TORONTO -- Although three-time Emmy Award winner Karen Schaler鈥檚 career banks so heavily on Christmas cheer today, her past is nothing like the popular movies she鈥檚 written.
Before writing movies such as Netflix鈥檚 鈥淎 Christmas Prince,鈥� she was a hardened war correspondent embedded in some of the world鈥檚 most dangerous conflict zones.
Schaler, who most recently wrote the holiday novel 鈥淔inding Christmas,鈥� told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning she now considers war reporting as 鈥渉er old life.鈥�
In 1995, then-investigative reporter Schaler was embedded with troops in Bosnia for about a month; and in 2007, she travelled with U.S. troops in Afghanistan. 鈥淚 always wanted to tell the stories of the soldiers and the real stories behind the scenes,鈥� she said, calling her experiences with them, 鈥渁mazing.鈥�
But when she鈥檇 come out of the war zones, she always looked forward to the Christmas movies and novelsshe considered to be a 鈥渟afe escape.鈥�
Although she had devoted her life to reporting, after a health issue forced her to take a couple weeks off work she decided to give screenwriting a shot, according to an interview with .
Holiday films were 鈥渏ust something I could dive into and just forget about all the negative things in the world. So when I got the opportunity, I thought, 鈥業 want to give back, they鈥檝e brought me so much joy.鈥欌��
Schaler, who鈥檚 now better known as 鈥淐hristmas Karen,鈥� has written three successful holiday-themed films: 鈥淐hristmas Camp,鈥� 鈥淓very Day is Christmas鈥� starring singer Toni Braxton and Netflix鈥檚 鈥淎 Christmas Prince.鈥�
While the story for that last film was inspired by Schaler鈥檚 own experiences as a travel journalist in Wales, she says a lot of her ideas for storylines can be traced back to her childhood: 鈥淚t鈥檚 what I wanted as a little girl, what I wanted for Christmas.鈥�
In her holiday movies, she said that Christmas 鈥渋s not just a character, it鈥檚 the star.鈥�
鈥淲hat story am I going to tell? And I try and bring in the experiences I鈥檝e had: family, community, love and mix them all together and come up with something --hopefully -- magical.鈥�
She now boasts of films which have ended up on Netflix, Hallmark, and Lifetime Christmas. She said the key to writing a Christmas movie is leaning on the idea that audiences find comfort in a familiar formula.
These can include the standard cute-meet (where the romantic leads meet in a cute way), having obstacles to a couple鈥檚 love, one of the leads either loving or hating Christmas, a character discovering the meaning of the season and of course, near-miss kisses.
鈥淚t鈥檚 what people want,鈥� Schaler said, citing the political and economic troubles so many people around the world want escape from. Finding ways to tell stories for those audiences is a challenge she loves, especially as a writer able to 鈥渇ind different twists鈥� in those age-old formulas.
