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Writer: Hello Muse.
Muse: Hello. What now?
Writer. Only 262 days until Christmas. Time to think about next year.
Muse: Really?
Writer: Actually, it’s not a bad idea. We can look around. What have we done? What can we do next? Imagine trying to think about Christmas movies in August. At least now it’s on our minds, for good or ill.
Muse: Fair enough. Can you do a sequel from what you’ve done?
Writer: We could do the expat Christmas in different country. Let me see which country they finally used as a location. I know they changed several times. I’ll just look it up on IMDB. [Creating A New Classic]
Muse: Focus.
Writer: Right. It doesn’t matter which country. They would probably change it anyway. They have lots to chose from. Did you know that the UN recognizes 193 member states (number UN: About Us, list UN: Member States)? But that number is disputed. (World Atlas: How Many Countries Are There In The World?)
Muse: Focus.
Writer. Right. Again. The point is, it would still be the same fish-out-of-water plot, just with different spices.
Muse: It started well, that sentence.
Writer: Talk about distracting me.
Muse: My bad. Back to work.
Writer: Speaking of country, we can’t do sequel to a Country Boy. The point of HEA is ever after. [Country Boy in The City]
Muse What about now?
Writer: You mean New Years? I did that. I guess I could revist. [A Marketing Proposal for New Holiday Movies]
Muse: No I mean right now. Not Christmas, Not New Year’s Eve. Holiday but not holiday. What Chaz Hutton calls Nothing Time (Illustration, Bluesky:@chazhutton.bsky.social Dec 27, 2024, & Instagram: instachaaz, Dec 27, 2024. Original post? “Welcome to the nothing time.” X: @chazhutton, Dec 25, 2019.) Or what Forsyth calls, “that weird week before New Year when nobody really knows what day it is and half the people don’t go to work and the other half do, but don’t seem to get much done there.” A Christmas Cornucopia: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions, Mark Forsyth (Viking 2016).
Writer: Technically it is currently the 12 days of Christmas. Not that anyone follows that these days. [Graphic Boolean Operators II]
Muse: Yes. Yes, the 12 days are historically from Christmas to Epiphany. Traditions evolve. Get over it. Move on. Although to be fair, I should tell you how Forsyth finishes that quote, ” … Christmas, as we’ve seen, used to be a twelve-day holiday, and it’s heading back that way.” A Christmas Cornucopia
Writer: Well, in that case.
Muse: Don’t get any ideas.
Writer: Very funny, coming from you.
Muse: You know what I mean. Look forward.
Writer: A movie set at this time would certainly fit nicely in the broadcast/streaming schedule.
Muse: And therefore?
Writer. And therefore, we have a setting and timeframe. So, what are people doing? Returning gifts. Year end stuff. Working. Recapping. Hey, you know what I think?
Muse: Here we go.
Writer: This is the wrong week to be doing recaps. They don’t make sense in December. What if something eventful happens on the 30th? [To Recap Or Not To Recap,]
Muse: Yes, yes. Recaps of the year should wait until the the year is over. That’s not how it works, regardless of the dictates of logic. Once you get an idea, you hang onto it, don’t you? Move on.
Writer: Okay, okay. This is me, moving on. What do we have for main character options? People who had a bad Christmas, or bad holiday of your choice. It could have a redeeming arc. Or.
Muse: I’m listening.
Writer: Ya know. Hmm.
Muse: Now I’m concerned.
Writer: We could use the 12 days.
Muse: This is me giving you the sideeye.
Writer: Hear me out. It’s pretty common for a person to have two sides to the family, perhaps inlaws. They do Christmas over here, then they go have a second Christmas over there. So we amp it up. Spread it out over the twelve days. Different parts of the family. They go visit cousins who just had a baby and can’t travel. They travel around the country, or around the world if we want to go global. The message would be all about Keeping The Christmas Spirit Going. You don’t get more Christmasy than that.
Muse: Did you just find a reason to have the 12 Days of Christmas after Christmas?
Writer: (smiles winningly)
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