Stage Talk with Rick Koster
Where every show has something to say.
Straight from the filmmaker’s mouth
There are eight planets in our solar system and earth is one of them. Earth, in turn, has seven continents, and they collectively contain 195 nations.
Chances are film producer Andrew Gernhard and his Synthetic Cinema International have made a Hallmark movie in each one of them.
At least it seems that way.
Truthfully, while Gernhard and company have traveled extensively creating crowd-pleasing cinema on a massive scale — and frequently in association with Hallmark — the films deal with romance and/or Christmas. As such, they favor locales that cheerily and evocatively reflect those themes. Finland, Scotland, Newport, Nashville, Iceland … and LOTS of places in Connecticut. Mystic! Even New London!
Gernhard, y’see, is a native Nutmegger. The office of Synthetic Cinema is in Connecticut. He’s more than familiar with the state’s charms and has happily set plenty of his movies here. And, yes, the Garde Arts Center has played a substantial role in this. Gernhard has filmed part of two movies here, and the Garde hosted the premiere of his film version of Wally Lamb’s holiday novel Wishin’ and Hopin’.
On Friday, Feb. 13, Gernhard returns to the Garde to emcee Love, Lights & Galentine’s Night — A Panel with the Stars & Storymakers. The evening provides an interactive and insider’s look at the Whys and Hows involved in the magic of rom-coms and Christmas movies made in Connecticut. The panel starts at 7 p.m. and is prefaced by a 5:30 p.m. reception. Proceeds benefit the Garde and its programs.
In addition to Gernhard, participants include popular and recurring Hallmark actors like Wes Brown (Haul Out the Holly, A Newport Christmas, Sweet Pecan Summer) and Patti Murin (Royal Pains, Mystic Christmas, Love on Iceland), as well as an array of directors, costumers, producers and editors behind many of the network’s most popular projects. It’ll be like an entire film school’s worth of behind-the-scenes minutiae and anecdotes of Hallmark magic.
Earlier this week, Gernhard, on location at the Biltmore in Ashville, North Carolina — and, yes, he’s working on a sequel to A Biltmore Christmas — and was kind enough to answer a few questions before he heads to New London.
The Garde: Among the unifying aspects of your films are the exotic locations. I’m thinking of titles like A Merry Scottish Christmas, A Nashville Country Christmas, The Finnish Line, One Mystic Christmas, A Royal Holiday, Love on Iceland and more. Given that, presumably, your presence was required on site for these movies, is it fair to say you conceptualize projects in part just so you can hang out in these places?
Andrew: (Laughs) A lot of these ideas we’ve come up with happened to be really big hits for Hallmark. So, yes, we try and think of places that we’d like to go to, but also the other producers on a TV movie budget are afraid to go to. Like, who would make a movie about a dog race at Christmas across Finland? Nobody would for a TV movie — but we did with The Finnish Line.
And then, you know, we did A Christmas Quest, which is like Indiana Jones does the holidays in Iceland. We did Scotland, only we were in Ireland, which stood in for Scotland (laughs). So, yes, we like to travel and go places, but a big part of it is to bring the Hallmark audience there because that’s what they’re really interested in being transported to someplace that’s maybe not in their normal plans.
Garde: If we may be so bold, one of those exotic places is, well, the Garde. The premier of your first Christmas film, Wishin’ and Hopin’, took place here in 2014. It’s based on the novel by Wally Lamb — whom you knew from your student days at Norwich Free Academy. There’s a lot of connections!
Andrew: Yeah, I mean, Wally Lamb! I was fortunate that he was one of my teachers in high school, so that’s back a ways. He’s had some success, you know (laughs). We were doing monster movies and thrillers for the Lifetime network and then, yes, our first Christmas movie was Wishin’ and Hopin’. And that took us in a very new and successful direction.
