The economics of a made-for-TV Christmas town

Wow, the small town our protagonist was forced to return to sure has healthy local businesses, nice sidewalks, and a charming sense of community.
Today we're talking about what makes the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime Original Christmas Movies so compelling.
0:00 Intro
2:24 Tourist location
4:20 Job market
5:32 Events
6:39 Big cities are job
7:25 My movie pitch
8:43 Ending
Sources lol:
www.hallmarkchannel.com/chris...
ew.com/tv/lifetime-christmas-...

[@thebowandbullet]

You know what we never see? A woman leaving her rural home to return to the place she grew up: the big city. I think it's because many Christmas movies represent a return to conservative family values and an idealized past (1950s). Tough, career women from the big city going to a small town, falling in love, having a traditional xmas, getting engaged, married, and having kids, is an extremely common plot.

[@laurenconrad1799]

And I’m sitting here happily in the city with zero desire for kids on dating apps looking for guys living in my big city who want the same. 😂

[@annabelleslator6441]

Emily Henry's Book Lovers has this kind of vibe!

[@myragroenewegen5426]

You know, I would watch that Christmas movie! Polly is desperately afraid that losing her home-town Christmas means losing Christmas entirely, but oh dear she's snowed in it the big city with blackouts sweeping the land and nary a kind soul in site. Can she find a new kind of seasonal magic in this bigger fishbowl? With her marriage unexpectedly over, who will become her chosen family? Most importantly, will she finally gain the financial security to adapt the stray cat who is melting her heart?

[@thebowandbullet]

@@myragroenewegen5426Love it! Make this movie and I'll watch it! 😊

[@thebowandbullet]

@@laurenconrad1799 Same, friend, same. 😁

[@laurenconrad1799]

And don’t forget the most important thing: no matter how many pastries she eats, she will stay a size 2.

[@ardas77]

but she always takes only 1 (one) bite!

[@Man-ej6uv]

if she only eats pastries then yeah maybe

[@JBT_On_YouTube]

O my gosh yes! And all the clothes have custom tailor fit with zero bulges or lines.

[@emmy8526]

There’s a very funny podcast called It’s Christmastown that goes through all these movies, including the strange food selections featured in them

[@williamjoyner3759]

Lots of cookies and gingerbread’s.

[@co7314]

The small town with a Christmas cookie competition with a $10,000 prize

[@katereed4764]

yeah, there should be a Meat Draw or something authentic. At the very least.

[@nadinegriffin5252]

​@@katereed4764Yes to the meat draw! Other options are ham and turkey bingo or a turkey shoot (shooting targets to win a turkey, not actually hunting a turkey)

[@RobertMayfair]

We all just want a cozy, small home town with all the amenities and economy of a big city with the social dynamics of Stars Hollow.

[@faeriesmak]

Ugh..until you actually live in a place like that. Everyone knows all of your business even if you don’t know who they are. There are limited resources and a food desert, weird conservative values, strict social expectations, and if you don’t fit in you are bullied and shunned.

[@annasolovyeva1013]

Small cities may be best of two And no, it doesn't have to be a food desert, it's just an American problem caused by American corporations. Why on earth a small place can't be sufficient with locally grown produce? It's just several local big farms and you have everything except for imported exotic foods.

[@loverrlee]

No. We actually don’t all want that. It’s a fantasy because we all want a community, but most of the time small towns are extremely toxic and restrictive to people, not welcoming or inviting.

[@faeriesmak]

Ugh..yes. This is exactly what it is actually like living in a small town. At least that has been my experience.@@loverrlee

[@SIC647]

I grew up in such a place. Not all amenities that a big city has, but it was far from other towns, so it had a lot of them. Plus rich-ish big city people went to live there because it was quaint, so there was also stuff like concerts and an organic dinner club. I couldn't get out fast enough! I love so much the anonymity of a big city. And museums.

[@ethansloan]

I guess great mind think alike. I also wrote a Christmas movie (on spec, of course) titled Shingles All The Way. Mine is about an outbreak of shingles in a small town during Christmas. The town leaders, not wanting to lose the all-important tourist dollars during their famous "Christmas Yuletide Ice Festival of Dancing and Winter Whimsey," quarantines all the infectees in an old house at the edge of town. Two of those in quarantine can't stand each other; he's a practical guy with a wry smile who doesn't have time for silliness (he's too busy being a single dad to an 8-year old girl and running his own carpentry business), while she's as cute as she is clumsy and absolutely lives for sober fun. Ironically enough, she was the head of the town's Christmas decorating committee, and now she's forced to spend her holidays in a shabby building with seemingly no Christmas spirit. Unless, of course, she can somehow improvise decorations and rally the spirits of all the other shingles patients and make this the best darn Christmas ever! And maybe along the way, she just might fall in love... I suppose I'll have to re-title my movie now. How does "Shingle Singles" sound? I'll take any feedback.

