{"id":36102,"date":"2022-12-04T17:18:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T23:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tvmeg.com\/?p=36102"},"modified":"2023-01-19T23:26:47","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T05:26:47","slug":"budig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/04\/budig\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Amanda Kloots, Paul Greene, Rebecca Budig, director\/producer Jessica Harmon, and writer\/producer Anna White"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>TV Interview!<\/strong><\/h3>\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- TVMEGBODY -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1056557952271337\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"8801203268\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-37919\" src=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/fitpanel.png\" alt=\"Panel for &quot;Fit for Christmas&quot; on CBS with Actors Amanda Kloots, Paul Greene, Rebecca Budig, director\/producer Jessica Harmon, and writer\/producer Anna White (all photos from CBS)\" width=\"455\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/fitpanel.png 707w, https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/fitpanel-300x84.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong> Interview with Actors Amanda Kloots, Paul Greene, Rebecca Budig, director\/producer Jessica Harmon, and writer\/producer Anna White of &#8220;Fit For Christmas&#8221; on CBS by <a href=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/13\/biosuzanne\/\">Suzanne<\/a> 11\/3\/22<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is a typical holiday movie, but I most enjoyed seeing Rebecca Budig in it (even though it&#8217;s a fairly small part) and being able to chat with her. It airs Sunday, 12\/4 on CBS.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the transcript of our interview:<\/p>\n<p><strong>CBS <\/strong><strong>2022 HOLIDAY PROGRAMMING PANELS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>FIT FOR CHRISTMAS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Amanda Kloots, Executive Producer\/Star<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Paul Greene<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Rebecca Budig<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jessica Harmon, Director\/Executive Producer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Anna White, Executive Producer\/Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Virtual via Zoom<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>November 03, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2022 CBS. \u00a0All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN:\u00a0 Hi, everyone.\u00a0 I&#8217;m back.\u00a0 I&#8217;m Noelle Llewellyn.\u00a0 And on behalf of\u00a0myself and my counterpart, Erin Freilich, we&#8217;d like to welcome you to our final panel of the day for our CBS original movie, \u201cFit for Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amanda Kloots, cohost of our Emmy-award-winning daytime talk show, \u201cThe Talk,\u201d wears many Christmas hats for this film, both in front of and behind the camera.\u00a0 In addition to starring as Audrey, Amanda developed the movie, cowrote the film concept, and serves as an executive producer of the film.\u00a0 \u201cFit for Christmas\u201d premieres Sunday, December 4th, on CBS and will be available to stream live and on demand on PARAMOUNT+.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFit for Christmas\u201d follows Audrey, an enthusiastic, Christmas\u2011obsessed fitness instructor teaching classes at her beloved, financially beleaguered community center in quaint Mistletoe, Montana. \u00a0Audrey begins a holiday romance with a charming mysterious businessman, which complicates his plans to turn the center into a more profitable resort property.\u00a0 That&#8217;s what I call a Christmas conundrum.\u00a0 Sorry.\u00a0 Had to do it.<\/p>\n<p>I would like to welcome our panelists today, Amanda Kloots; Paul Green, who plays Griffin; Rebecca Budig, who plays Lisa; our movie screenwriter and executive producer, Anna White; and our movie director and executive producer, Jessica Harmon.<\/p>\n<p>Before I have Amanda kick things off with a few opening remarks, just a reminder that, if you have a question, please raise your hand in the chat feature and I will call on you by your screen name when it is your turn.\u00a0 Now over to Amanda, who would like to say a few words.<\/p>\n<p>AMANDA KLOOTS:\u00a0 There we go.\u00a0 Thanks, Noelle.\u00a0 By the way, Noelle, I need that sweater.\u00a0 That&#8217;s amazing.\u00a0 You look incredible.<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN:\u00a0 Done.\u00a0 In the Amazon cart.