And the Garde? I think it’s just a wonderful place. It’s great for the community. And I think it’s a beautiful building. We’ve done a couple movies there and a casting call because it’s so ornate and so grand. It looks great on camera. We always love working at the Garde. Steve and Jeanne — everyone there — are wonderful to us. We now store costumes and props at the Garde.
Think about it as a facility. Everybody in the area goes there for something, whether to watch movies or concerts or all kinds of events. It’s kind of like, you know, kind of like a crown jewel there in New London.
Garde: Synthetic Cinema is a huge and complex operation. For the layperson, how does it all work?
Andrew: Well, what we do is that we work for many different companies. Netflix and Lifetime, but our biggest client is Hallmark. There are different ways things can happen. We pitch movie ideas we come up with, develop them, then produce and deliver them. From soup to nuts, we just do everything.
Another thing that happens is they hire us as production services. They already have a script, and they give it to us to make the film. And we just do that. Or, we can just do post-production on the movie that was shot by somebody else and sent to us.
The nice thing is, you know, my partner Dustin Rikert and I have come up with a lot of ideas that have turned out to be really big hits for Hallmark. So it’s a good relationship and they trust us.
Garde: There are a lot of recurring actors who appear in Hallmark films. It’s reminiscent of the days when there were famous touring theater troupes, movie companies like Warner Bros. that had stables of performers under contract. Is there a similarity in this? I think fans have a sort of fondness for these familiar Hallmark actors. Does that resonate?
Andrew: Yeah, I do agree with you. Hallmark does remind me of the old Warner Brothers, the old Paramount, the old Universal, where they each had their bunch of actors that appeared over and over whether the films were mysteries or thrillers or love stories or dramas. It was something fans came to expect and rely on.
And, you know, the Hallmark fans really do connect with these particular actors. That’s why, you know, Lacey Chabert, for example, is in two or three movies a year. I’m very good friends with Lacey and we do a lot of work together. And she’s typical of the recurring actors we work with. They’re all very friendly and very similar to who they portray in the movies.
Hallmark movies are feel good movies, and I feel like when people watch these movies, they can really connect to the Hallmark actors. I mean, as people, we all have a hard to connecting with someone like Tom Cruise, but, I feel like you can connect to all the different Hallmark actors.
Garde: In that spirit, and aside from your obvious success, talk a bit more about why it’s fulfilling and fun to work with Hallmark.
Andrew: Hallmark makes anywhere from 65 to 90 movies a year and a lot of them are Christmas movies. I think the most holiday movies they’ve done in a year is 43, and this year it was 25. And, typically, we’ll only do between three to five Hallmark movies a year but my company’s big on ambition and we try to expand a bit on the general theme. We love stories in the Hallmark vein, but maybe a little bit of a higher concept like having a time travel element in A Biltmore Christmas.
In the end, it’s always about the love and relationships. Christmas time. These are universal themes and it’s rewarding to get to explore those. You’ve got to have thse core themes and then go from there.
Garde: We’ll be celebrating such things on February 13 with Love, Lights & Gallentine’s Night — and you’re going to be a big part of it. What do you anticipate?
Andrew: Well, yeah, I don’t know who’s going to show up (laughs). This is our first time doing it, but I do know the Hallmark and Christmas movie fans are rabid for this stuff.
I know Hallmark does a big Christmas movie event in Kansas City that sells out every weekend. They have the Hallmark Christmas cruises with, like, I think, 4-6000 people onboard. They sell out in 48 hours. You know, we did a Christmas Movie Trail in Connecticut, and the Garde was part of that.
I’m looking forward to hopefully bringing some of that movie magic back to the Garde. I’ve been pretty busy, but I’ve stayed in touch and trying to do everything I can to help this event be a success. I know this: there are a LOT of Hallmark and romance and Christmas movie fans in Connecticut, and people who love the arts in general, so the Garde is the perfect place for some good and fun interaction. Plus, this benefits the Garde, and everyone should want to be part of that!