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In this week's newsletter, Holiday Schedule, Black Friday | Early Bird Access, Thanksgiving Movies | An Untapped Market for Screenwriters, Recommended Book of the Week, Holiday Screenwriting Tips (Humorous Fun), Top 9 Stories Producers are Seeking Right Now!!
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When most people think of Thanksgiving films, they picture warm, familiar stories, family gatherings, holiday chaos, and the emotional messiness that comes with both. Year after year, audiences revisit a handful of favorites, keeping these films alive through perennial re-releases, streaming spikes, and residual income. But Thanksgiving as a movie genre is surprisingly underdeveloped, and that creates a real opportunity for screenwriters.
Below is a look at the traditional genre staples and why branching out into lesser-used genres could give your screenplay a unique market advantage.
🍗 FAMILY + HOLIDAY FILMS: The Thanksgiving Core
These movies capture the emotional heart of the holiday: messy reunions, reconciliation, and the push-pull of family dynamics.
Examples:
- Home for the Holidays (1995)
- The Blind Side (2009) — not a Thanksgiving movie, but often aired during the season due to tone
- Pieces of April (2003)
Audience Reception & Staying Power:
Family/holiday films are rewatched more than any other category this time of year. Networks and streaming platforms push them annually because they’re reliable, safe, emotionally resonant, and highly monetizable. This genre offers long-term residual potential.
😂 COMEDY: The Crowd-Pleaser
Thanksgiving comedies thrive because the holiday itself is chaotic, unpredictable, and ripe for conflict.
Example:
- Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) — the gold standard Thanksgiving comedy
Widely loved, endlessly rewatchable, and played every year. A textbook example of how a single holiday concept can become evergreen.
Other Comedic Titles:
- Dutch (1991)
- The Oath (2018) — dark comedy take on Thanksgiving politics
Why It Works:
Comedy, family dysfunction, and holiday pressure naturally collide. Studios know comedies travel well, work in streaming, and draw families.
❤️ THANKSGIVING ROMANCE
A smaller but growing lane, focusing on holiday meet-cutes or reconciliation stories.
Examples:
- You've Got Mail (1998) — includes iconic Thanksgiving sequences
- Knives Out (2019) — not a romance, but shows how fall/holiday seasonal tone increases rewatchability
Why It Works:
Romance tied to a holiday tends to age extremely well. Think Valentine’s Day, The Holiday, When Harry Met Sally. A Thanksgiving romance with strong characters can easily become a yearly staple.
🛣 ROAD TRIP FILMS
Thanksgiving = travel nightmares. Audiences relate deeply.
Examples:
- Planes, Trains & Automobiles (again — it hits multiple genres)
- Nebraska (2013) — Thanksgiving vibes through tone
Why It Works:
Road trip films create built-in structure, rising stakes, and humor. And every holiday season, travel content spikes emotionally and algorithmically on streaming platforms.
🦃 HORROR: The Unexpected Giant
Thanksgiving horror has exploded recently.
Examples:
- Thanksgiving (2023) — Eli Roth’s hit slasher
- Kristy (2014) — Thanksgiving break campus terror
Audience Reception:
Surprisingly strong. The 2023 Thanksgiving pulled solid box office numbers, proving audiences enjoy mixing holiday innocence with genre chaos.
Why It’s Growing:
Horror has year-round demand. A Thanksgiving-branded horror film has an annual marketing hook built in.
UNDEREXPLORED GENRES: The Big Opportunity for Screenwriters
Here is where screenwriters can stand out. Thanksgiving is dramatically underutilized outside of a few core genres. That means studios and streaming platforms are not oversaturated; they’re starved.
👽 SCI-FI THANKSGIVING
Imagine:
- A family dinner interrupted by first contact
- A time-travel device causing repeating Thanksgiving days
- A dystopian future where Thanksgiving traditions become clues to rebellion
Market Angle:
No competition. Zero iconic Thanksgiving sci-fi films exist. Instant originality, built-in brandability.