<\/p>\n<p>AMANDA KLOOTS:\u00a0 I just want to thank everyone for being here today.\u00a0 I want to thank my incredible cast and Anna and our director, Jessica.\u00a0 This has been an absolute dream come true for me.\u00a0 I can&#8217;t still believe that it happened.\u00a0 And it was a lot of fun to film.\u00a0 And I&#8217;m so excited for everybody to see it.\u00a0 Thank you for watching and thank you for being here.\u00a0 And let&#8217;s get this ball rolling.<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s hop right in.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Thank you, Noelle.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve got two for Amanda.\u00a0 Hi, Amanda.\u00a0 Hi, everybody.<\/p>\n<p>AMANDA KLOOTS:\u00a0 Hi.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Hi.\u00a0 First of all, I know when you talked about this first on \u201cThe Talk,\u201d I think it was in early fall, so can I assume that you filmed this during a break from \u201cThe Talk,\u201d during a hiatus during the summer?<\/p>\n<p>AMANDA KLOOTS:\u00a0 That is correct, Jay.\u00a0 We went on hiatus in August, and I pretty much flew a couple days later off to Vancouver to shoot the film on my hiatus, finished the movie, came back, and started Season 13 of \u201cThe Talk.\u201d\u00a0 No rest.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 For the weary.\u00a0 Sure.<\/p>\n<p>The other question, I spoke with somebody else who wrote a movie they starred in recently for the holidays.\u00a0 It&#8217;s one thing to star in a holiday movie, but to see characters and perhaps dialogue\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I know you cowrote it with Anna, but to see words and characters come to life that you developed, not only for yourself but other actors, can you talk about that feeling, being on set and observing that?<\/p>\n<p>AMANDA KLOOTS:\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t cowrite the movie.\u00a0 Anna is the writer of the movie, Anna White.\u00a0 I co-created the idea and, you know, definitely helped, you know, conceptualize the entire movie, right up until we were filming.\u00a0 And it was amazing.\u00a0 I have to tell you there was a day on set \u2011\u2011 I&#8217;ll never forget it \u2011\u2011 it was \u2011\u2011 we were filming at the Mistletoe Inn.\u00a0 And I just \u2011\u2011 it was so perfectly Christmas.\u00a0 And I looked around and I just \u2011\u2011 I couldn&#8217;t believe it was happening.\u00a0 I literally pinched myself because I remember being in my bed in July of 2020 thinking of this idea at 3:00 a.m. in the morning and then having it come to life, and it was just so beautiful.\u00a0 The set that day where we were filming, it was so gorgeous.\u00a0 And I think it was like right in the middle of filming, so the cast had really bonded, and we were all just, like, really gelling that day.\u00a0 And it just felt like magic, literal Christmas magic.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 Anna, sorry about that misstep about the writing.\u00a0 I&#8217;m sorry about that.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Amanda, this is for you.\u00a0 When you were dancing on Broadway, did you say, &#8220;Oh, I want to be a producer some day and I want to star in a show that I&#8217;ve influenced&#8221;?\u00a0 Or was that just\u00a0\u2011\u2011 was it just in an evolution?\u00a0 And where did \u201cThe Talk\u201d play in all of that evolution?<\/p>\n<p>AMANDA KLOOTS:\u00a0 Oh, my gosh.\u00a0 It was a complete evolution, Bruce.\u00a0 I can&#8217;t believe what I&#8217;m doing right now.\u00a0 I think\u00a0\u2011\u2011 when I look at my life and how much has changed, especially in the last three years, I mean, just\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I moved to LA three years ago, and I\u00a0\u2011\u2011 my sole job was my fitness business.\u00a0 And since then, in those three years, even just since joining \u201cThe Talk,\u201d my life has completely changed.<\/p>\n<p>And I can&#8217;t believe what I get to do now.\u00a0 I can&#8217;t believe that, you know, CBS, they were so generous in taking a chance on me and this concept and allowing this to come to fruition.\u00a0 I&#8217;m so entirely grateful to them for doing this with me and having faith that I can act and that I can executive produce and create something.\u00a0 It&#8217;s amazing.\u00a0 I just am constantly, I think, blown away by the idea of how life can change and how it can change so quickly and how dreams can come true.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 That&#8217;s great.\u00a0 Thanks so much.<\/p>\n<p>AMANDA KLOOTS:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Hi, everybody.\u00a0 This is for Amanda as well, and then I have a question for Paul.\u00a0 Amanda, what was it like working with Anna White?