[@kendragaylord]

😂 Maybe "Shingle Ball Rock" and it ends with a holiday ball with all the other shingles patients?

[@Man-ej6uv]

she's shingle

[@SweetOsoka]

You can sprinkle some bedbags as a part two or as an adventure in first book. Shingles and more...

[@mustardseeds6616]

Shingle Belles because all the old ladies in quarantine were debutantes? Main character has to give them a festive make over to make them look nice again? 😆

[@essendossev362]

Wait I don't think shingles is contagious, why are they quarantining? Like, you get it if you've had chicken pox, which IS contagious, but shingles itself is just chicken pox part 2, for adults, without any weird itchy bumps that spread the illness.

[@michaelkelly1267]

From being in the room whilst my girlfriend watches these films, I gather that 'The Plant' seems to be a pretty big part of these small town economies. Though it's probably not doing so well/has been closed recently.

[@kendragaylord]

and The Mill, and sometimes The Factory

[@SnowyMary]

it took me a moment to realise you didn't mean a green leafy thing.. I was picturing Little Shop of Horrors

[@faeriesmak]

That's actually fairly accurate.

[@DawnDavidson]

@@SnowyMary😂😂😂

[@peppercorn1553]

I always felt like these towns were little pocket afterlives, able to do any non-profitable profession you feel like

[@lisahoshowsky4251]

Ooh, I like that

[@Terrible_Peril]

"Just do me a favor and just stop saying weird shit like that I'm the memory of a town or little pocket afterlife, would you?" 🤣🤣🤣

[@nadinegriffin5252]

The employment of all the small towns is hilarious. The small part-time job or hobby of a person is their sole income and they actually make a great living at it. It is like every small farmers market vendor makes enough bank to have their own dedicated shop in the best and busiest area of town. I'd like to see a plot where the heroine goes back to her small town and is accosted by every MLM hun when she is trying to shop at the local market. She gets frustrated by the complete commercialism of her small town and how it no longer has any of its indiviuality and uniqueness. It is a horror of MLM huns, fast food and franchises that are pretending to masquerade as unique small business. Oh wait, that is real life. 🤣

[@elizabethtangora4353]

I think the “thriving small town economy” of Christmas movies is a symptom of a bigger probelm; tv execs either hate to show anyone struggling economically or possibly don’t even know what that looks like. It’s been bothering me since the American remake of BBC’s “Ghosts”; in the UK version the ghost-filled mansion the characters inherit is visibly falling apart, and they are recognizably living paycheck-to-paycheck with the mansion serving as their big chance at a better life. In the US version the mansion is flawless, the characters drive what appears to be a brand-new SUV, have non-descript office jobs, and dress business casual everyday.

[@lisahoshowsky4251]

I’m currently watching the UK ghosts right now when I saw your comment😅😅 I haven’t watched it in nearly 4 years I think and I forgot how decrepit their home was compared to the US version. I follow real people who’ve inherited or bought really cheaply at auction old mansions to restore and the UK one is a lot more realistic to what people in that scenario are actually living in and going through. (What have we dunoon is an excellent Instagram account of a couple basically living it minus the ghosts). I will say the American ones are a chef and a freelance writer not office workers (and both technically “unemployed” since he cooks for the almost non-existent guests and she’s writing a book on one of the ghosts) since it plays into the plot significantly but you’re spot on with everything else. From my perception I think the US at large doesn’t want to portray financial struggle because they know people turn to TV as escapism and having reflected back at consumers the reality of their own lives in tv form wouldn’t make a show very popular. Instead, “let’s give them a pipe dream where a down on their luck couple inherited a beautiful home and somehow after just a little financial struggle they have a profitable business!” It’s really just a different facet of what’s being sold as “The American Dream” if people think there’s some small glimmer of hope and financial salvation out there they’ll keep grinding.

[@flowerheit4512]

its because viewers dont want to be depressed all the time, i deal with being poor and not having time or energy for anything all day, i dont want to see equally sad depressed struggling people in all my media. its not a crime to want cozy escapism.

[@elizabethtangora4353]

@@flowerheit4512 that’s fine, and if they had decided to make the US version about two well-off people who inherit a beautiful mansion and decide to run a B&B with funny ghost antics that would also be fine and possibly an interesting revision. But if they say that the mansion is “falling apart” like the show description does then show a house that’s in great condition, it’s weird and distracting.

