likes mine, so that makes me happy! But I’ll stick in hockey and other ‘dude’ stuff into these movies.
Jane: As a viewer, I first took notice of you as the screenwriter for 2019’s The Christmas Club. I thought it is amazing because it was mature people having mature conversations in the midst of falling in love. And it was that movie that made me go to the IMDb page to find out who wrote the movie because it was fantastic.
Julie: Oh, thank you so much.
Jane: That’s when I realized that you were also the pen behind a lot of my favorite Hallmark movies over the past few years. Do you have one of your movies that’s your favorite script?
Julie: I do! One of them is “One Royal Holiday,” but the other one is “The Birthday Wish.” That’s my favorite because it had a little magic in it. I thought the acting was amazing. I just thought that one really came together. Plus, Peter DeLuise directed it and he’s hilarious. He brought in a lot of really cute, funny little moments that added even more. So, I just really liked that one.
“One Royal Holiday,” just…I always say the only good thing that came out of COVID was that we got all these amazing Broadway superstars to come and do our movie, which is insane. And we can’t do a sequel because they’re all busy again! I don’t know when we would do it. I mean, Aaron [Tveit] won the Tony and Laura is off doing other movies. So, there’s just no way to get a sequel for that one, even though I know what it would be.
Jane: Well, I know there’s a lot of fans out there that would love that if that were to happen!
Julie: I just can’t see the logistics of that. That movie was lightning in a bottle. It was just such a perfect thing that happened.
Jane: I still have the movie saved on my TiVo. I’ve watched it many times because it’s just such an enjoyable movie.
Julie: Oh, thank you.
Jane: Now, I saw in another interview you did several years ago that you love the movie “The Philadelphia Story,” and that you love classic romcoms in general. I love the Katherine Hepburn version. It’s just perfection between her and Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant.
Julie: I’ve recently done a deep dive on that movie. It’s funny because I’m writing something right now – I can’t really divulge much – but part of it has to do with that exact part of Philadelphia and in a family very similar to the one in the movie.
Jane: My question was going to be: could you envision trying to come up with a remake of your own that could be featured somewhere, whether it’s Hallmark or somewhere else, and be an homage to “The Philadelphia Story?”
Julie: This [new project] wouldn’t necessarily be that. But it could be. We’ll revisit this conversation in about a year and we’ll talk about it.
Jane: Ooh, intriguing.
Julie: Maybe this means something that you asked about that right now. Literally, 10 minutes before we started talking, I was just looking up some stuff about the movie. I love that movie.
Jane: You’ve had the good fortune with your movies to have a wide variety of different Hallmark actors appear in them. Is there anyone that has not yet been cast in one of your movies that you would love to have, and it just hasn’t happened yet?
Julie: Yes. Somebody else already did it. I wanted to do the sequel to the “Nine Lives of Christmas,” but somebody already did it. I love Kim [Sustad] because she was in a Wedding Every Weekend. Wes Brown and I became friends and he just moved back east. That’s someone that I want to work with because he’s very funny. I like the guys that can be funny. Luke MacFarlane is hilarious. He has such great timing. Paul Campbell has amazing timing. All in all, I’ve been pretty lucky.
I got to see an early cut of this movie coming up and Benjamin Ayres is fantastic and has these great little moments he found that I just love. I really value these men and women who can really bring a little extra comedic stuff to it, and they get what I was going for.
You know, a lot of the main Hallmark people don’t get enough credit for what they do. They have just as much of a responsibility to find that character and not make it be the same character that they played before. We can do something that turns out really well. So far, I think I’ve been lucky with actors and actresses that really get the comedy of it, or really sink into their characters. And I’m pretty collaborative if they have any questions or want to tweak lines or anything like that. I’m happy to do that.
Jane: Since brought it up, the new movie coming out on October 22nd is “You, Me and the Christmas Trees” [starring Danica McKellar and Benjamin Ayres]. I have to tell you, my son found out I was talking with a screenwriter whose movie is coming out and he asked, “What’s the name of the movie?” I told him and he said, “Not the worst I’ve heard.” He said that title is actually pretty good.
Julie: I must give credit to Hallmark for that because they changed the name! The whole genesis of the script was these two people meeting due to a fender bender in roundabout. So it was originally called “Roundabout Love.” This was in development as a non-Christmas movie for a while. But it was not moving forward, so we pitched it as a Christmas movie and then they said okay.
For a while we were just calling it “Roundabout Christmas,” but that doesn’t make sense. The characters still meet in a roundabout and there is still a fender bender, but the story is about the main character knowing all about Christmas trees. Originally, she was an expert in landscaping or plants. He was going to be an architect.
And you know what? I never had a movie described with the keyword “dendrology,” like they did in Entertainment Weekly. So that’s kind of fun. We really leaned into the science a little more on this one. I’m not doing a master’s thesis on horticulture, but I did talk to the guys at the University of Connecticut. I really tried to do as much as I could science-wise, for it to be right. I talked to an arborist.
But you can’t get too bogged down. Viewers are not saying, “Well, I was hoping to have an accurate scientific representation of evergreen horticulture. This is terrible!” But most of the people watching will just enjoy their journey together.