\u00a0 Can you talk about that?<\/p>\n<p>AMANDA KLOOTS:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 I feel like I have met my creative soulmate with Anna White.\u00a0 I could not feel like a luckier human being.\u00a0 She is just the brightest light.\u00a0 She is so funny, consistently creative, and on top of every idea and pun and concept.\u00a0 We met through a friend, a new friend of mine and an acquaintance of hers.\u00a0 Thank God this woman put us together.\u00a0 And ever since we chatted on the phone\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I think it was October in 2020\u00a0\u2011\u2011 and I told her of this idea, we\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I just knew.\u00a0 It was like stars aligned.\u00a0 And I hope there&#8217;s so much more to come from us, because we&#8217;ve got a lot of ideas in the bank.\u00a0 And I just\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I love working with her.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION: \u00a0(Inaudible) films that you&#8217;ve starred in?\u00a0 Can you talk about that?<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN:\u00a0 You&#8217;re a little hard to hear.\u00a0 Do you want to repeat yourself?<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Sorry about that.\u00a0 I was just asking Paul, how (inaudible) starred in?<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN: \u00a0We&#8217;re still having trouble hearing you.\u00a0 I think you&#8217;re asking\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I think you&#8217;re asking Paul how did this film \u201cFit for Christmas\u201d differ from the other holiday films he starred in.\u00a0 Does that sound accurate?<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Correct.\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN:\u00a0 Perfect.\u00a0 Paul?<\/p>\n<p>PAUL GREENE:\u00a0 Awesome.\u00a0 Well, thanks.\u00a0 So it was super\u00a0\u2011\u2011 it was so unique because I&#8217;ve worked with Anna before on a movie prior, and that was a really great experience, and there&#8217;s a lot of serendipity with Anna, and I going 20 years back.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a long story and a good one.<\/p>\n<p>And then\u00a0\u2011\u2011 but what made this so different is, you know, working with Amanda in this way, knowing that this was her first experience like this, that it just had this crackling newness and possibility to it that was really unique.\u00a0 There was\u00a0\u2011\u2011 it was very improvian, in the moment, and spontaneous and exciting.<\/p>\n<p>And then just, you know, immediately, there was this chemistry and friendship between us\u00a0\u2011\u2011 all of us actors, really, and especially between Amanda and myself, like from the first minute.\u00a0 We were just like long lost friends.\u00a0 And that translated really quickly into a feeling of having each other&#8217;s back in the scenes and improvising and\u00a0\u2011\u2011 which Anna loved when we improvised.<\/p>\n<p>(Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>And, yeah.\u00a0 It was\u00a0\u2011\u2011 and what&#8217;s unique, too, is having our writer on set, which is the first time I&#8217;ve had a writer on one of these Christmas movies, or even a romantic comedy like this, be on set from front all the way through, which was really unique and special, because we went to her with all these really nuanced\u00a0questions about character and where we were headed and arc, and it was\u00a0\u2011\u2011 yeah, it was cool.<\/p>\n<p>And for me, it&#8217;s special because it&#8217;s my first of these with CBS.\u00a0 And so there was a lot of excitement and a lot of trust and a lot of newness to it that made it just super fun.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Yes, hi.\u00a0 My question is for Rebecca.\u00a0 I&#8217;m a big fan of yours from \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/tvmegasite.net\/day\/amc\/\">All My Children<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/daytime\/gh\/\">General Hospital<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 This is the first Christmas movie you&#8217;ve been in, right?\u00a0 And is there anything that surprised you about it?<\/p>\n<p>REBECCA BUDIG:\u00a0 Thank you so much.\u00a0 That&#8217;s really sweet of you.\u00a0 Yes, it is the first Christmas movie I&#8217;ve done.\u00a0 And I would say\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I mean, I&#8217;ve shot in all different kind of situations, but definitely shooting with, you know, heavy sweaters and coats in 100 degree heat wasn&#8217;t that fun.\u00a0 But actually being with this group of people, it\u00a0\u2011\u2011 to what Paul said, it really was kind of a magical grouping of people.