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sleepykittypaws · 3 years

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J.J. Jamieson Interview

A writer, producer and former network executive, J.J. Jamieson, has produced movies for Hallmark Channel, including all three Graceland movies (Christmas at Graceland, Wedding at Graceland and Christmas at Graceland: Home for the Holidays), and is now working with Bounce TV, writing both their 2019 original, Greyson Family Christmas, and this year’s Marry Me This Christmas, starring Brandon Jay McLaren and Gabrielle Graham.

Ahead of Marry Me This Christmas’ December 6th debut on Bounce (also available On Demand in Canada on December 8th), Jamieson was kind enough to take the time to talk from his Santa Monica home about what makes Christmas moviemaking special, and how Bounce’s latest holiday entry came together despite a global pandemic.

Q: How did you get involved in moviemaking?

A: I’m originally from Princeton, N.J. and way back in the late 1800s (laughs), I joined NBC as a page and eventually became an assistant in the movies and miniseries department, as that just happened to be where there was an opening, and then stayed there for the better part of a decade, eventually becoming a creative executive.

When I left NBC, I moved out here [to California], because show business is what I felt like I should be doing, and this is where show business is. I became a producer and worked for a variety of different companies, and sometimes for myself, and because movies and miniseries were what I knew, I occasionally worked on TV movies including—much to the horror of my children—one called Spring Break Shark Attack (laughs). You gotta pay the bills, right?

But, whatever you’re doing, my goal as a producer is to always to do the best with what you’re handed. Sometimes that turns out better than others, but the work is always the work, and you have to find that something that makes every project special.

A: How do you go from producing Spring Break Shark Attack to Hallmark movies?

Q: A friend of mine, Michael Larkin, a very accomplished creative producer, was working with Hallmark and said they needed a producer, someone to be the network’s eyes and ears on the ground, for a movie (Wedding of Dreams), and he couldn’t do it, so he said if they were really desperate, they could hire me (laughs).

Hallmark makes so many movies a year, their executives can’t be on set for the, usually, six weeks it takes to make them—three to prep, three to film—and then the edit, so they need someone on set to make sure everything is in alignment with the aesthetics of Hallmark.

…So, I did one movie with them, and then three more movies after that.

Q: What’s different about working on a Hallmark movie?

A: I’ve worked on a lot of different types of TV shows and movies, and have never been involved in anything else where there’s this fantastic love of the genre. People just love these movies.

I was shooting something in Tennessee, and struck up a conversation with this cop who was just sitting in his car, blocking the street while we were shooting outside, and he asked what we were filming, and when I said it was a Hallmark movie, his response was, ‘Oh, I love Hallmark movies,’ and I was thinking, ‘Really? You do?’

But he was serious. He was a fan. I think there are just a wide variety of people that these movies appeal to. Much broader than most imagine.

I think there’s comfort in the fact that when you sit down to watch, you know what you’re going to get. You’re going to get a happy ending, you know it’s all going to work out, and ‘What’s wrong with that?,’ as my niece, who is also a fan, said to me once.

When I think about why Hallmark movies are so popular, I think of a conversation I had once with a friend of my wife’s, an MBA, a very accomplished woman, and she watches these movies. When I asked her, ‘What is it about Hallmark movies that you find so enrapturing, when there’s usually so little conflict?’ She said to me: I don’t need conflict. I’ve got enough stress with the kids, stress with my ex-husband, stress at the office…I don’t need more stress. I want to sit down and watch something devoid of stress that feels good for the soul.

I think that’s the key, and I think it’s what Hallmark has tapped into, and the competition to emulate that is just fanatical, particularly with the Christmas movies.

Q: What do you think of the explosion of Christmas movies across the dial?

A: People want to be in this game. When every other cable channel’s ratings were falling, Hallmark was the only one going up. They were doing something right. They had tapped into something. Which I think is why Lifetime wants to do the same thing. I don’t think they have quite captured it, yet, but there’s also Netflix, doing it in a little bit of a different way. And then all these other channels, too, what, a dozen now? More? Producing their own [holiday] movies.

I’m shocked there’s not a saturation in the market, actually, because they keep on trying to spin that same wheel, but the appetite is obviously there, and I think there’s room, especially when you’re trying to do something a little bit different.