Jane: And did they film this movie in Connecticut?
Julie: No, they filmed this one in Victoria, Canada. But it’s still fun. I still kind of name-checked some people in the script, and it still feels like an Avon, Connecticut movie.
You know what’s great? In Taking a Shot at Love, which I set in Avon, I wrote in an Avon winter festival. And the reason I put it in there is because I really wished Avon would do something like that, because we need some sort of a community thing. Well, somebody saw it, and they did it! The mayor and the town center and all these businesses – it’s a whole big thing now. It’s in December and has become an actual thing. It makes me so happy. I can’t believe it happened! I just didn’t realize anybody would really go for it, but they did.
Jane: That’s pretty cool! Now, is it too soon to ask what you have coming down the pike? I know that you were responsible for the script for Brennan Elliot’s movie coming up, “Love and Ice Wine.”
Julie: Yes, although I think they might be changing that title. I did the rewrite on that one, so there is somebody else that also has a writing credit before me. But I’ve heard that people [at Hallmark] love it and that it’s delightful. I can’t wait to see it. Right now, I’m working on something for Christmas for next year. And maybe a spring/summer idea for next year, but I can’t talk about that yet.
Jane: How many scripts do you average in a year? Is it three or four, or six or seven but only three or four get chosen?
Julie: One year I had a bunch of stuff on my desk I was working on, but nothing was getting made that year. And then I had three movies in one year because they all came out at the same time. But I wasn’t writing them all at the same time. I don’t want to spread myself too thin. And I also don’t think it would be fair to any of the producers or to the executives if I put too many scripts on hold to focus on other ones. I decided to slow my roll a little bit and work on only two or three things at the same time. I have the luxury of focusing on one thing at a time, which has been nice.
Jane: And I suppose that reduces the chance of burnout.
Julie: There’s always a chance of that. I had a busy couple of months, then I realized I don’t want to do that again. All the movies turned out fine, but I’d rather be able to focus on two or three and not to disappear on my family. I’m going to live my life and have weekends. For a while there, there was never a weekend free. I just had to have a little more work-life balance. It’s very hard to say no to projects when someone’s asking you, “Hey, do you want to do this?” And you have to say, “You know what? I shouldn’t because I don’t want to have too much on my plate. But thank you.” It’s hard.
Jane: Are you afraid that if you say no, it might mean they’re not going to come back to you because you’re saying no?
Julie: No, I’m not worried about that, because they know that the reason I’m saying no is because I care so much about my product and what I’m putting out. It’s not that I’m too busy for them. It’s more that I care about who I am currently working with to the point where I wouldn’t jeopardize the quality of that current project just so I can do something else. Especially when that other project will be the beneficiary of that same dedication when they’re the ones I’m working with and I say no to someone else. I’m just grateful that I have a choice. It’s a very fickle business. It could all end tomorrow.
Jane: Well, let’s say that day does come, and Hallmark suddenly is not calling. Do you see yourself becoming a book author?
Julie: Oh no, not at all. In a script there’s dialogue. And then there are stage directions, the action lines, and sections that you don’t see that you see on screen because somebody takes it and makes it look right. I am terrible at my descriptions and poetically describing the feel of space or how something looks. My strength is definitely in the dialogue and the characters, but my weakness would be in what you’re reading.
That’s why I will never write a book. My husband [author Greg Wolfe] is very good at that. He writes books, and he’s fantastic and all that, but I know my weaknesses. I think someday I would like to do more public speaking, probably about this business and making it work for 25 years. I’d like to help people, especially women, understand what it takes to survive and thrive – stuff that people didn’t tell me when I was starting out.
I don’t know when I would do that because I’m not ready to hang up the laptop yet. And I think I may go back and write something that’s non-Hallmark. Like, a rated-R script similar to a “Bridesmaids” type of movie, just so I can remember that I can still write like that. I might just do like a little secret project. I’ll tell you the show I’m jealous that I’m not writing on is [Apple TV+’s] “Ted Lasso.” That’s just the best. That’s one of those shows that I would die to write for. I love it. I’m so depressed that it’s over for the season!
Jane: By the way, are you attending the ChristmasCon in New Jersey this year?
Julie: No, they are not doing panels with writers. They are still doing them with actors, but they’re not doing one with writers.
Jane: That’s a shame because I really enjoyed the writers’ panel last time.
Julie: I had a fun time doing it. But I am going to be at RomaDrama in Palm Beach, Florida. I went to the recent one in Nashville, and it was really fun. They did a good job for their first time. The actors were pretty cool to hang out with. But the ChristmasCon was the most fun because the green room was like going to a huge Hallmark party.
Jane: Before I let you go, I want to do a rapid fire with you. Coffee or tea?
Julie: Coffee.
Jane: Coffee – light or dark roast?
Julie: What is Dunkin?
Jane: Of course. You’re from Connecticut.
Julie: I guess that’s light roast.
Jane: I forgot everybody in the Northeast loves Dunkin.
Julie: I think Dunkin, McDonald’s and Cumberland Farms coffee are the best coffees.
Jane: All right. Do you do a real tree or fake tree?