\u00a0 And I felt like I was in an episode of \u201cThree&#8217;s Company\u201d a lot of the time.\u00a0 But it was a lot of fun.\u00a0 It was a lot of fun.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Thank you so much.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Hey, thank you very much for speaking to us.\u00a0 I have two questions.\u00a0 I&#8217;m wondering, first, how long did it take to shoot the movie?\u00a0 And secondly, for any of the actors, I&#8217;m wondering\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I always love to ask this question:\u00a0 When the show\u00a0\u2011\u2011 when the movie will air, will you actually sit down and watch it?\u00a0 And when\u00a0\u2011\u2011 if you do, can you actually enjoy watching it?\u00a0 Or do you watch to review yourself?\u00a0 Anybody.<\/p>\n<p>(Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>REBECCA BUDIG:\u00a0 Well, I\u00a0\u2011\u2011<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Nobody likes to answer that question, ever.<\/p>\n<p>PAUL GREENE:\u00a0 Ladies first.<\/p>\n<p>AMANDA KLOOTS:\u00a0 You know, I&#8217;ll say to your second question, Mark, that because I&#8217;m an executive producer on this film, I&#8217;ve already watched a lot of\u00a0\u2011\u2011 a lot of the cuts.\u00a0 So I do feel like that day, on December 4th, and watching it\u00a0\u2011\u2011 we are all going to watch it together, actually, except for Paul because he&#8217;ll be away.\u00a0 But we&#8217;re all going to watch it together.\u00a0 I do think that I&#8217;ll be able to watch it on the 4th and finally put, like, my producer hat off and just watch it and enjoy it.\u00a0 And I plan to live tweet that night as well and just really celebrate the premiere of the movie and all the hard work that we all did.<\/p>\n<p>REBECCA BUDIG:\u00a0 I will say, like, my first run\u2011through, I&#8217;m always looking at it, you know\u00a0\u2011\u2011 at myself with a critical eye.\u00a0 But like Amanda said, like, I think on the 4th when we&#8217;re all watching it together, it will just be just really fun and to relive those moments.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Paul?\u00a0 Your thoughts?<\/p>\n<p>PAUL GREENE:\u00a0 This took us about 15 filming days, I&#8217;d say.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Crazy enough, that is the average for these romantic comedies that happen, these holiday movies, and a lot of the kind of seasonal movies that you see.\u00a0 15\u00a0\u2011\u2011 14 or 15 shooting days.\u00a0 I know.\u00a0 There&#8217;s some long weeks and long days, especially for number one on the call sheet and sometimes number two as well.<\/p>\n<p>And for me, I love to watch them.\u00a0 Like, I\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I haven&#8217;t seen this yet.\u00a0 And so I\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I sometimes try to watch just little pieces and\u00a0\u2011\u2011 but never the whole thing so that it&#8217;s a good surprise.\u00a0 And so I&#8217;m looking forward to watching it, yeah.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t have\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I don&#8217;t have too much of a hard time watching it.\u00a0 It makes me\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I get so excited about\u00a0\u2011\u2011 you know, I love the nostalgic feeling of Christmas movies.\u00a0 And then just that I&#8217;ve been a part of a lot of them and got a chance to do it and get to do that for my job and knowing that so many people are at home and they&#8217;re getting so much out of it, it&#8217;s a great feeling.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN:\u00a0 And I actually have a question for Jessica, our movie director, Jessica Harmon.\u00a0 Jessica, you work in front of and behind the camera.\u00a0 You are a movie director for this, but you also act.\u00a0 And I&#8217;m just wondering, is\u00a0\u2011\u2011 do you prefer one over the other now?\u00a0 Do you want to continue to do both indefinitely?\u00a0 It was just\u00a0\u2011\u2011 it&#8217;s so great to see that you work, you know, in front of and behind the camera and was just curious about that process for you and how that works just for yourself and for your own\u00a0\u2011\u2011 for your process.<\/p>\n<p>JESSICA HARMON:\u00a0 Well, thanks for the question, Noelle.\u00a0 I&#8217;m just only obsessed with your outfit and the whole look right now.\u00a0 It&#8217;s kind of awesome.\u00a0 People are answering questions, and I&#8217;m just watching Noelle like I&#8217;m loving this.<\/p>\n<p>Do I have one over the other?\u00a0 Yeah, directing, because I think directing is so incredibly exhausting that I can&#8217;t put myself in front of a camera anymore.