[@elizabethtangora4353]

@@lisahoshowsky4251 I feel embarrassed I turned them both into office workers, you’re totally right. (And thank you for that tip on what have we dunoon, I love renovation instagrams!) It’s hard to tell if there is an idea among producers that ‘you can’t show people in financial distress because the audience doesn’t like it’ because it does make sense but there have also been hugely successful shows that were about people struggling to get by (Roseanne is probably the most famous, Malcolm in the Middle is my favorite). It’s probably a stew of different things that I don’t take into account when I’m ranting in the KZbin comments. One thing that occurred to me when I was looking at whathavewedunoon is that it’s probably much harder in American to find a rundown mansion that is also stable enough for you to run a film crew through, not to mention willing to put their actual renovation work on hold or let you make major changes to the work you’ve already completed. But I also suspect product placement is part of the stew. If your characters are driving a beat-up old car, you can’t get product placement money by showing them in a brand new Chevy.

[@Te3time]

I will forever love Malcolm in the middle for how realistic their set dressing was for a lower middle class family. As a European I always find it really off-putting how every family in US shows owns a giant house or has a giant apartment even when the characters aren't supposed to be well off. Personally I don't find it depressing to see poor or struggling people on TV as long as the struggle itself isn't the main focus I just find it relatable.

[@whateverislovely8654]

I was not prepared for “all he wants for Christmas is a live laugh love sign and a platonic kiss” This video had me cracking up.

[@Iris-mr2bb]

Thank you! The real fantasy fulfillment in these movies are the economically thriving, cute, small, towns. The reality? Gutted local economies and crushing opioid epidemics.

[@mollytaylor2122]

What about a millennial who's moved to the country to pursue her cottagecore dreams, and her city family comes out to visit _her_ for the holidays? Because of social anxiety, our heroine hasn't done as much socializing with the neighbors as she should've yet. So her mom looks up some Christmas events itinerary online and drags her to all the things and makes her meet people. While there, they meet a love interest and the overinvolved family does matchmaking. The love interest is another wayward new-to-the-area millennial, but doesn't have family visiting like the heroine does, and so the mom decides she needs to extents invites to come over to the heroine's home for Christmas. There are lots of backlogged jobs around the house, such as cleaning out the fireplace or winterizing the chicken coop, that she can do with family or the love interest, providing them with something to do while they talk.

[@eviescotia]

I need this movie yesterday added points if it's a queer romance

[@whateverislovely8654]

I love this

[@nataliekmaguire]

​​​@@eviescotiaanother shy, socially awkward millennial woman who feels out of place, so now that she's met SOMEONE she feels comfortable with, she sticks to Heroine's side and wins her over with her offbeat yet irresistibly charming humour. They bond over both being a little nervous around big groups of people so spend a lot of time just the two of them, and everyone thinks it's so sweet that they're such good friends ("I haven't seen you laugh this much in years!"), but hark, could that be love bubbling within their hearts? And when they finally tell Heroine's family (holding hands, a little nervous), the mother steps forward and cups Heroine's face in her hands, her eyes glistening with tears and joy and candlelight. Then pulls her into a big hug and whispers "I knew you would find your way," and then pulls Girlfriend into a hug too, and then the entire family are all in a big group hug whilst the newly-cleaned house glistens with festive cheer.

[@goldfishandgiggles4461]

This is perfection!!!!

[@SnowyMary]

@@eviescotia this plot is an upgrade but I iirc at least a couple of those tropes are covered in Single all the Way (2021, Netflix?). at least overly motivated mom dragging son to meet people, queer romance (with actually bearable "love triangle") and backlogged jobs for the handyman that just happens to be around.

[@ellicel]

I grew up in Dominican Republic in the 80s, and my whole family would watch novelas every night -- ridiculous and melodramatic, with thin plot lines and predictable endings. They only lasted a few months before the next clichéd offering would start. Hallmark movies remind me of those silly plots, of time spent with family from my grandmother to my cousins, following a couple's troubled path to inevitable happiness. So, every Christmas break, I sink into the awful writing as if slipping into a nice warm bath. Even though I share none of the protagonists' cultural history or customs, the nostalgia still grips me. Turns out a comfy old sweater is lovely even if it's somebody else's comfy old sweater 😂

[@SloanePaoPow]

Hallmark Christmas movie: Trapped in a Thomas Kincaid painting

[@BostonTerrierLOVE]

I would absolutely watch your architecture movie. THAT is the kind of small town vibe I want! Real issues! Real solutions! Walkable cities as a side plot to romance!

[@LindseyScalera]

Yes! Let’s see some placemaking strategies and talk about how the local food system contributes to the local economy and culture! ❤

[@BostonTerrierLOVE]

@@LindseyScalera 👏👏👏

[@nextfriday]

They could even have a cute little inside joke, looking at each other and happily exclaiming at the same time "We're walkin' here!" while frolicking cheerfully along in their newly revitalized charming little town.

