Genre: Holiday/Action
Premise: In the sequel to Santaman, an evil suburban dad goes back in time before Christmas to change the holiday into his own likeness, forcing our holly-jolly ass-kicker to take him down and… you guessed it… save Christmas!
About: This one comes from one of our own, Colin O’Brien! Colin was commissioned to write the sequel to the animated film, Santaman. That second movie never made it to production but Colin has been adamant that the sequel deserves to see the light of day amongst a glut of weak holiday fare. Let’s find out if he’s right.
Writer: Colin O’Brien
Details: 98 pages
There are several templates that are considered “acceptable” when it comes to Christmas movies. There’s the Hallmark family gathering Christmas script. There is the “regular person must save Christmas” Christmas script. And there are the 15 million adaptations of A Christmas Carol.
But, in screenwriting, you don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. You want to find a new spin on the old acceptable templates. However, every time you put a new spin on something, you’re taking a risk. That spin has not yet been proven to work and, therefore, there’s a chance it will fail.
Scripts like Red One and Santaman take the “Save Christmas” trope and add secret agents and superheroes. That’s what you’re told to do in screenwriting. Don’t give us the same ole same ole. Give us a new spin! But the question becomes, “Is the reason these other spins have never been done before because they don’t work?”
Is Red One a success? Probably not.
Which leaves us Santaman. What kind of present-under-the-tree are we getting here? Is this a Lego Millennium Falcon (my dream present)? Or is it a pair of socks (the present my brother gets me every year)?
This is a very different Santa Claus from the one you and I know. He still delivers presents one day a year. But on the OTHER 364 days a year… HE FIGHTS CRIME. And it isn’t long before we see him and his trusty reindeer, Comet, take down a villain named King Coal, who flies around via a modified coal-burning stove strapped to his back.
Afterward, Santa has to head back to the North Pole since Christmas is less than 24 hours away. After coordinating with his head elf, Morton, they begin the all-night process of delivering presents. When Santa sees an uncharted house lit up like a Christmas tree, he goes down for a delivery. But it’s a trap! A suburban dad named Dan Sipowitz and his wife, Bella, knock Santa out.
They then head back hundreds of years to the beginning of Christmas and Dan steals the coveted vile of “Christmas magic,” allowing HIM to become Santa in this new timeline. Back to the present and, now, Christmas is known as Sipowitzmas. And instead of getting free gifts, you have to buy them!
Meanwhile, OG Santa’s plan is to convince his elves and reindeer up in the North Pole that he’s Santa. But they don’t know who he is! They’re now all wild versions of their previous selves, the result of this new alternate timeline.
Eventually, Santa makes his way to Sipowitz’s “Gift” Distribution Center, where he confronts Sipowitz with unsuccessful results. How can you convince people you’re Santa Claus when they don’t even know who Santa Claus is! Sipowitz orders Morton, Santa’s #1 elf who doesn’t know he was ever Santa’s #1 elf, to get Santa, forcing Santa to make a run for it.
All of this culminates in a showdown in Times Square during a parade. A SIPOWITZ PARADE. That’s right, Dan Sipowitz has created a “Christmas” parade commemorating himself. The evil Sipowitz hops on a couple of drones and tears toward Santa Claus, determined to get rid of him once and for all.
I like Christmas movies that make me feel good.
I don’t like titles like, “Merry Deathmas” or “Little Drummer Serial Killer.” When it comes to this merry time of year, I like stuff that makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
That is the tone of Santaman to a T.
This script is designed to make you feel good during the holidays.
I mean, how can you not like a superhero version of Santa dueling it out in the city with a guy named King Coal who flies around powered by a modified coal stove?
Throw in heavy influence from the most delightful movie of all time, Back to the Future, and you’re plugging directly into my goosebump receptors.
Colin also has a natural inclination for writing set pieces and I thought the idea of a final set piece detailing a parade dedicated to our villain (one of the floats is Dan Sipowitz celebrating making his first million dollars), was really fun. Watching Sipowitz and Santa weave in and out of floats while doing battle was great.
And Colin’s got some good dialogue too! There were a lot of fun little dialogue exchanges like this one, from two elves desperately trying to save Santa…
PEYTON
What if we reversed the North polarity?
MORTON
We tried that.
PEYTON
Okay, what if we RE-reversed it?
MORTON
That’s not a thing.
The whole thing was pure fun.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t have notes!
In fact, I’ve given Colin notes on Santaman: Regifted. So, I’ll share a couple of them with you here.
The first one is that there’s definitely some familiarity peeking through this story. No matter how hard I tried, I could not not think of Martin Short’s Jack Frost in The Santa Claus franchise. Even though Dan Sipowitz isn’t a classic Christmas character, he still emitted that Jack Frost vibe.
Writing a screenplay is akin to walking a balance beam. No matter how hard you try, you’re going to lean into some familiar story elements. So your job is to counter-balance that by leaning in the other direction, creating your own unique elements.
The tricky part is that you’ll often create elements that are arguably unique, like Dan Sipowitz. But we’ve seen multiple elements from other movies that make Dan Sipowitz feel too familiar. Jack Frost as the villain who wants to steal Christmas in The Santa Claus 2. And then you have The Incredibles, which covered suburban dad superheroes.
You see, that’s all that matters to the reader. It’s never about it being a direct copy. It’s about how it FEELS. If it FEELS like something we’ve seen before, we’ll call it a cliche.
The other big note I gave Colin is the same note I give almost every writer: LEAN INTO WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT YOUR CONCEPT.
We just talked about this yesterday, where the featured subject matter was underground horse racing. Yet the writer barely explored what was unique about underground horse racing. Here, we have a script about Santa Claus being a superhero. Specifically a “Batman” like superhero. He’s got a lair. He’s got his own version of Alfred.
So when things go wrong under that scenario, I don’t want a regular Santa battling the bad guy. I want Santaman! I want a Santa superhero!
The reason this is important is because the things that are unique to your concept are the very things that are going to separate your script from every other script in that genre. So, whenever you go away from those things, you are telling a story that the viewer has already seen.
Colin and I had a discussion about this and I respected his response. He said, “Carson, I’ve rewritten this so many times. I don’t know if I want to change it anymore.” I totally get that. You get to a certain point with a script where you can’t make any more changes. Cause you run the risk of changing the script just to change it, stealing hours away from your life and for what? To make the script 3% better?
But look. Colin brings the fun here. The script reads so fast. So effortless. It’s got great set pieces. I love the time travel aspect. A solid 10-15 lol moments. Most of all, it put me in that holiday mood. Check it out for yourself and let Colin know what you think!
Script Link: Santaman 2: Regifted
[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[x] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned: “Santa’s toy workshop is just what you’d expect.” That line comes early on in the script. Never describe something as what the reader “would expect.” There should always be variations in your version of any description. It’s lazy to write things like, “This prom is exactly what you would expect.” Even if it’s meant to be familiar, you should still describe it in your own detailed way.