\u00a0 So it&#8217;s\u00a0\u2011\u2011 for me, I think, you know, I was an actor for 25 years, and it was wonderful and I loved it, but I found, personally, my favorite thing was when I started directing, to kind of come in and have these ideas and work with the crew, who I love.\u00a0 And the crew on this film should get a pretty solid shoutout because, you know, it&#8217;s really difficult, like Paul was saying, for everyone to do a film in 15 days and in that heat that these poor actors had to sit in.\u00a0 It was\u00a0\u2011\u2011 you know, in Canada, it was 30\u2011something degrees, which in Fahrenheit is a whole other situation.\u00a0 But it&#8217;s hot, for you Americans listening.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a lot.\u00a0 And the crew, you know, puts their all into this.\u00a0 And this film, this cast, and this crew all kind of came together like lightning in a bottle, and it was amazing.<\/p>\n<p>And there&#8217;s something that happens when you spend the time directing and you have a vision and you&#8217;re working with people like Anna and, you know, people like Amanda who come in with this incredible idea and this incredible vision themselves and they trust you to kind of take it and go forward with it.\u00a0 And then so many people get involved, but at the end of the day, when all of that work kind of comes together and you&#8217;re speaking to the actors on set, and they come in and they do something and it&#8217;s wonderful, and you kind of come in and you collaborate together, and you step back and you watch it, there&#8217;s a feeling that is so special to me as a director now that when I get to watch fellow actors light up the screen, especially in the way that this cast did\u00a0\u2011\u2011 and no offense to my other casts\u00a0\u2011\u2011 but that this cast, the chemistry that these people had with one another, and the work that they put into this, and what they brought to \u2011\u2011 the emotion that they brought to these characters, it&#8217;s so much more\u00a0than just kind of a sweet rom\u2011com, you know, holiday movie.\u00a0 We&#8217;ve all seen these movies be made before, but watching these people just explode on camera and the chemistry that they had with each other and bringing these characters to life, it&#8217;s like\u00a0\u2011\u2011 it genuinely brings emotion to me that I don&#8217;t\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I couldn&#8217;t even pull myself as an actor.<\/p>\n<p>So when it comes to one or the other, I have to side with directing because I just love working with actors, and I love working with actors like this.\u00a0 And these guys just light this movie up.\u00a0 It was a wonderful script to begin with, but it&#8217;s\u00a0\u2011\u2011 what they&#8217;ve done and what I hope the audience\u00a0\u2011\u2011 you know, what I know the audience will see from them is it&#8217;s explosive.\u00a0 Like, the chemistry between all of them is incredible.\u00a0 But you look at Griffin and Audrey&#8217;s storyline and where they begin and where they end, every day on set I was shocked by them, because I just\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I didn&#8217;t see them bringing the characters that they brought.\u00a0 I saw Griffin played a different way in my mind.\u00a0 I saw Audrey a little bit different in my mind, and they showed up and they surprised me every single scene.\u00a0 And it was just\u00a0\u2011\u2011 it was a wonderful, wonderful thing to watch.<\/p>\n<p>So directing wins, but&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Thank you for that.\u00a0 We will miss you\u00a0in front of the camera, but we understand and we appreciate your work.\u00a0 And the chemistry does feel very special for the film, so thank you.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 This is for Rebecca.\u00a0 This movie, like a lot of movies, a lot of the Christmas movies, makes it feel that a small town, growing up in a small town, living in a small town, you&#8217;re very lucky.\u00a0 I sympathize with that.\u00a0 I&#8217;m from a small town myself.\u00a0 But on the other hand, you got to go to, like, the Cincinnati School of Performing Arts.\u00a0 And if it hadn&#8217;t been for\u00a0\u2011\u2011 you know, if you hadn&#8217;t been in a city, you wouldn&#8217;t have been able to do that.\u00a0 A million people from that school went on to become really successful.\u00a0 So when you look at the what&#8217;s good or bad about growing up in a small town or a big city, how do you look at it?<\/p>\n<p>REBECCA BUDIG:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 You make a good point, Mike.\u00a0 Because, you know, when you&#8217;re in a bigger city, you&#8217;re exposed to a lot more opportunities, and there&#8217;s maybe a lot more culture and things to experience.