[@LinusBoman]

Kendra, this is my new favourite channel. Keep it up!

[@kendragaylord]

Thank you! I am such a big fan of your Papyrus video!

[@LinusBoman]

Haha, cheers!

[@misterscottintheway]

This is the nerdy crossover I didn't know I needed

[@dextertyler4726]

I live in Portsmouth NH. The many restaurants are nice and downtown does look cool but rent is insane and everything else is so expensive. It is so weird to think of this place as a quaint Christmas loving town. There actually was a cool candle store downtown some years ago, but it has since closed down :/ ... I just watched the trailer. Wow that was not Portsmouth. IDK what that was.

[@Surreal452]

I was in Portsmouth the other evening and it felt like I’d stepped into a damn snow globe it was so Christmassy

[@caitlinkurnit3642]

I think they were running the business out of one of the houses at Strawberry Bank?

[@nlpnt]

Most of them are filmed in and around Vancouver.

[@DanaMcRaptorHands]

I love the way Kendra brings so much of her interests to her videos and always shows off a really unique perspective. She's clearly well educated but makes her points in relatable (really funny) ways. Also, that story plot was seriously amazing - the only way to preserve the town's future is by selling its past?? COIN IT

[@katebowers8107]

Actual back-to-small-hometown experience 1) meet cute PFAs in the water 2) Every restaurant sells only pizza 3) Most people commute to bigger municipalities for work

[@TheInternationalBlah]

Not the point, but the plot of You've Got Mail is SHOCKING upon a rewatch

[@mrgallbladder]

I would unironically watch the crap out of shingles all the way!

[@BadgerOfTheSea]

My mother is obsessed with these films and I found the businesses questionable but then I spent a year living in York (England) and there is a shop there that only sells expensive Christmas ornaments all year rounds so apparently the film's love interest's parent's shop in these makes sense

[@inezketchup]

But it is a pretty big city population wise with lots of tourism so makes more sense than a small town

[@katec9893]

I'm pretty sure I've been to that shop!! I hope you also visited the Jorvik museum while you were in York!

[@nicoleonyx9186]

The small town next to my city in Tennessee has one of those little Christmas ornament shops 😂 I have no idea how they survive when they open at 10am and close at 5pm and are closed on Sundays all year round. Like, their hours stay the same even during the holidays lol

[@eldestmillennial3136]

NGL, I'd totally watch Kendra's Hallmark Christmas Special. Especially for the bit about Palladian windows.

[@akhirahughes]

I need “Shingles All The Way” to come out ASAP! 🎄

[@localperson1306]

Adding onto this, these towns never seem to suffer from any drop in sales/bankruptcy. Like, from the small towns I've been to, many of them are decimated due to the big attraction right at the center or many having to travel out of the town for their main income. Like, a hot chocolate sales person would flop if they have NO IDEA how to keep hot chocolate economical outside of the holidays. It really just appeals to Christian who long for their former friends to return from their life in the city and back into their Christian community.

[@Afterthoughts]

God I am so excited for you to go to Leavenworth for the first time. Then you can make "The economics of a made-for-Christmas real life town"

[@kendragaylord]

Hear that Leavenworth.. I'm coming for you (in a cute Christmassy way)

[@OsloTime]

😂 Hahaha, you are so hilarious! 👏 If I had a niche business in a holiday Hallmark movie... it would be making stained glass kitchen cabinets. No stained glass lamps, windows, decor, etc. ... nope! 🚫 ONLY stained glass kitchen cabinets. 😂🤭🥲

[@kendragaylord]

And the Hallmark town would be lucky to have you, the local contractor has been looking for exactly that!

[@jc8847kvkc]

Implausible tourist towns do exist (Ojai, Carmel, Harper's Ferry) having lived in one of them with a "real" job, I always wondered how my neighbors made their exorbitant rent. I was a business analyst who could barely afford an above the garage apartment while my neighbors we're renting whole cottages. They're jobs we're: local raw honey merchant (there was one specialty food store and no grocery store as the town long ago decided no franchises of any kind we're allowed in the city limits), a librarian and a bar keep at the tapas bar. How we're they doing it. What is the actual economy of these towns and where was all the money comming from

[@user-ku6tr4vd6z]

I lived in just such a town, myself. The trick is being an insider. That is, either you were born there and inherited your home, or else you've lived there so long that you bought your home before the place became a trendy tourist trap (which was my story). It's only the "newbies" who are forced to pay tourist prices. But there's a catch: know you can't leave unless you never plan on coming back; because you'll never be able to buy another place there if you sell out.

[@rockatansky3259]

You're hilarious, I've been loving your videos. I've always thought we needed more representation in movies for people with boring ass jobs like building inspection agents. Especially ones that are a little bit too into it. Love them.

