Sarah never expected her Christmas Wish "for a bit of magic to help save her Holiday Bookshop" would lead to her music-box-Nutcracker coming to life. Stuck with her wide-eyed, gallant gate-crasher until Christmas Eve, their embarrassing roommate moments; bookshop mix-ups; Sarah's snooping Father; plus a nefarious Toy Collector; oh, and the discovery of the Nutcracker’s true heroic origin, leads them to hope this Christmas Wish never ends.

Comps: It's the fairytale magic of THE KNIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS and ENCHANTED meets the romantic comedy of ELF.

Now a Stage 32 Double-Recommended Screenplay!

SYNOPSIS:

Now a Stage 32 Double-Recommended Screenplay!

Imagine the holidays are almost here... again. Wintery air carries the scent of a fireplace as you stroll along a cheerfully decorated Main Street. Busy smiles sparkle with hope and shared anxiety that you’re going to have to feed the relatives soon to invade your home. You discover a little All-Holidays Bookshop. Snowflake lights illuminate the display window lined with all types of winter-holiday storybooks. There’s an antique, pedestal music-box featuring a uniquely handsome, ten-inch tall, Nutcracker Guard with the most sincere eyes and a ridiculous curly moustache. You step inside. Sarah welcomes you into...

SYNOPSIS - With Christmas only ten days away, Sarah, a busy holiday bookshop owner, who’s fiercely independent, realizes she needs to sell nearly every book in her shop to stay open. On top of that, a recent failed romance has left her wondering if she's better off alone.

Sarah's parents deliver an early Christmas gift, an antique pedestal music box featuring a uniquely handsome Christmas Nutcracker. Sarah places the Nutcracker's Music Box in her shop window, winds it up and lets it play. As she closes-up her shop, the brightly sweet tune inspires her to sing her Christmas Wish "for a bit of magic to help save her Holiday Bookshop".

The moment Sarah leaves, Elora Fae, the shrewd Christmas Faerie she once met as a little girl, appears, and catches the Nutcracker singing his Christmas Wish "to experience Christmas as a real person". Elora Fae grants the Nutcracker's wish.

Sarah, suspecting her bookshop has an intruder, returns and is shocked to discover the wide-eyed & gallant Nutcracker thrilled to be a real person. Sarah is further annoyed when Elora Fae informs her she’s stuck with him until Christmas Eve, when he’ll turn back into a Nutcracker.

Sarah names him Flynn and reluctantly agrees to guide him through as many holiday traditions as she can spare time for if he helps-out in the bookshop. Flynn enthusiastically accepts, but has a lot to learn about being a real person. Their embarrassing roommate moments; bookshop mix-ups; Sarah's snooping Father; plus a nefarious Toy Collector; oh, and the discovery of the Nutcracker’s true heroic origin, leads them to hope this Christmas Wish never ends.

SARAH BAILEY: Only the fiercely independent, slightly nerdy, Sarah and her older brother Reed know that a certain sarcastic Christmas Faerie is the reason she grew-up believing there's magic within every holiday, especially Christmas, to inspire kindness in the world. Sarah’s imagination and tenacious hard work is what transformed her All-Holidays Bookshop dream into a reality. (in fact Sarah owns the bookshop’s brownstone and lives upstairs). But she's become so focused on success she's lost sight of her own happiness.

ROYAL GUARD NUTCRACKER, “FLYNN”: In 1940, the son of music-box sculptor, Greta Baumann, was tragically killed rescuing soldiers during the invasion of Dunkirk. To honor his brave legacy Greta crafted “The Gallant Christmas Guardian Music-Box” featuring an animated Nutcracker figure infused with so much love that at Christmastime he seems almost alive. Now, with his music-box placed in Sarah’s bookshop window, the Nutcracker’s wish "to experience Christmas as a real person" is granted, but he’s got a lot to learn about being a real person. So, with a wide-eyed sense of wonder for his new life, Flynn can’t wait to share Christmas with Sarah.

Comps: It's the fairytale magic of THE KNIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS and ENCHANTED meets the romantic comedy of ELF.

Rachel Burger, Writer on ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING commented: "This was full of Christmas Magic! :) Was obsessed with Elora’s sass and was dying at the pee seen. Nutcracker, Flynn and Sarah had this great connection from the start and you just knew they were gonna fall in love. Just like Pinocchio he got to be a real boy! Haha He also had Buddy the elf vibes which is literally my favorite character ever."

Why Now/Why Me: I especially love writing Elevated Christmas RomComs which are on the edgier side of traditional. (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.

I’m on the verge of earning my first “Produced Writer” credit with MERRILY ALL THE WAY, an elevated Holiday Rom-Com which is in pre-production with Kristen Lucas and Jim Langlois of Collab Content Entertainment for a Winter 2025 shoot.

Check-out my Stage 32, MERRILY ALL THE WAY, Writer Success Blog (you’ll laugh, I promise): https://www.stage32.com/blog/m...

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 was the Lead Graphic Designer for several wonderful feature films including two Academy Award Winners. 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...