For UPtv and other networks engaged in presenting original movies with a Christmas theme, their most wonderful time of the year is starting sooner than ever before -- and lasting longer.
In the case of UPtv's annual "Most Uplifting Christmas Ever" undertaking, this year's offering launched on November 5 with We're Scrooged, the first of eight made-for-TV film premieres. Eighty-five holiday features will run over a 45-day stretch on UPtv, with more than 200 films displayed on UP Faith & Family, the channel's subscription video-on-demand service that viewers can watch via smart TV sets or devices, as well as multichannel bundles.
Another attraction on UPtv's "Most Uplifting" schedule: A Christmas Homecoming, a new hour-long musical special featuring the Gaither family. This special will also appear on Gaither+, also managed by UP Entertainment.
"There are so many great holiday movies out there, and what we try to look for when we acquire or make a movie are stories that strike your heart just a little bit deeper in the overall storyline," explains Crissie Miller, UPtv's Senior Director of Content Strategy and Planning. "Multi-generational stories are great for us. We love a romance…who doesn't love one? We try to find stories that are a little bit different and draw people into experiencing a (holiday) movie in a way that maybe they didn't think they would like before."
In We're Scrooged, a pair of ex-high school sweethearts reunited at a high-school reunion are visited by the ghosts from A Christmas Carol. Another first-run feature takes place in an Amish community, with the survival of a local bakery business at stake. The most offbeat original in this bunch: Dial S for Santa (yes, the title is a play on the Alfred Hitchcock-directed classic Dial M For Murder), where viewers will be invited to play detective and determine who's behind a string of Main Street store robberies.
"It's a whodunit, and you're trying to figure it out with our characters from the get-go," adds Miller. "It's a fun script and very different for us."
Ad sales for UPtv's Christmas movie blitz are on track to meet or exceed expectations, and at least one sponsor-online real estate marketplace Zillow receives a cameo bit during a scene in the original movie Country Hearts Christmas (running on November 19). "It doesn't feel too over the top or out of place," Miller says.
Christmas made-for-movie making is a 12-month affair with Miller and her in-house development team and outside production partners. She is already reviewing story ideas for next year with formal meetings starting this holiday season to ensure that films can be produced on location when there is still plenty of snow on the ground, then they go into post-production by April or May. "We have established a wonderful stable and growing list of collaborators -- people we've worked with for years and people we strike deals with for the first time, who bring us these amazing stories," continues Miller. "Our partners know what strikes a chord with our audience and know what we like to put into the process. They make my life easier."
Unusual talent selections also differentiate UPtv's holiday originals from content elsewhere. Country Hearts Christmas, a sequel to a movie offered by the channel earlier this fall, co-stars popular pro wrestler Chris Jericho. A Christmas Letter (premieres on Christmas Eve) features Whose Line Is It Anyway? regular Colin Mochrie, whose improv team-ups with fellow Whose Line regular Ryan Stiles often provoke classic hilarity on many episodes.
"That was a fun, happy accident," recalls Miller. "I love to see actors try something different where they surprise you. This side we'll see of Colin and Chris is special."
"Choose Your Joy," UP Faith and Family's presentation, will showcase 35 movies for the first time, including some of the originals that premiered on UPtv last year. For 2024 and beyond, Miller wants to create more new holiday films that play on both services, as well as original Spanish-language movies for the FAST channel Cine Romantico.
Miller and her programming team are already in action on their first big holiday movie blitz of 2024, timed with Easter Sunday. She's also looking ahead to the return of UP Faith & Family's Snowed In For Summer midyear event.
"Maybe one day we'll have an opportunity to do a Thanksgiving movie," she muses. "I'm personally a big fan of food day, as we call it in our house."
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