[@jhazimih]

Chef's kiss satirizing

[@tammystiletto]

I’m not sure if you showed a reference to this certain movie or not but there is a movie about a girl who gets stuck in a Christmas movie and it kinda pokes fun at the whole thing and it’s SO good. I just can’t remember the name. It doesn’t have to do with every day is Christmas. She actually gets transported into a movie.

[@minim-ms]

Damn I wanna be isekai-ed into a Christmas movie I think it would be fun to be the one Jewish person that exists there

[@hollyshackzalez3449]

A Christmas Movie Christmas!

[@user-oj5bw7sl8p]

@@minim-ms Nope! For last few years Hallmark worked hard to diversify, so it has produced several Christmas movies, where protestant person, who is into Christmas, interacts with a Jewish person, who is into Hanukkah!

[@minim-ms]

@@user-oj5bw7sl8p LMAO, I'd love to be the one Jewish person per movie that has to interact with all the Christmas land people . Can I be the next token?😂

[@user-oj5bw7sl8p]

@@minim-ms Why not? I would not mind to visit some very kind & mild Christmas movie myself! Imagine that magical place with all the nice smiley folks, and pretty gingerbread-style old houses on the high street, and home with warm inviting interiors with lots of Christmas decor, and a caffe with a delicious hot chocolate with a whipped cream..... Well, one may always dream, right?

[@juliac6256]

a number of hallmark christmas movies have actually been filmed in the town i work in…its a real cutesy connecticut town that definitely fits the hallmark christmas movie bill

[@Alayna1412]

would 110% watch Shingles all the way!!! scene by scene script reading when?

[@guaxary]

As an Australian, I noticed that we're getting mentioned regularly recently (and our accent, as if there was only one Aussie accent, mocked). But in such a lazy way! A character didn't want to go to Oz for Christmas because she thought it would be nicer to come in summer :D

[@jonathanwright8025]

Have you ever seen A Bush Christmas with Nicole Kidman?

[@willardprenfrew4303]

Give us the Christmas romcom where her family business is a gas station, one of the few main street businesses that's survived after decades of local industries shutting down and young people leaving for opportunities elsewhere

[@jackalenterprisesofohio]

I'll have you know the gas staion that has survied for many years is because most likely from drugs. I mean I wouldn't know because their gas is expensive so I don't go there.

[@SisterSherryDoingStuff]

You're killing me LOL!! Funny and spot on AF. I wish it was longer. Cheers

[@dainasworldnumbers88]

Me too!

[@sowhatchajen2846]

I’ve watched 2 hallmark movies this year that I was pleasantly surprised how good they were for a hallmark movie. It was “A Builtmore Christmas “ and “Santa Summit”. But all the other descriptions I’ve seen for the new movies on hallmark are basically what you described. Haha

[@kgalaxia]

Damn, if I lived in the City of Job, I too would want to go back to my hometown of Smalltown, Niceplace to start a niche business with an inoffensively handsome man who lives, laughs, *and* loves!! Really though this vid is fantastic :)

[@acedino535]

i would like to see a film called Christmas Fare where the meet-cute happens when Business Woman is on a Business Call and runs directly into the love interest, making him drop his fare (he pays in quarters, because he's quirky) for the street car line that runs on clean electricity and has a dedicated right-of-way. and also the driver may or may not be santa claus.

[@namedrop721]

You’re hired

[@emmy8526]

Everyone please watch the wonderful 1940 Ernst Lubitsch movie that Nora Ephron was apparently paid by Acme Corp. to neoliberalize, The Shop Around the Corner - a sweet and funny romance which also shows more reality of retail employment, the vulnerability of workers, and the life-altering high-handedness of bosses (who is the one here to be humbled and learn a lesson). Oh and the Nicole Kidman version of The Stepford Wives is also a reactionary psyop of a remake.

[@sulli4675]

I always say I want to live in a hallmark movie for the very reasons you explain. Their houses are always so nice, they never gain weight, and always plenty of money.

[@Toribell1928]

I really like the idea that candle making has to be something you’re born for like the chosen one or the royal heir.

[@koolkatkelsie]

Nostalgic Rosebud Sims reference 💓

[@cjgeminitarot6836]

I clicked this video thinking it was about the economics of producing these movies and was so delightfully surprised

[@mrscolonyrabble]

OK, you gotta get that preservationist-romance movie made. I despise the sickeningly-sweet, predictable plot-line Hallmark garbage, but I would seriously watch the Hell out of that story! Happy Holidays from the Anaheim Colony Historic District, where we used to knock down NRHP stuff in the name of "progress" and finally got the City to wake up with threats of litigation. Your romance version is much friendlier. Let us know when Hollywood calls.