Q: How did you go from producing, to writing and producing, or in the case of Marry Me This Christmas, just writing? Are you a producer who writes, or a writer who also happens to produce?

A: It’s really a very different skill set, writers tend to be more introverted, more comfortable in front of a computer screen, because that’s mostly what writing is, just you in front of your computer, creating a world. Producing is more a job of management, making sure everyone shares the same vision of what the network wants.

To be a producer, is to be a generalist, and I guess I’m a generalist. I’m not a musician, but I can have a conversation with a composer and know enough to talk about what elements of a score I think a scene needs. I’m not a director, but know enough to see a scene and say, ‘Let’s try one that’s less big,’ or whatever. I’m not a cinematographer, but I can see where we might want to try a few more lights, so we don’t lose the actor in a scene.

Being a producer is an incredibly humbling job. One of my favorite parts of being on set is the first day. It always reminds me why I came out to Hollywood to do this. You’re surrounded by a team of experts, all of whom are brilliant at their specific job—the hair stylists, the makeup artists, lighting, sound…Every single one of them knows more about their jobs than I ever will, and you feel humbled by that. It makes one appreciative of the collaborative aspect of this art form. It’s nobody’s movie. It’s not the writers, or the producer’s, or the executives’, or even the director’s or actors’—every movie is a product of everyone who worked on it, and it’s all our movie.

I had a good friend who went from being a creative producer to being a line producer (NOTE: a line producer’s role is usually to manage the budget and act as an on-set human resources department; someone who puts out the inevitable fires that come up during filming), and I asked him, ‘But don’t you miss the creative side?’ And he said to me, ‘It’s all filmmaking. We’re all filmmakers and it’s all essential.’ I thought that was a lovely sentiment, and a testament to the overall teamwork nature of filmmaking. The people signing the checks in accounting are just as important as anyone else, because you can’t make the movie without them.

So, to finally answer your question, I think I’m more of a producer that also writes. A producer who spent enough time working with writers to get story ideas made, so that the idea of writing things myself began to feel realistic. And, so far, my record of giving my ideas to other writers, versus just me writing my ideas myself, has a pretty good percentage of getting things into production. The way I look at it, at least this way I have no one to blame but myself if something doesn’t work.

Q: How did you get involved with Bounce TV? And, for those like me who didn’t know Bounce even existed until last year, can you share a little about the network?

A: Sure, and you’re definitely not alone. Bounce is a sizeable basic cable and broadcast network, based in Atlanta. They’re in 94 million homes. They’re not in all markets yet, but that’s part of their mission, to increase their penetration and increase awareness.

I got involved because a good friend of mine that’s a talented producer and former Turner executive, David Hudson, moved from Santa Monica to Atlanta to oversee original programming for Bounce. His background is more in unscripted programming, so when Bounce decided they wanted more TV movies, he reached out to me and the first thing he said was that he needed a holiday picture for that same year.

Greyson Family Christmas was originally Greyson Family Thanksgiving. He gave me the premise—a family lives next door to each other, one more conservative, one more liberal, and the daughter brings home her white boyfriend for the holidays—and he needed a script. Given that it was so specific, I thought it would be easier if I just wrote it, which I did, and then worked as a producer on set during the shoot in Baton Rouge.

Q: Greyson Family Christmas ended up being one of my personal favorite movies of last season, and one thing I liked is that it was a little bit different. It wasn’t just a broad comedy or a straightforward holiday rom-com with little conflict.

A: Thank you, and we did try to make it about more than silliness. We wanted it to be light and fun, but also to say a little something about some of the very real things we wanted to address about race and family.

And we got so incredibly lucky with our cast, who were just amazing. Part of the trick of making a movie that has a lower budget, is doing what you can afford to do, and doing it well. Not stretching beyond what that budget allows. And we were very aware of that during production. With that incredibly short schedule—we shot Greyson in 12 days—and tight budget, you have to be.

Look, I know you can’t please everyone with these movies. I mean, some people hate Dickens and Hemingway—and I’m not saying Greyson is that, but I was really pleased with how the movie turned out, and think we had a great group working on it to make that happen.