\u00a0 But I also really, really, really\u00a0\u2011\u2011 especially as I get older\u00a0\u2011\u2011 really appreciate a small town and what that has to offer, because that&#8217;s\u00a0\u2011\u2011 it offers a lot more heart sometimes, a lot more familiarity, and that&#8217;s what I think this movie brings, like, warmth to it, because everyone&#8217;s connected.\u00a0 You&#8217;re more connected with other people.\u00a0 I think in big urban towns, in cities, you get a little disconnected, even though you have your friends and things, but you don&#8217;t get to really, like\u00a0\u2011\u2011 things don&#8217;t matter as much as they do in a small town, and that&#8217;s what I think this movie brings to it, you know, like, things that matter.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Cool.\u00a0 Thanks.<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN:\u00a0 Next, I just have a question for Anna White, our movie writer.\u00a0 Anna, I&#8217;m very curious, what was the process like for you working with Amanda and really shepherding this concept and this idea that she had and bringing that to the screen and writing the script?\u00a0 Can you tell us a little bit about that?<\/p>\n<p>ANNA WHITE:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 I&#8217;d love to.\u00a0 It was\u00a0\u2011\u2011 it was great.\u00a0 Because, actually, I followed Amanda&#8217;s story and, like, I\u00a0\u2011\u2011 my heart went out to her.\u00a0 And then when our mutual acquaintance said, &#8220;Hey, Amanda has a great idea for a Christmas movie.\u00a0 She needs a writer,&#8221; and we had our first, like, FaceTime and just, like, everything clicked. I thought it was a great idea because we hadn&#8217;t seen a fitness instructor Christmas movie yet.\u00a0 And if anyone was going to do it, it was going to be Amanda Kloots.<\/p>\n<p>And so I just\u00a0\u2011\u2011 yeah, honestly, from there, we kind of went back and forth.\u00a0 We came up with a longer synopsis.\u00a0 We pitched it to CBS I think that December.\u00a0 And then kind of just worked on it and wrote.\u00a0 And every draft of the outline, every draft of the script, Amanda\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I&#8217;d send to her first, she&#8217;d give her notes, and then we both would be on the notes calls with CBS. So that way,\u00a0anything that came up that they wanted to change, like, Amanda and I can bounce ideas off of each other.\u00a0 And Amanda is so creative and thinks outside the box in such great ways, and she knows\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I mean, like, my workout is walking to Starbucks every day. So Amanda was able to work in a lot more of the &#8220;this is the fitness lingo,&#8221; and\u00a0\u2011\u2011 for, like, the fitness scenes and stuff like that, which was very helpful because, you know, I couldn&#8217;t write what I know\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I did her class in Vancouver, though, and let me tell you, I need to work on my endurance.<\/p>\n<p>But the point being, it was great having Amanda there as a partner the entire time.\u00a0 And, you know, any time\u00a0\u2011\u2011 like if a note was frustrating, I&#8217;d be like, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t this note crazy?&#8221;\u00a0 And she&#8217;d be like, &#8220;Yeah, this note is crazy.&#8221;\u00a0 And then we&#8217;d figure out how to do it better together.\u00a0 So that was really cool.<\/p>\n<p>And then seeing her come alive on scene as the character was just\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I&#8217;m so glad I got to be part of it and see it.\u00a0 You will not believe that this is her first scripted movie\/television role.\u00a0 When you watch it, she was a natural.\u00a0 She went like that.\u00a0 She was so present.\u00a0 I just like\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I can&#8217;t wait for everyone to see\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I mean, no one&#8217;s surprised she has all these talents, but I&#8217;m excited for everyone to see her acting chops.<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN:\u00a0 Thank you, Anna.\u00a0 And that is a great callout regarding this\u00a0being a first for Amanda in many, many ways, which makes this such a special story around the movie overall, but thank you.\u00a0 And I, too, will not be fit for Christmas.\u00a0 I might be fit for Easter.\u00a0 We will see.<\/p>\n<p>(Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.\u00a0 That&#8217;s all of our time for today, so I think I&#8217;m going to throw to Jessica, our movie director and one of our EPs, just to make some final remarks and give us some final thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>JESSICA HARMON:\u00a0 No pressure or anything.\u00a0 Thank you, Noelle,\u00a0 amazing panel, everyone.