[@kendragaylord]

We would have to speed up the timeline of the actual preservation process, because otherwise it would be need a lot of "two years later" time jumps, lol. So glad you got your city onboard

[@Gingersnap0]

I'm assuming the final scene of Shingles All the Way when the couple confess their love & kiss will be out in the snow framed by the palladian window lit by a gigantic Christmas tree from within the home? I have goosebumps just thinking about it.

[@rverdugo]

I hope that Hallmark greenlights “Shingles (the house kind) all the Way”. I’m rooting for it.

[@SIC647]

Well...except that in Denmark where I am from, Christmas trees are big business and there are many people making a living from them. But then it is big scale industrial farmers, not someone with a quaint little few acres.

[@triviasdays]

I love this video so much. You have a fan-freaking-tastic sense of humor. Currently, I am living in a small town where a major source of the economy are year-round Christmas tree farmers, and we do have at least two chocolatiers thriving. It's so weird, especially when thinking about how I basically live in a Hallmark movie setting. I'll take it. Great stuff! Thanks for your content!

[@emilyazz5809]

I have no words. You are brilliant.

[@maxteeth]

i feel like Shingles (not the house kind) All the Way could be ripe for a Lifetime medical thriller

[@kennedie7031]

Focused reference to palladian windows is something a Holiday movie MUST have for me, so I'm really hoping I see it on the Christmas schedule next year

[@Snarfdiska]

Me and a couple of pals from film college worked security on “Christmas Island” it was interesting to say the least. Locals were doing their laundry in between shooting days. They “loved” seeing all the chaos in their houses

[@hlt8770]

I say it again! How do you not have a bajillion followers?!?! You crack me up. I've been watching your videos since your first Gilmore Girls vid. You keep getting better and better!

[@monsieurlespaique2333]

I've never been able to sit through one of those movies. I just can't do it. I know people of the it's-so-bad-it's-good persuasion who swear by them, watching them while snickering the whole time. But I'd watch your movie though, especially for the scene about Palladian windows.

[@chelanacxt]

Can I please like this video more!!! I love it, i was watching it while eating alone at a restaurant audibly laughing. 😂😂

[@lisahoshowsky4251]

I lived in a town where they filmed a bunch of these movies (while going to school for architecture)!! It’s a medium sized city and currently going through a bit of a Renaissance but the vast majority of money comes from mining, not the cute kitschy small businesses. They literally just closed down the 50 year old family run bakery to build a parking lot if that tells you anything and the university went bankrupt, plus my favourite cute sewing store closed and moved to another province. Housing was affordable when I lived there but it’s pretty much doubled since 2020 with no increase in pay for the average worker to keep up with that. I know the movies being filmed there doesn’t really have any bearing but considering I knew that cities downtown community core pretty well, and frequented a lot of small businesses that’d fit the small town job vibe they go for it’s interesting that on the very surface it seems to fit the stereotype these movies often portray but going even a little behind that you see reality poking through. I’m not kidding, I think I experienced your movie idea while going to school there, minus the romance plot points😂😂 it was a telegraph building that was being revitalized and they kicked the market out of the historic train station to make it a workshop but the elements are there….(I’ve definitely left enough crumbs for someone that lived in that city to put it together) I’d watch your movie, they better film it in that city though, it’d be full circle!

[@wendypchuk5634]

“Shingles all the way” killed me 😂😂

[@user-oj5bw7sl8p]

Thank you for the nice video! A little thing, though, - Christmas movies show us the big city flats of career women, - even if just to create a contrast to their parent's small town houses. Because those flats are often white & black, sterile, like a hospital, with modern stainless steel kitchens, where the very busy business lady never cooks, living on Chinees takeaway and Starbucks coffee in paper mugs alone. Plus - no Christmas decor, because she is too busy to decorate for Christmas too. On the contrary, her relatives' house in the tiny town is warm, inviting, with retro wall paper in one room and dark wooden paneling in another, with red velvet drapes on the windows and comfy tartan throws on the pine-green velvet sofa. And, of course, lots of Christmas decorations. I mean - LOTS! Same goes for clothes, - girl/boy from the city wears expensive, but boring grey business suit with a white shirt and unpractical shoes, - high heels for women, thin black leather Italian loafers for men. And the tiny town folks wear colorful and warm Christmas sweaters and self-knitted wool socks. In other words, - tiny town is an adult version of Santa's village, with pretty gingerbread house style homes and happy elves in bright clothes.

[@namedrop721]

There are two groups of people that get the hell out of their place of origin, and while most it’s because Big Sterile Sad City offers an infinitely better life, you cannot tell me these movies were written by those people even in nostalgia. The people who wrote these movies are absolutely the people in your university course who talk about their parents’ lake cottage, or how they’re being ‘dragged’ home to whatever the hell Stars Hollow is for the holidays. Combine with midwest sensibilities and hanging on to the American Dream that died in the early 90s and there we go. I’m surprised no one has mentioned these are propaganda films.