Julie: Okay, we’re Jewish, but last year, because we love Christmas – well, I know this is rapid fire, but you have to know two things.
One, my husband wrote a book that’s called Schmelf, the Hanukkah Elf (affiliate link), which is in the bookstores every single Christmas. And it’s about a Jewish elf who works for Santa. Between my husband writing that book and me writing Hallmark Christmas movies, we love Christmas in our house a lot. You would think one of us totally wasn’t Jewish, but we both are. So knowing all that background, last year the whole thing with COVID was so weird and we said, let’s just do it. We have stockings, we put up lights, we have Santa. But we don’t have a tree. Like, what’s the worst that could happen? Well, my husband wrote an article about what happened when we attempted to have a Christmas tree last year. The answer to your original question is “neither.”
Jane: Do you have a favorite holiday movie?
Julie: It used to be “Love, Actually,” but I don’t like the movie anymore. In the 10 or 15 years since I first saw it, I realized these are terrible people.
Jane: Yes, they are.
Julie: And I don’t care for them.
Jane: I’ve felt that way since day one and all of my friends think I’m a horrible person. I totally get it. It’s a terrible movie.
Julie: Yes, I think it’s terrible. Okay wait, hold on. This is a good, you’re going to laugh. *calls to the other room* Hey Greg, what’s my favorite holiday movie? (pause) No, not anymore.
Jane: Tell him I approve of that answer.
Julie: *still calling to the other room* She likes that answer! What is it? I can’t think of what it is.
Jane: Is it a classic one? A new one? Is it an old Bing Crosby movie?
Julie: Oh! “The Shop Around the Corner.” That would be it. I’m trying to figure out a way to do that kind of story for Hallmark.
Jane: Oh, that’s a great one! That’s a great choice. Next question: when the holidays come around, do you tend to travel, or do you stay at home?
Julie: Now we’re total homebodies, especially now that we’re in Connecticut. Both our families are in California, so we stay home. I really like being home. Our first Christmas in Connecticut, it was a white Christmas. I came downstairs and opened my back door – it had snowed overnight. And I just started weeping. I was just so happy. It was unbelievable. It was just the greatest thing.
Jane: Did you have a Julie Andrews on the mountain top “Sound of Music” moment?
Julie: Pretty much. I mean, I won’t listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. And I won’t put up anything until after Thanksgiving. But after Thanksgiving is over, it’s constant Christmas music. There are only two songs for Hanukkah. There’s no Hanukkah music. Hey – that’s what I’ll do when I retire! I’m going to write a Hanukkah song that’s not in a minor key! Maybe I’ll write one for this Hanukkah movie for next year. And then it’ll be like “Santa’s Super Sleigh,” from the movie “About A Boy.” Remember that movie? And he was rich because of his royalties from the horrible Christmas song.
Jane: *laughing* That’s fantastic. For the holidays, and I think I know the answer to this simply because you are a Jewish family, but do you stick to old traditions or do you like to incorporate newer traditions as well? For instance, as your son gets older, do you incorporate newer things to do, or do you pretty much stick with a traditional holiday?
Julie: Well, Santa comes to our house. Santa does visit us. And now that our son is older, it’s more of a fun family thing having Santa visit. And we try and surprise other people with presents. Generally, on the Christmas, we try to go to our friends’ houses who have trees, and sort of glom onto their Christmas. So, I’ll have presents for whomever we end up going to visit and they’ll have stuff for my son.
As a kid I went to my best friend’s house every single Christmas Eve and had crab legs and did Christmas Eve with them. And then Christmas Day, I ended up back at her house again! We’ve always had friends that just sort of know that we love Christmas, and they want us to come and share Christmas. That’s really fun.
Jane: You need to become friends with some British people, so you can do Boxing Day, too.
Julie: I know, right? But Christmas crackers still tend to scare me. I’m scared I’m going to hurt myself. Meanwhile, I’m lighting candles, letting them just burn freely across eight nights, but that’s fine.
Jane: Well, thank you so much for spending some time with me. I’m looking forward to your movie this week.
Julie: Thank you so much. I’m having a big, outdoor viewing party this week at my house for the new movie. Everyone’s going to bundle up, I’m going to put up Christmas lights and have a hot cocoa bar and cookies. And then everyone’s just going to sit in lawn chairs and watch it on an outdoor screen.
Jane: Well, I told my son that he needed to be aware that on the first night of Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas, I will be putting up our Christmas tree. And he said, “You will not.” I said, “I just might, because 2021 has been almost as bad as 2020, and I want Christmas season to start already.”
Julie: I have a whole box of Christmas stuff that I bring out because I always end up with an October movie. I break that out for the movie and then put everything back in the basement until it’s the actual time.
Jane: With your movie being about Christmas trees, it makes perfect sense for me to put up my tree! I would be remiss if I did not take advantage and put up my tree. But for now, thank you so much, Julie. I really appreciate you talking with me.
Julie: Thank you so much!
To find Julie Sherman Wolfe online:
Twitter: @shermwolfe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julieshermanwolfe
Instagram: julie_sherman_wolfe
Great stuff, Jane. Thank you so much.