We didn’t have a ton of money for publicity beyond the promos that aired on Bounce—no billboards, or things like that—but the cast was great at promoting Greyson on social media, and even with the tight timeline and everything else, it ended up being the highest-rated original movie in the history of the network.

Whenever you make a movie, you try to make it the best you can, and how it performs is really out of your hands in a lot of ways, but it sure is nice when you haven’t let down your network, and it was doubly important for me, given my friendship and fondness for David Hudson, who my kids all call Uncle David.

Greyson Family Christmas will be re-airing this December, so I really hope even more people get a chance to discover it, because it really was a labor of love for me, and the network and, really, everyone involved.

[NOTE: Bounce currently has encore airings of Greyson Family Christmas scheduled for December 6th, 11th, 18th and 24th.]

A: The latest Bounce original holiday movie, Marry Me This Christmas, debuts on December 6th, which you also wrote. Tell us a little about the movie, and the process of filming it during a global pandemic.

Q: I didn’t produce this one, mostly due to COVID, [which is also why] it was shot in Canada.

Tonally we were trying to go for something more like a dramedy—some comedy, but some real bit of business going on in the story.

I actually wrote this one a couple of years ago, not as a Christmas movie originally, and the whole idea is born out of the one joke at the end at the end of the first act, where she comes in to the pastor and says, ‘I know we haven’t known each other long, but you’ve become really important to me, and this may sound crazy, but I really want you to marry me,’ and this guy who has had a huge crush on her is all excited and says ‘Yes, yes,’ and her response is, ‘Great, my fiancé will be thrilled.’

That’s the joke, and it’s silly. It’s a dad joke, really, but the whole movie was built out from there, and as silly as that idea is, we wanted to explore what would really happen if this young pastor fell in love with someone engaged to someone else. To try to make believable, and be about something.

Q: Was that inherent element of faith something that came from you, or a direction from the network?

A: This was all my own. I was raised Catholic, and grew up going to church every Sunday. My sons then went to Catholic School, so religion has kind of hung over my life like the cloud of dirt over Pigpen. (laughs) I mean, if I wasn’t going to hell before, I probably am for that line, right? (laughs, again)

Anyway, I really was interested in this notion of trying to be a good person playing against the other qualities of our human nature. Sometimes our hearts are drawn to do certain things—not bad or evil, just being human beings, not little boxes of saintliness. To me, the essence of the story was putting that around this character whose actual job it was to be a good guy, but on the other hand he’s also a man, wrestling with the nature of love, and finally coming around to a greater sense of understanding than he had at the beginning.

We are all supposed to act with a sense of service and self-sacrifice, but on the other hand, we’re not utterly devoid of self. To be a human, even a human in service of God or goodness, doesn’t mean you’re also not supposed to fall in love with that same, almost religious, fervor, which is what I hope he realizes at the end. And it’s all a lot more ambitious than that ‘ha, ha’ dad joke of the premise.

I hope this movie is for everyone, not just people of faith. That’s why I put in there that the best friend is an atheist. That a pastor and someone who doesn’t believe can still be friends. That [the non-believer] is still this supportive friend, and a good guy.

I was also very deliberate in that I didn’t want our pastor to pray for God’s help and receive it in a [direct] way. There’s a scene in the chapel with the Bible, and I wanted it to be very clear that you’re not going to just get the answer to your problems [divinely], you have to figure out those sorts of matters yourself.

Q: How did the pandemic effect production?

A: Well, COVID has trimmed the number of original productions at Bounce in 2020. The plan is to increase our original movie production, and that’s been at least temporarily waylaid by all the [fallout] from COVID, but we did want to have at least one new movie for the fourth quarter… and knowing how well last year’s original holiday movie did for them, there was definitely the sentiment of, ‘Let’s do another Christmas movie,’ so it was a conscious and deliberate effort to make that happen, despite the pandemic.

So, I reached out to a friend of a friend, Thomas Michael [of Fella Films], because Canada had lower COVID infections and a rich film community, and he became our partner and producer. There also [had to be] a little extra money for COVID protections, and [filming] took a few extra days just due to safety protocols for the cast and crew. Plus, our cast is entirely Canadian, due to restrictions.