[@user-oj5bw7sl8p]

@@namedrop721 Big city does offer much better life, - especially if you are born there. Like me. It's an infinite privilege. I saw small village girls & boys, bright & beautiful, struggling in the big cities, because they had to study hard & work hard at the same time just in order to pay the rent, since they didn't have in the city any relatives to live together with. But they made it, eventually. As much as I know, most of them didn't return to their tiny villages, where there were not jobs & no perspectives.

[@apetass123]

I just found your channel and watched some of your videos-great stuff! I came to think of "Grey Gardens". Have you included the Beale's house in any of your videos, or are you planning to do so? I think it would be an interesting subject, if that's something you're interested in. Another favourite house of mine is the one in "Nothing but Trouble", but that's not really historically interesting, lol.

[@suchnothing]

I love the concept of and title of Shingles (the house kind) All The Way. My best friend loves hallmark christmas movies, and her mother in law also loves them. So her MIL records/saves them all instead of watching them as they come out, so that when my friend and her husband go visit for christmas, my friend and the MIL can watch them all together. Its the cutest thing ever.

[@Rascoundrel1]

This may be the greatest Christmas movie review ever. I have a friend that loves these kinds of movies so much, she went to "Christmas Con". I have another friend who wrote one of the movies that pops at the 4:30 mark (... ... ... I haven't seen it).

[@hazmatz]

Oh wow my friend/ roommate worked on one of the candle movies. They were in the props department and learned candle making in like a day. I actually am still working through all the extra ones lol. They’re not high quality candles. No shade to my bestie, they had limited resources 😂. My advice is to not work in the Christmas movie industrial complex, these movies are made quick and dirty. Love your channel so much!! Always so happy when you upload

[@Anna-dd4rh]

They must not have had candle wax in their blood 😂 That’s wild tho, thanks for sharing. Also, if you are into camping or know people who like making bonfires, wax and dryer lint makes a super easy fire starter!

[@rubipulido-vr5pd]

Don’t mess with my heart like that. I want that movie you pitched!

[@LinNoOne]

yeah sounds like a good watch

[@JBT_On_YouTube]

Her videos are so niche and I’m SO here for it! ❤❤❤

[@TheGPFilmMaker]

Because all anybody actually wants is a distributist, small-business-based economy and a walkable mixed-use neighborhood - LOL. I'm an economist and I LOVE your videos Kendra!

[@zetmarple]

i love the evolution of the bookcase next to your bed, excited for the next inevitable upgrade to a yet bigger model 😂

[@RaviDuvvuri.]

Plot twist/surprise ending for "Shingles All The Way": In the penultimate family dinner scene where everyone comes together in cheer and joy and love, James' bratty nephew is revealed to have been hiding a case of chicken pox for the entire visit. Boom, James (who is of course unvaccinated) dies three days later.

[@lizzyd]

I have no money but your elevator pitch has me sold enough to somehow acquire money and then produce your film concept. It is perfection. I will be in touch probably never because the economy hates me but one can dream...

[@Ali-zn6sg]

Wait until you see our miserly selection of Hanukkah movies. Everyone’s either a rabbi, works at a Jewish deli in New York, or works at a New York-style Jewish deli outside of New York. Or a matchmaker.

[@lawliet6910]

"Shingles (the house kind)" on the poster afjhdksjl As someone with a friend who contracted shingles in college, in the dorm, THANK YOU

[@ard355]

"resort owner slash biggest candle buyer" killed me

[@jackalenterprisesofohio]

I mean it kinda does make sense that a resort owner would buy candles for like spa and romantic room stuff. I mean it would probably be cheaper to buy the candles locally than have them shipped cross-country.

[@SnowyMary]

I have a like-hate relationship with these films and I have not seen Heidelberg Holiday yet, but as someone who lives in Heidelberg, I have to say, there *is* Käthe Wohlfahrt's, a year-round Christmas ornament shop. (it has branched out to table clothes and postcards sometime in the last decade, but it exists) I shudder to thing what they pay for rent in that street though and I bet 85% of customers are tourists, but hey :)

[@8ofNine]

As you gave your pitch I kept feeling like "I've seen this movie"... The Thanksgiving House (2013) on Hallmark. It's not quite a Christmas movie and your pitch is 1000 times better, especially since you aren't lying about the origins of Thanksgiving, but similar premise. Make yours though, I'll watch yours.

[@DramaGeek1225]

As someone who works at a historic site with a mansion, I would definitely watch Shingles all the Way. As someone who had shingles over the summer, the title gave me a moment of panic.