\u00a0 It was good to see everyone again.<\/p>\n<p>I kind of touched on this with answering your question earlier, but having done this for\u00a0\u2011\u2011 not this specifically, but having been in the film industry for 27 years, I can honestly say that, you know, I love my job, I love being on set, but it&#8217;s not always the easiest thing to pull off.\u00a0 And I think Christmas isn&#8217;t always the easiest thing for everybody.\u00a0 Holidays aren&#8217;t the easiest time for a lot of people.\u00a0 And I know for Amanda, this movie was, you know, borne out of a very difficult time in her life and grief, and what she&#8217;s done with that is an incredible thing that the world has watched and seen.\u00a0 And I know every single person on this cast and every single person watching has also had difficult times in their lives.\u00a0 And this film, for me, I was going through something difficult prior to it, and it was such a wonderful, wonderful experience to make this movie.\u00a0 And I really, really do believe that the performances that these people gave really came from the heart.\u00a0 And I think the audience is going to recognize that and see that.<\/p>\n<p>And, you know, Christmas isn&#8217;t always the easiest time for people.\u00a0 And I really do just hope that this movie coming from a group of people that has all had hardships and has all been through difficult times in their own lives and brought beautiful emotions to this story, I really hope that that translates for people.\u00a0 And in my opinion\u00a0\u2011\u2011 and I&#8217;m likely biased, but in my opinion, it really did.\u00a0 And anyone that I&#8217;ve shown the film to agrees that there&#8217;s just something really incredibly joyous about this.<\/p>\n<p>And I think that, you know, sitting around at Christmas with your family, this is a wonderful movie to watch.\u00a0 Because if you&#8217;re in a great mood, it&#8217;s going to keep that great mood going; and if you&#8217;re feeling a little down, it&#8217;s something that you can watch and it&#8217;s going to elevate you because it&#8217;s just\u00a0\u2011\u2011 it&#8217;s a group of really, really talented, wonderful people who really put their all into it.\u00a0 And I think it&#8217;s something that everyone here can certainly be proud of.\u00a0 And anybody that worked on the film I know is very proud of it.\u00a0 And I just can&#8217;t wait for everybody to watch it and love it the way we love it.<\/p>\n<p>So just thank you.\u00a0 And I&#8217;m just proud to be a part of this film.\u00a0 And seeing all these faces again\u00a0\u2011\u2011 I&#8217;m in Bulgaria shooting a movie right now.\u00a0 And seeing their faces, I&#8217;m like &#8212; I just feel happy.\u00a0 I think people are going to be happy to watch.\u00a0 So thank you.<\/p>\n<p>NOELLE LLEWELLYN:\u00a0 Thank you for that.\u00a0 And, you know, that&#8217;s such a powerful message of triumph and hope and, you know, something that we all\u00a0\u2011\u2011 a lot of people do need at the holidays.\u00a0 So thank you for pointing that out.<\/p>\n<p>And thank you all for being a part of what is an incredibly fun film.\u00a0 And we are very much looking forward to it.\u00a0 So thank you to our panelists today.\u00a0 We appreciate you.<\/p>\n<p>And everyone, this concludes our CBS holiday collection press junket.\u00a0 I will be immortalized in your mind for the next year in this sweater.\u00a0 Do I regret it?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 We thank you for joining us, and we wish you all a very, very happy holiday season.<\/p>\n<p>MORE INFO:<\/p>\n<div class=\"release-titles\">\n<h3 class=\"doc-release-title\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-36105 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fitforchristmas.jpg\" alt=\"CBS holiday special FIT FOR CHRISTMAS, scheduled to air on the CBS Television Network.Photo: Linsday Siu\/CBS \u00a92022 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.\" width=\"401\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fitforchristmas.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fitforchristmas-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fitforchristmas-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fitforchristmas-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 401px) 100vw, 401px\" \/>CBS ORDERS THREE NEW ORIGINAL HOLIDAY MOVIES FOR 2022<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"release-body-wrapper\">\n<p><strong>Award-Winning Musician Sheryl Crow to Executive Produce and<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Write the Title Song for \u201cWhen Christmas Was Young\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>The Talk\u2019s\u201d Amanda Kloots to Star in and Executive Produce \u201cFit for Christmas\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Prolific Holiday Film Writer and Producer Mark Amato to Pen<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>Must Love Christmas\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CBS announced today that it has ordered three new original holiday movies to air in December 2022.