The christmas contract
The Christmas Contract is a 2018 Lifetime television film. A woman goes home to Louisiana for Christmas with a signed pretend relationship. It is a movie, not a legal form you need.
How it works
Jolie Guidry, played by Hilarie Burton, returns to her Louisiana hometown for the first Christmas after a break-up with Foster. Their families still run the town Christmas market together, so she will see him. He is bringing a new girlfriend. Jolie’s friend Naomi, a lawyer played by Danneel Ackles, suggests that Jolie bring Naomi’s brother Jack, a novelist played by Robert Buckley. Naomi writes a Christmas contract: Jack pretends to be the buffer at awkward moments; Jolie builds him a website for his book. The title is that document. It is a plot device. It is not a form you download for your own family argument.
Monika Mitchell directed. Cassie Doyle wrote the script. Active Entertainment produced it for Lifetime’s holiday slate. The U.S. premiere was 22 November 2018 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The rating is TV-PG. Listings put the running time at about an hour and a half; use the clock on your copy. This page will not invent a box-office figure for a television film.
Several of the leads had already appeared together on One Tree Hill. That reunion is why a lot of people searched the title. It is extra-textual. The story on screen is still a hometown Christmas, a market, and a fake couple who signed paper. You do not need the earlier series to follow the film. You may want it if the faces are the reason you sat down.
Cast and the Lifetime slot
Beside Burton, Buckley, and Ackles, the billed household includes Cheryl Ladd and Bruce Boxleitner as Jolie’s parents, Jordan Ladd, Jason London, Hunter Burke as Foster, Antwon Tanner, and a musical appearance by Tyler Hilton. Those names tell you the register: a warm television Christmas picture, not a courtroom drama, despite the word “contract” in the title.
Title: The Christmas Contract. Network premiere: Lifetime, 22 November 2018. Leads: Hilarie Burton, Robert Buckley, Danneel Ackles. Setting: a Louisiana hometown and its Christmas market. The contract: a made-up agreement between Jolie and Jack, written by Naomi.
Streaming catalogues move. A title that sat on one service last December may sit on another this year, or on a disc. Search the 2018 Lifetime film with Burton’s name if the results mix in other “Christmas contract” documents, romance novels, or office HR templates. Those are different objects that share two words.
The contract as a plot device
In the story, the paper is a bargain: company at Christmas in exchange for web work. In real life, you do not need a lawyer-friend to invent a boyfriend for a market stall. You can go home alone. You can stay away. You can tell the truth at the table. The film is in the business of not taking that advice, because a romance needs two people in the same house for two hours. Watch it as that genre. Do not sign a joke document and call it a plan.
The feast on the 25th does not need this plot. The film’s Louisiana market is a December set. Putting the movie on in November, when it first aired, or in the week of the 25th, does not move the feast. If your own town runs a Christmas market, its hours are local. They are not the hours of a 2018 set.
A contract in a Christmas film is there so two people have to stand next to each other. Real paper at a real table should do a job, not a meet-cute. If you wanted a Hallmark title, this is the wrong network. If you wanted a legal explainer, this is the wrong page. If you wanted a hometown romance with a signed gag at the centre, this is the tape. Play it, let it end, and leave 25 December on the calendar where it already was.
Questions and answers
- What is The Christmas Contract?
- A 2018 Lifetime television film. Hilarie Burton’s Jolie goes home to Louisiana for Christmas with a pretend partner under a written bargain.
- Is it a Hallmark movie?
- No. It premiered on Lifetime on 22 November 2018.
- Do I need a Christmas contract of my own?
- No. The contract is a plot device. It is not a form for real relationships or real markets.
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