[@jackalenterprisesofohio]

Well in my "town" (population like a little less than 2,000) there's a pet grooming place, a post office, the public library, two dollar stores (one is a franchise), car wash, Dairy Queen, landromat, drugie gas station, factory, some other factory but its not like a factory, factory; I think a third factory but it might be a warehouse, an Amish furniture store (I think), a bar, the American Legion, some concrete pipe factory, a hair place, the school, a "restaurant" I think that's it.

[@stevenhaase]

I love this. First of all, my 84 year old father watches two of these movies every single night (and has for a few years) - if I had not watched literally dozens of these with him, I totally would have thought you were cherry picking or exaggerating! There was one movie we watched and the big conflict was between two women in a small town, both with a butterfly party business (it was insane). And second, I wish they would make your movie. Would be happy to watch it with my dad.

[@SuperGhettoBob]

(Please be a small enough KZbinr to read all your comments.) (Please be a small enough KZbinr to read all your comments.) Hi Kendra, thank you for this video. My wife and I died laughing while watching it. Not literally, but you know what I mean. Take care.

[@kendragaylord]

So glad you liked it!

[@undetestable1]

Honestly I'm more shook that you managed to find a hallmark style Christmas movie with 2 POCs in the lead rolls. I thought there was a factory somewhere where they breed the same generic white man to star in these movies.

[@magpie4992]

As an avid candle and perfume consumer - I totally see the jump, from perfume to candle making - esp if you've already got the family business / know the trade - if anything - it gives you an edge, and it makes ... scents - *paus* - budumching

[@FutureCommentary1]

I even have favorite Hallmark actors. Those movies are absolutely silly and sweet.

[@elizabethjeter6066]

Holiday comedy perfection! I needed this video at the end of a hard days work in [inset image of stock office photo]!

[@toychristopher]

Eating a candy cane in a horse drawn carriage sounds dangerous. Candy Canes can be pointy and horse drawn carriages can be bumpy. I would love a Christmas movie about a realistic small town where the local "economy" is three bars, a gas station, and a wal-mart and the only "community" to be found is either at the run-down senior center that's run out of a converted old post office or people using drugs on the outskirts of the wal-mart parking lot.

[@jackalenterprisesofohio]

Luckly for my small "town" the next (smaller) "town" is, and I mean literally, 2 centimers away. But the walmart is two towns away in an even bigger "town" so we just have the dollar store instead.

[@ripwednesdayadams]

This is hilarious. I’m so glad the algorithm blessed me with this gem of a channel.

[@VeronicaPartain-cb7qh]

The jokes per minute ratio on these videos has NO RITE!!! 2B this high……never thought there was a laughing-at-architecture sized hole in my hart until I saw them…just real, real funny, so thank ewe.

[@eyesofivy]

Why did I think that sentence was going to go "I hope this video made you feel like you were eating a candle" and that made sense to me.

[@beberly2009]

I believe Vanessa Hudgens is like the Attorney General. When they appear in a herd, it's "Vanessas Hudgens".

[@StLouis-yu9iz]

To be honest, your script sounds like it would be my new fav christmas rom com... I'm glad they were able to save the house! haha Great video as usual.

[@riverbraithwaite7741]

Genuinely an absolutely viable Hallmark Xmas movie plot.

[@partiellementecreme]

It’s uncanny how much more walkable the US is in movies. Almost an admission that car dependency actually sucks.

[@cruztastrophe]

"I don't have wax in my blood"

[@elle1107]

"Shingles All The Way" has killed me!!! I am dead.

[@disinin]

EVERGREEN TREE BOTANIST

[@katereed4764]

Career goals!

[@jonathankranz2799]

Wow, thank you for the Christmas present!

[@tammystiletto]

That movie pitch, I’m dying 😭 also please someone pick that up I want to watch it already!!

[@ekolekol4389]

I'd watch it, though shingles aren't really a thing here (except the viral kind) so a good reason for a second title. Yuletile? Seasons Tiling? Clad the Halls? All I Want for Christmas is a new roof and a walkable community?

[@SanDeygo]

Clever and funny.

[@Rachel-zf2wm]

Been waiting for this one

[@poonyaTara]

I just have to ask. Has anyone else noticed how in Christmas rom-coms the successful business woman cares deeply about her career despite not knowing the basics about the job she does and the industry she's working in? It's almost as if being a competent member of society just isn't really important when you have a uterus. I'm saying this as a woman who worked her way up from freelance writer to junior editor, technical editor, senior editor and even acting editor-in-chief for a publishing house. So script-writers, when your copy editor pulling minimum wage is aspiring to get promoted to freelance writer so she can have her own column I wonder how quickly you want her to need a man to rescue her from starving due to her ability to mistake her lack of sense for "ambition."