David Hudson and I, working as a consultant for the network, were looking for holiday movies, or rom-coms we could spin into a holiday movie. We were even looking at stories to develop into full scripts, and we just weren’t finding what we’re looking for, so I said, ‘Look, this has been sitting on my shelf, it’s available, and I’m a cheap date.’ (laughs)

Q: Hallmark, in particular, has said casting Black actors in Canada is difficult, was that an issue you experienced?

A: I will say it was a question raised, because that’s not our usual production [location]. And working with Thomas Michael, we moved towards Ontario, because they do have a larger pool of Black Canadian actors, just because they have a larger Black population overall.

After some [research], we all felt very comfortable with the talent pool, and I think we once again got really lucky with our cast. These guys were just all really great. We did a read through, and I was just choked up by how good they all were.

They might not have the same name recognition of some of the actors in Greyson, like Stan Shaw or Robinne Lee, but they’re all working actors. Brandon Jay McLaren, our pastor, is working on the new Turner and Hooch series, and I worked with him on a TV pilot 10 years ago. Gabrielle Graham, our female lead, has been a regular on two Amazon Prime series, [The Expanse and 21 Thunder].

I really hope people will respond to them, because I think they did a great job with the characters.

Q: How did Marry Me This Christmas end up with Megan Follows, best known as Anne of Green Gables, directing?

A: Once we had the determination to do it in Canada, we began looking for a Canadian director, on a pretty tight timeline. Our producer had a [working] relationship with Megan, and she has been directing more and more. We reached out to her and she responded well to the material, and I think got what we wanted to do with it.

She and the cast were terrific. And I think we just got lucky it turned out as well it did, given all the circumstances.

Q: There was talk there might be a Greyson Family Christmas sequel, was that idea a casualty of COVID?

A: Unfortunately, yes. We had a story worked out for a wedding, but with COVID and the difficulty in production, the soonest we’d have been able to get it on the air was spring or summer 2021, and that’s a long time to wait for a sequel. But I like to think of Maya and Trent, and the rest of the Greyson family, living on happily, safely and healthily, nevertheless.

Q: Bounce is a network geared towards an African-American audience, does the fact you’re not Black come up when writing these stories?

A: Definitely. Especially in the first movie, Greyson, which really digs into more sensitive and deeper matters of race, having this white guy from New Jersey writing the movie was a little unusual, as I’ll be the first to admit.

I mean, when you’re telling a story, you are always putting yourself into characters unlike yourself—teenage kids, the 75-year-old grandmother—and trying to do it in a way that resonates and feels authentic. But, yes, I got help from people of color. Particularly for Greyson, where I was on set, the cast was extraordinarily helpful, making changes and making sure the voice was right.

I will say that where the characters in Greyson succeed, in respect to race, I give all the credit to the actors, who inhabited those characters and made them their own, and if anything feels a little off to an audience, I take the blame for those shortcomings.

In that movie, where I was a producer, and in my Hallmark movies too, I made an extra effort to hire and fill out our teams looking beyond the first resumes we received, because if Bounce can’t be supportive of the black filmmaking community, who can? We really did try to hire a crew that was reflective of America’s demographics.

For too long, in this industry primarily driven by white men who have the tendency to hire other white men, that wasn’t the case, so you have to be open to the person who has 7 credits but might not have had the same opportunities, versus someone who has 35 credits, and not just pick the default. To undo that unconscious bias. I’m sure I’ve been guilty of favoring people with longer resumes, instead of saying we need those diverse voices that are more reflective of society at large. It’s something I hope to keep working on, because I think it makes the final product better as a result.

Q: What do you hope viewers take away from Marry Me This Christmas?

A: As a filmmaker there’s always something fun anytime you have an idea in your head and it ends up on screen for other people to see, so I’m just excited for it to air and hope people like it.

Bounce wants to be in that arena, making holiday feel-good movies, but maybe doing something a little bit more. Yes, it’s a rom-com at Christmas, but I think it’s a little bit of an alternative to all those other kinds of movies, and you might get something you don’t expect. A little present under the tree you didn’t realize was there. I hope it brings just a little extra joy for the holiday.

