When fast-rising Children’s Author, Hannah learns her Mom’s cookie shop needs help two-hundred miles away, she and new friend, Handyman Vlogger, Josh, ditch the itinerary-driven Christmas weekend they're at, (planned by two Type-A Agents competing to be the first to sign one of them), and hop on the last train out. The Agents race to catch up, and these four wind-up on two wildly different yet converging holiday road-trips into romance.

Comps: The romantic dilemma of "dating the wrong guy when the right guy comes along" in both THE LIFE LIST and SOMETHING FROM TIFFANY'S (2023) meets PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES.

SYNOPSIS:

I’m on the verge of earning my first “Produced Writer” credit with MERRILY ALL THE WAY, which has been optioned by Collab Content Entertainment.

Rachel Burger, Staff Writer for ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING: “MERRILY ALL THE WAY is excellent - It has the spirit of Christmas all wrapped up in an adorable rom-com. Very strong and very magical.”

Synopsis: Fast rising Children’s Author, Hannah and her new friend, Handyman Vlogger Josh, feel completely out of their element at the elitist, itinerary-driven, boring Christmas holiday weekend their Type-A Agents have brought them to. They’re also unaware that their Agents are competing against each other to win a coveted promotion by being the first to sign Hannah or Josh to an exclusive contract.

When Hannah receives a call to help save her Mom’s cookie shop, 200 miles away, back home on Whistler Mountain, Hannah and Josh ditch this borefest, their Agents, and dash to the train station, where, thanks to a little Christmas Magic, receive the last two tickets on the Christmas Train home.

Their Agents chase after them. While Hannah & Josh experience the most romantic train journey, their Agents must survive being mugged, crammed onto a bus, chased by an angry Detective, buried in snow, and stranded in a laundromat.

As Hannah arrives home with Josh she discovers her Mom has stopped believing in Christmas Magic. While they work to save the cookie shop and restore her Mom's belief, Hannah & Josh realize they once met as teens on Whistler Mountain, on the peak of “Daredevil’s Run”, where Hannah rescued Josh from bullies by jumping onto his toboggan and riding down the mountain into an epic wipe-out. Romantic destiny has struggled to reunite them ever since.

Meanwhile, their Type-A Agents’ hijinks-tangled road-trip has taught them to be less controlling and more spontaneous, and has led them to take a chance on romance with each other. When both new couples come face-to-face on Whistler Mountain, they’re ready to be real friends and they share a cozy family Christmas morning.

Theme: Chasing “Happily-Ever-After” never turns out like you’d expect. Not even close. The central debate of MERRILY ALL THE WAY is, is it better to try to control your life’s direction, or to allow your heart to guide you through life.

Stakes: The stakes for Hannah and Josh are nothing less than their Happily-Ever-After. Will they or won’t they realize destiny has been trying to bring them together since they were teenagers. Additionally, if they compromise believing in themselves just to adapt to their Agents’ expectations they’ll be trading their extraordinary lives for ordinary lives.

Transformation: Fast rising storybook writer, Hannah and her new friend, Do-It-Yourself Vlogger, Josh have allowed their hearts to guide their creativity their whole lives and found great personal success. When their expanding careers lead them to meet success-driven and self-absorbed Agency Reps. Sloane and Todd - Sloane and Todd try to reign-in Hannah’s and Josh’s creativity and control their business futures. Hannah and Josh begin to doubt if following their hearts was ever right. Ultimately they each learn to stand-up for their belief that allowing their hearts to guide their creativity has been the right path all along. In the process Sloane and Todd learn to believe in following their hearts too, which leads them to even greater success.

Why Now: It's my hope every hard-working adult facing difficult times will feel inspired by this authentic, light-hearted, hope-restoring romance to keep believing in their own Happily-Ever-After.

Why Me: As a Production Designer and Lead Graphic Designer I've earned a Regional Emmy plus worked on two Academy Award Winning Features FARGO and THE BIG LEBOWSKI. I was also the Minneapolis-based Graphic Designer for JINGLE ALL THE WAY and THE MIGHTY DUCKS.

Today I’m on the verge of earning my first “Produced Writer” credit with MERRILY ALL THE WAY, an elevated Holiday Rom-Com which has been optioned by Collab Content Entertainment.

I especially love writing Elevated Christmas RomComs with authentic and relatable relationship struggles. (Films similar to: MY SECRET SANTA, CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS, THE HOLIDAY, LOVE ACTUALLY and WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING), which have done very well internationally. Christmas RomComs are their own unique Genre, intentionally created to be hot-chocolate for the soul. The characters' stories are sincere, light-hearted, hope-restoring escapist entertainment in its purest form. There's even a built-in ticking-clock counting down to Happily-Ever-After.

I've been lucky to study with Blake Snyder, Jen Grisanti, Jessica Bendinger, and now the wonderful Holiday RomCom Writer, Carley Smale.

Growing-up just outside of Philadelphia, I needed my wild imagination to create fun & mayhem. It got me into a lot of trouble though, like that time, when I was 10 and I stole my parents' car to take my little sister for ice-cream. (we made it as far as the neighbor’s front yard); or when I launched myself down a steep, busy street in the plywood go-cart I'd built with no brakes; or, after setting out on my own at 17, my two summers as an amateur stock car driver.

I became the Lead Graphic Designer for several wonderful feature films. I fell in love with storytelling, started screenwriting, won Top Ten and Cinestory and lunch with Christopher McQuarrie. Won 2nd Place and Top Five Best Screenplay at ScreamfestLA, and became an Amazon Studios Best Screenplay Competition Semi-Finalist. Was short-listed in both the NBC and ABC TV Writers Showcases. And so much more...