Lifelong Christmas movie with sex scenes and more, says writer Sarah Drew
Lifetime continues to add spice to their eggnog.
In 2023, ‘A Cowboy Christmas Romance’ became the first Christmas TV movie to feature a sex scene, written by Sarah Drew. This year, Drew wrote and produced another of the network’s “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” movies — and this one is even sexier than the last.
“A Carpenter Christmas Romance,” starring Mitchell Slaggert and Sasha Pieterse, plays with “the spirit of adding the spicy to the sweet to the Christmas season,” she said. Variety on Thursday at our annual Power of Women event in Los Angeles. “There is more steam this year than last year, so prepare yourself. Mitchell Slaggert, he’s shirtless. He’s also just absolutely perfect in this role… He has so much heart and so much charisma on screen. And Sasha Pieterse is great.”
Although TV Christmas movies are traditionally G-rated, Drew knows audiences are left wanting something more. “I am that audience,” she said. “It was so exciting to see Lifetime really supporting a little new genre for the holiday season.”
Sarah Drew and Sasha Pieterse attend Variety’s Power of Women presented by Lifetime
Variation via Getty Images
Drew’s latest Christmas movie featured an intense makeout scene and then transitioned to the morning. Will viewers get to see a real sex scene this time?
“Yes… and more,” Pieterse teased. “It’s really tough. I was shocked. It’s one of the reasons I took it. I thought: this is different, this is fun. This is something that I think a lot of people will enjoy, and it might surprise them a little bit. Christmas movies are so comforting and so much fun, and I think we all watch them for a reason. But if there is something different in it, it is always exciting. We will bring the spices, that’s for sure.”
The film follows novelist Andrea, who goes to her family’s farm to finish her latest book. While there, she stirs things up again with her “ex-love Seth, an artisanal woodworker who helps rebuild the town after it was nearly destroyed by fire.”
Drew added that since Christmas is for everyone, “we need to make films that are also for everyone who relates to Christmas.”
“This one has something spicy [element]. They used to have something, but he hurt her in the past and now they are getting back together. They are dealing with different insecurities that they have and feeling more mature,” she explained. “Look, I love hot chocolate, I love gingerbread, I love all the cozy feelings, but I also want something to sink my teeth into.”
“A Carpenter Christmas Romance” airs on Lifetime on December 21 at 8 p.m