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almostdiplomatic · 6 years

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Our previous posting in Kuala Lumpur meant that my husband and I would finally get to have our own home. A place where we could call the shots when it came to the furniture and the whole look and feel of the place.

Thankfully, we were on the same page when it came to what we wanted – something classic and cosy. It’s the same view I have with clothes: It should still look good years from now when I look at photos and I should love wearing them. In the case of our home, we must enjoy staying in it. After all, this is where we will be recharging after a long day.

It also must look presentable enough – fit to host my husband’s counterparts, diplomats from other countries. Spoiler alert: the pressure during the furniture and decor hunting paid off. In the span of our 2 years and 10 months stay in Kuala Lumpur, we’ve had over an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, an Ambassador, an Undersecretary, an Assistant Secretary, a couple of directors, and even members of the media. My hosting skills were really put through a major test. It was exhausting but made for really good memories.

Another factor was of course, we wanted to save as much as possible. I’m married to a government guy at the end of the day.

We were lucky enough to find an apartment with so much space for a crazy-affordable price. It was an old building so it was an unusually-large cut that gave us ample wiggle room for furniture sizes. So, there was no need for an interior designer. I was also pretty sure we can do this on our own.

The husband, being a diplomat, also means we’re not staying in Kuala Lumpur forever. Lugging around big, expensive furniture would be such a hassle when it came to finding a new apartment – be it in a different posting or back home in Manila. And imagine if you get expensive pieces that will get damaged during shipment? Que horror! My heart won’t be able to take it.

Everyday

Christmas

(In case you want to see how we decorated the apartment for Christmas, click here.)

We didn’t want to be constricted by such a long-term (possibly forever binding) investment. We wanted to tailor our home to the place we’re in and the space that we have. The furniture we were buying would also end up being sold at the end of our posting in KL.

Buying and Selling Due to Our Constant Moving

Now that we’re in Berlin, I can honestly say that it was pretty easy selling our furniture after the posting. A, because they were still in tip-top shape due to my husband and I having an obsession with keeping things the way they are. And B, because we were able to part with the pieces at such affordable prices – especially since we got them at good rates to begin with. Friends came over for ‘shopping’ and the rest were sold via expat groups on Facebook.

Prints from Etsy framed at one of the small galleries outside the Central Market. We brought these with us to Berlin though.

I love having guests and we were always complimented for the home that we built. Friends loved hanging out at our place and our home was always filled with laughter and fun dinners.

We just decided to pick and choose the furniture and decor ourselves. To make the place have a luxurious feel, we would sometimes mix in some pieces that are a little pricier with the bulk that’s on the more affordable side. A (gifted, even!) Diptyque candle here, a gorgeous lamp there.

I grew up with an Ilocana grandma so saving on things is truly a thrill for me. So, without further ado, here are the places I can truly recommend in Kuala Lumpur for furniture and home decor.

Courts

Yeah, yeah. It’s not the usual place where you will see diplomats buy their furniture. It’s where middle-class locals go for furniture so it was, of course, part of our list. We’re not brand snobs. As long as it’s the style I want and the quality is good enough without overcharging us, then we’re on board. 😉 If you’re willing to spend time finding the perfect piece at an affordable rate, you really should give Courts a chance.

While some designs may not be for us (some were a bit gaudy, imperial-ish, and there were even some that looked like they were designed for King Louis XIV), a good combing of the place will help you find some pieces that will do you proud.

Our sofa, the tables in the living room, and even our guest bedroom set all came from there. Oh, and the dining set too. I distinctly remember the two sofas costing us about MYR1500 (USD365.72, PHP18,400). They were the exact shade of light grey that I wanted and were too comfy for words. Those two sofas always had us snoozing while watching television at night. I envy the people using them now!

The dining set was really elegant and looked great in photos during those dinners we hosted. I can’t remember exactly how much it was, same with the bedroom set, but they were definitely way less than MYR 2000 (USD487.33, PHP24,524) for each set. That’s like shopping at SM Home in Manila and I’ve heard the prices have gone up there too.

IKEA

Well of course this was going on the list. Ikea is a little bit premium in Asia. Were you shocked? It’s not as expensive as designer furniture. However, it’s still a smidge pricier compared to its local counterparts. I did get my work desk there (not in photos) and some of our decor, especially for the holidays, were from IKEA. If there’s one thing Scandinavians know, it’s Christmas.

