How a Calgary-born director's heart grew 3 sizes when he learned to embrace the Christmas movie

From horror to Hallmark, a Calgary-born filmmaker's career has been anything but dull.

David Winning has been behind the camera for everything,from teen hitsBreaker HighAre You Afraid of the Dark, to science fiction and horror series like AndromedaandTodd and the Book of Pure Evil. But in recent years he seems to have found a comfortable niche in directing Christmas movies for the Hallmark and Lifetime channels.

Hallmark Christmas movie enthusiasts may have seen some of Winning's titles over the years, which include films like Magic Stocking, A December Bride, Engaging Father ChristmasandMarrying Father Christmas.

The filmmaker, who now calls Vancouver home, stopped by CBC Calgary to chat with The Homestretchabout how his heart grew three sizes when he learned to embrace the Christmas movie.

The interview has been edited for clarity and content.

Q. So how did you come to this. Where did you find this nice variety of projects?

A.This year's been kind of strange,just because Van Helsing is obviously this gruesome action-packed vampire series that's on Netflix eventually. It's currently on Syfychannel in the States, but folks will be able to see the whole new season of Van Helsing in January.

Then just kind of the way the planets aligned, I started doing Christmas movies for Hallmark Channel and Lifetime and they sometimes overlap in the same month. It's been a little different butthe vampire stuff is cathartic and the Hallmark Channel movies are nice and wholesome and Mom gets to watch.

My mom is 95, she's a good Alberta farm girl andshe likes the Christmas movies.I don't let her watch the Van Helsing. It's not really her speed.

Q. We hear about actors getting typecast, can directors also get put in the box?

A.Absolutely. In fact,it's a strange career,I'll do one thing for three or four years I did kid shows for Nickelodeon and then I was doing monster movies for SyfyChannel I've kind of done a bit of everything,alot of science fiction mixed with that.

Then somebody will ask you to do a nice Christmas movie, and they'll love the results and then you're on that treadmill for a few years, which has been great.

Q. You've made several Hallmark Christmas movies, and they've been successful. Hallmark just seems to be really good at that. So why why do you think that franchise works so well?

A.I think, not to get political, but I think in dark times people love this kind of entertainment because it's very comfortable and it's very comforting. Even though the Hallmark and Lifetimestories have been criticized for having very obvious story lines that you know how they're going to end, some people really like that.

It's kind of like back to the '40s when people were just going to see all the phantom fantasies in the Busby Berkeley musicals and all that stuff. So that's kind of where we are now.

Q. I understand you're a little hesitant to do Christmas movies.

A. I got a little un-Grinched doing these movies because I thought, I'm not really a Christmas guy, lately I've been doing all these,all sorts of monster movies and things. So I did the first Christmas movie and the challenge for me wastrying to make any of the stories heartwarming and wonderful, and my heart grew three sizes making these movies. It's been fun.

Q. You're not shooting these movies in December in Canada, are you?

A. No. We did we did one movie in Ottawa in actual winter and the rest of them basically we're shooting in Vancouver, where I'm based, and it's a lot of just trying to fake snow.

I think I breathethe fake snow by the time I actually get toreal Christmas. It's a challenge,butit's not really about the snow, it's about the heart-warming stories that you're trying to tell.

Q.So are the actors really havingto work hard? Alot of times they're wearing parkas when it's not exactly cold.

A.We've shot a few days in Vancouver where people are wearing parkas and scarves and it's 30 degrees in July and that's a bit of a challenge, but that's what they arethere for they'reactors, they have to pretend it's cold.

Q. How did you get into filmmaking in the first place?

A. I started making movies in my backyard in Calgary, years and years ago and I just was sort of desperate to see if I could find a way to make my hobby into a career.

I wasn't really kind of a nine-to-fiveguy, so I spent most of my 20s making a film called Storm. Insteadof going to film school,I told dad I'm just gonna make this movie. So we took the money that we had set aside for film school and made a movie and it was successful.

When I was 26 I was directing Friday the 13th: The Seriesdown in Toronto and some director, as has happened a lot in my career, fell out or got sick or something, so they flip through the director book and they said, "Winning! Sounds positive.Let's hire this guy."

So that's how I lucked into a job when I was fairly young.

Q. What about what about the relationships that are involved in developing a career like yours?

A. What I tell film students now is it's almost all about politics when you start out, it'sall about the relationship you develop.I'm frankly amazed that I'm still doing this after all these years because there's a lot of folks that I started out with in the '80s that have just bailed and gone on to different careers.

Imoved down to Los Angeles in the late '90s and Idirected the Power Rangers sequel,and I didSweet Valley High and a lot of kids' series down in L.A. and then from there you kind of branch out everywhere else.

I've had up and down years like any other career but Hallmark's been very good to me, so I'm I'm happy to keep making these movies if they like the ratings and things are doing well.

Q.With streaming services like Netflix, you have so much content that needs to be generated now. Does that allow you to be a little more choosy given that you've got a reputation in the business?Or does that make any difference in the kind of projects that you want to be involved in.

A.I've been trying to get back to doing independent features out of Canada. I did two films and thenI kind of fell into directing television and all sorts other things. I would love to get back to independent features, butobviously directing for other people islucrative and educational.

At some point in a low in my career,I might want to get back to doing what I started out in Calgary doing, which was independent features.

Q. What'sthe one holiday movie you've directed that people should definitely see?

A, Hopefully they can watch Time for Me to Come Home, which is based on a Blake Shelton song. It's going to air on City TV on Christmas Day. It's myafter-turkey Christmas present to folks who want to watch a nice Christmas movie in the evening. It's airing at 9 p.m. all across the country.

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With files from The Homestretch