Ann Deborah Fishman is a West Palm Beach, Florida- based attorney, screenwriter, director and producer of Night Dove Pictures with credits including Marriage Material and Swiped. Her project Christmas Overtime has an interesting story behind it.

In 2020, a screenwriter from the UK – Simon Kyle Parker – introduced himself to me by email, told me he saw Swiped on Netflix and loved it. He asked me to produce his script Christmas Overtime. I get a number of inquiries like this and normally do not take them on. But Simon had something that most other inquiries do not – he had already had two of his screenplays produced into films that screened on Netflix.

Pitch The Logline First

Another point to mention is that Simon did not send me a long pitch, just a logline. I find that most of the cold call email pitches I get are burdensome to read because they provide too much information. I decide if I want to see a script or pitch deck based on genre and logline. I find that most of my experienced colleagues in the industry do the same. We know what we are looking for and what we are not looking for.

Ann Deborah Fishman

I loved the core concept of the story of Christmas Overtime – which is a jaded and lonely marketing executive has alienated his staff and everyone else in his life and then finds that he needs them to come to work on Christmas Eve in order to save an important account and his marketing company.

I felt that the idea was brilliant, but that the script needed a rewrite and Simon entrusted that task to me. I assured him that if he put it in my hands, I would not let him down.

I added, subtracted, revised, rewrote and we got a script that we were both deliriously happy with

In the summer of 2022, I had a prospective producing partner for Christmas Overtime lined up based in a snowy locale, but that deal faltered. In the fall of 2022, I decided that I would produce and direct the film in my home town of West Palm Beach and lean into the sub-tropical setting and all of the delightful holiday events that this community provides for us to celebrate the holiday season.

Due to longstanding and deep relationships within the community and the Palm Beach County Film Commission, I was given access to a potpourri of locations and events to create a beautiful, lush and stunning backdrop for the story.

Have A Unique Take On The Story

The story itself is modern, and a bit off the norm, because most holiday movies have the protagonist end up on Christmas Eve or Christmas with family and loved ones at home. Christmas Overtime is about an unemployed actress Noel (Megan Carrasquillo) who tries to escape the holiday, because her movie star boyfriend is away filming on location, by auditioning for a commercial for a lonely ad executive on Christmas. She is offered the commercial on the condition that she uses her charm to convince his Christmas-loving team to finish an ad campaign on Christmas Eve to save his company. So we don’t end on Christmas Eve, we start the story on Christmas Eve.

What I love about this story, is that it speaks to the people who run from Christmas because they cannot have the storybook celebration in which case the holidays can be terribly painful. That can be someone who has to work, someone who is suffering from a broken home or heart, someone who just doesn’t have the accoutrements for a ‘Norman Rockwell’ style Christmas.

We turn the trope of people staying at home to celebrate Christmas Eve on its head – and make our characters leave their comfortable homes and lives to save someone else on the holiday

Another aspect of Christmas Overtime that serves an underserved audience is that there is a scene in church on Christmas Eve. It is comedic, but it is also reverent. I have not seen too many holiday movies that pay homage to what the holiday is actually about. Ice skating, check. Christmas tree, check. Snow, check. Christmas carols, check. Church, not so much, yet that is what most people do on Christmas Eve and Christmas so in our own way we are being subversive to the genre in our service to the segment of the audience that goes to church over the Christmas holidays.

I did learn something in the course of making this project come to life – the words “Christmas Movie” open up hearts and doors like a magical key. First, when Simon approached me to produce Christmas Overtime, I took the time to read his script because I had been thinking about making a holiday movie. Second, in the course of pre-production, I found that every person, business, location, that I approached wanted to be part of making Christmas Overtime.

Finally, the distributor I ended up making a deal with for the movie, Premiere Entertainment Group, found the film on imdb because they were looking for a holiday movie.

Know The Marketplace

This speaks to a fact that all screenwriters need to contemplate – before they even start writing their script – the state of the market regarding genre. Though the marketplace for film is in flux, there is a constant demand for holiday films. Other desirable genres include action with certain name actors attached, biopics about interesting people, and stories based on best-selling books if you can acquire the rights.

At the end of the day, a screenplay, a film, a series, are products and the creators of those products need market intelligence to know if there are buyers for those products and how to get those products into the stream of commerce.

When you pitch a script, you are essentially asking a third party to pay for your dream to come true and make it into a movie. When you pitch a completed film, you are presenting a finished product that can be sold. I have had the opportunity to write, direct, and produce three full length films to date; more are in development.

I am now at a point in my writing career where I can easily pitch stories and scripts directly to financiers and distributors and co-producers because I have a track record of completed films. My advice to screenwriters is write something that is within the realm of reason to produce yourself. My other advice is to consider going to film school, as I did, in order to learn the craft of filmmaking.

Noel (Megan Carrasquillo) & Robert (Adam Brudnicki) in Christmas Overtime

I was offered a few distribution deals for the film and, in the course of considering those, Premiere Entertainment Group approached me. One of their executives had found information about the film on imdb and told me they were looking for a holiday film. I sent them a screener, was told that they loved it and agreed to screen the film at the May 2024 Festival de Cannes.

That is one of several reasons I signed with Premiere. I feel that they truly value the film and that is very important to me. I did attend Festival de Cannes 2024 (my fourth visit to the festival) and watched the film on the big screen.

I have attended the American Film Market, the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival as well as several film festivals in South Florida. There is nothing like Cannes. It is, in my opinion, an experience not to be missed. I find that attendees are more relaxed at Cannes than at the other festivals. The Palais and surrounding cafés more centralized for meeting people, and the natural beauty of the French Riviera combine to attract the most industry people and make networking easier.

As far as actual dealmaking at these festivals, you cannot, in my view, successfully cold call distributors and sales agents at the market with a script. They are there to sell their products – completed films – not to purchase your product – a script. If you do have a completed film, you are in an elevated position but, even so, cold calling without an appointment is not usually welcome because sales agent and distributors have meetings lined up weeks in advance.

It is better to attend the multiple lectures, panels, parties and meet people in that context, make friends, learn what kind of products they are looking for and follow up after the festival.

You can reach Ann Fishman at ann@fishman.law