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"_Hlk100332463\"><\/a>Award-winning singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow will executive produce and write the title song for WHEN CHRISTMAS WAS YOUNG, a Nashville music-themed movie from a script by screenwriter and bestselling novelist Robert Tate Miller (\u201cHope at Christmas,\u201d <em>Forever Christmas<\/em>). The story follows a headstrong music manager in desperate need of a hit song for his last remaining client, who finds himself falling for a gifted singer-songwriter with abandoned dreams of making it big, as he attempts to secure the rights to a Christmas song she wrote years ago. Tom Mazza, David Calvert-Jones and Karen Glass (Everywhere Studios) will executive produce, together with executive producers Shawn Williamson and Jamie Goehring for Lighthouse Pictures.<\/p>\n<p>THE TALK\u2019s Amanda Kloots will star in and executive produce FIT FOR CHRISTMAS from writer and executive producer Anna White (\u201cChristmas Wonderland\u201d), the tale of Audrey, an enthusiastic Christmas-obsessed fitness instructor at a beloved, financially beleaguered community center in quaint Mistletoe, Mont., who begins a holiday romance with a charming, mysterious businessman, complicating his plans to turn the center into a more financially profitable resort property. The movie will be produced by Brad Krevoy\u2019s Motion Picture Corporation of America.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Amato, who has created a dozen holiday-themed films, including last season\u2019s CBS Original movie A CHRISTMAS PROPOSAL, as well as \u201cA Kiss Before Christmas,\u201d is writing MUST LOVE CHRISTMAS. In it, a renowned romance novelist famous for her Christmas-themed books finds herself snowbound in the charming town of Cranberry Falls, where she unexpectedly becomes involved in a love triangle between her childhood crush and a reporter determined to interview her to save his dying magazine. The movie will be produced by Brad Krevoy\u2019s Motion Picture Corporation of America.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2021, the CBS Original movies \u201cChristmas Takes Flight\u201d and \u201cA Christmas Proposal\u201d were the first original holiday television movies to air on CBS since 2012, and the newest additions to CBS\u2019 longstanding holiday programming slate, which includes family-favorites like The Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS and the annual broadcasts of beloved animated classics, including \u201cRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer\u201d and \u201cFrosty the Snowman.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Proofread and Edited by <a href=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/20\/biobrenda\/\">Brenda<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/interviews\/\">Back to the Primetime Articles and Interviews Page<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-36103\" src=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fit2.png\" alt=\"Scene from &quot;Fit for Christmas&quot; with Amanda Kloots and Paul Greene on CBS\" width=\"313\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fit2.png 313w, https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fit2-300x270.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 313px) 100vw, 313px\" \/><\/p>\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- TVMEGBODY -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1056557952271337\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"8801203268\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TV Interview! &nbsp; Interview with Actors Amanda Kloots, Paul Greene, Rebecca Budig, director\/producer Jessica Harmon, and writer\/producer Anna White of &#8220;Fit For Christmas&#8221; on CBS by Suzanne 11\/3\/22 This is a typical holiday movie, but I most enjoyed seeing Rebecca Budig in it (even though it&#8217;s a fairly small part) and being able to chat [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,7],"tags":[79,433,87,1380,88,346],"class_list":["post-36102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-primetime","tag-article","tag-cbs","tag-christmas","tag-fit-for-christmas","tag-holiday","tag-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36102"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37921,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36102\/revisions\/37921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}