MyFurnitureShop.com.my

An online store – but I suggest you visit the showroom like we did. MyFurnitureShop is located in Sri Kembangan. It’s a bit of drive from KLCC where our apartment was and we went there when we still didn’t have our car. You can take the KTM Train but I would recommend getting a Grab Car or an Uber instead since the place is far from the station. You will still have to take a car once you get off the train anyways. Do not take a taxi. They will overcharge you.

The mirror and console table came from My Furniture Shop

So did our outdoor set. The plant boxes were from IKEA. Sadly, these flowers proved that I don’t have a green thumb. May they rest in peace.

Buffet table also from My Furniture Shop. Those two vases were gifts from people from our Congress who I showed around KL after their meetings.

What we did was we looked through the site for pieces that we may like in the price points within our budget and asked to see them while we were there.I still remember the guy who took down our orders – Laltu.

Not all were available since the pieces are made to order. We did see a real, heavy, wooden bed frame there which I liked the look of. Laltu said he will make us one exactly like it for MYR400 (USD97.53, PHP4,904). I thought he was kidding.

That was incredibly cheap and he threw in a mattress which my often-sore back really loved for just an extra MYR200 (USD48.76, PHP2,452). I was dumbfounded. They never get this affordable anywhere else, do they? When the orders came, I even double checked the mattress thinking Laltu will sell me a used piece because I still couldn’t believe the price. It was new, thank goodness. And the bed frame? Really sturdy. I knocked on it with my knuckles and heard deep thuds. Also, they got really sore.

The thing about the website is expensive items are usually shown first. So when you check online and you see the prices are pretty high, look through the next pages of the category you’re in. Also, when you visit the store, you can haggle!

How About the Decor?

Lazada

This is Southeast Asia’s version of Amazon and we’ve found a couple of really good items there. The driftwood lamp in our living room that everyone seemed to love and some even thought was a designer piece from Bangsar Shopping Centre? It’s from Lazada and it was a little less than MYR200 (USD48.76, PHP2,452).

Spotlight

This Australian chain is popular for their fabrics and home decor as well. I highly recommend their holiday decor as well as kitchen and bathroom knick-knacks. A great place for gifts as well. The items are a little bit pricier but they really do go all out during their sales. We once got a classy pump bottle for liquid soap for about MYR20. You can also get organisers for your home and makeup stash here.

Kaison

This store carries affordable home decor and other cute knick-knacks. We got our huge prints on canvas here and even the huge lamp we hung on our balcony. Kaison is also a great place to buy pretty little things that you can add to a vignette or if you’re making centrepieces.

Department Stores

Lastly, I would also recommend the department stores in KL. My favourites are the ones in Pavilion (Parkson), Suria KLCC (Isetan and Parkson), and 1Utama (Aeon and Tangs). They are amazing when they go on sale. I got some of our Canon bedsheets at 80% off. Nothing makes a bed look more luxurious than it actually is other than high thread count sheets. They’re also great for decor as well as goods for your kitchen.

Master’s Bedroom. There were built in closets and a dresser which saved us a lot of money.

Even the guest room had built in closets and a dresser so we could focus on buying a bed and other things needed.

There you have it! So, if you’re moving to KL and thinking of getting your own furniture, here are some places you should consider. Living in Kuala Lumpur is insanely inexpensive – that is, if you’re smart about where you’ll go. Remember – money can’t buy class. So don’t pressure yourself to own expensive things if you’re on a budget. It’s how you carry yourself that dictates how people see you and the life you live. 🙂

If you found something you like and I didn’t mention where it was from, do hit me up in the comments section below. I’ll answer with the name of the store.

Sharing is caring! Do Pin this post if you found this post helpful. 🙂

More later!

Love,

Carol

Budget Friendly: Furnishing & Decorating Your Home in Kuala Lumpur Our previous posting in Kuala Lumpur meant that my husband and I would finally get to have our own home.

#Courts #Decor #Furniture #Home #IKEA #Kaison #Kuala Lumpur #Lazada #Parkson #Pavilion #Shopping #Spotlight

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