🔪 CRIME THRILLER / SUSPENSE
Thanksgiving gatherings offer perfect setups:
- A missing relative
- A murder at the table
- A tense family secret revealed under pressure
Knives Out proved audiences adore holiday-themed thrillers. A Thanksgiving version could explode.
✝️ FAITH-BASED THANKSGIVING
A massive market with loyal audiences.
Themes of gratitude, forgiveness, redemption, and reconnection align effortlessly with both Thanksgiving and faith-based storytelling.
🔥 ACTION / ADVENTURE
Wildly untapped.
Imagine an action script where:
- A heist goes down during Thanksgiving travel
- A soldier races home to make Thanksgiving dinner (and chaos ensues)
- A family must defend their home during the holiday
This could fill a real gap in streaming seasonal content.
Why This Matters for Screenwriters
Thanksgiving is one of the most emotionally rich, conflict-heavy holidays, yet the movie catalogue is tiny compared to Christmas. That means:
⭐ LESS COMPETITION
Studios and streamers are flooded with Christmas scripts, but not Thanksgiving ones.
⭐ BUILT-IN ANNUAL REVENUE CYCLE
If your film lands, even modestly, networks and streamers will re-air it every year.
⭐ BRANDING VALUE
A good Thanksgiving script doesn’t just make one sale.
It becomes seasonal content, which is gold in streaming.
⭐ GENRE FUSION = FRESH ANGLE
A Thanksgiving Sci-Fi, Action, or Crime Thriller could immediately stand out in a marketplace desperate for originality.
BOTTOM LINE
Thanksgiving is one of the most overlooked cinematic opportunities.
Write a strong script tied to the holiday, especially in a non-traditional genre, and you position yourself in a nearly open field with substantial long-term income potential.
Seeking inspiration for unique stories?
Curiosity drives us to explore and question the extraordinary world around us. This book celebrates that curiosity. It’s a compendium of mind-bending science, fascinating history, and unexpected truths that’s designed to both surprise and inform. Perfect for lifelong learners and trivia enthusiasts, this book invites you to dive headfirst into the facts that make reality feel stranger than fiction.
In this book, you’ll discover:
· Accidental scientific oddities
· Evolutionary quirks found in nature and humans
· Myths about the human body debunked
· Forgotten moments that changed history
· Famous world records
· And so much more!
Each section is packed with entertaining entries that can be read in any order. Whether you flip through a page at a time or binge-read entire chapters, you’re guaranteed to walk away a little smarter and a little more amazed.
If you're struggling to write this month, don’t panic, it’s not writer’s block, it’s just the side effects of seasonal chaos. In fact, every holiday tradition is secretly a screenwriting lesson:
• Thanksgiving Dinner:
Teaches you how to write ensemble scenes full of conflict, overlapping dialogue, and at least one character who absolutely should not be handed a carving knife.
• Black Friday Shopping:
A masterclass in pacing. Notice how the stakes escalate, tension rises, and someone always ends up in a chase scene near the electronics aisle. Perfect third-act energy.
• Holiday Family Photos:
Proof that character motivations are never aligned, and that even the best-intentioned protagonist will snap under pressure by take seven.
• Christmas Cookies:
A reminder that screenplays require structure. Skip one ingredient and everything collapses, usually in front of someone who was expecting greatness.
• And finally… Gift Wrapping:
The ultimate metaphor for script revisions: Just when you think you’re done, you realize the whole thing is uneven, held together by tape, and you’re rewriting the ending at 2 a.m.
The holiday season isn’t a distraction; it’s research.
So pour some cocoa, pretend the chaos is “character study,” and write on.
The industry is shifting fast. Studios are buying fewer scripts, but they are buying smarter, leaning heavily toward projects with built-in audience appeal, brand identity, and strong marketing hooks. After reviewing current acquisition trends, producer wish-lists, agency memos, and what’s landing on the Black List and streaming slates, these are the stories consistently surfacing at the top of the “WE NEED THIS” pile.
Below are the Top 9 most in-demand story categories.
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