Writer · Singer-Songwriter · Broadcaster · Blogger
Christmas movies with heart, humour and original songs.
Vickie van Dyke writes cinematic holiday screenplays brimming with romance, reinvention, history, fun and original music.
Biography
Vickie van Dyke
Imagine, if you will, a young singer-songwriter with a background in musical theatre, who earns a university degree in Drama (because her parents were professors and she had to) and then goes on to start her own country band and release country records to radio. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?
Imagine that same girl is then invited to co-host the #1 country radio show in Canada, just because during one interview, some DJ dude tells her she “gives good mic.” After ten years of hee-haw, (not ever really her thing), she segues into Smooth Jazz radio (much more her style), goes on to win the first-ever Broadcaster of the Year prize at the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards, a show for which she writes seven scripts (what—you thought those presenters were just naturally witty?). When the station—WAVE 98.3 FM—moves to Vancouver (her favourite city in Canada) she is thrilled. Imagine though, she has other aspirations.
Radio is fun but she loves to write so, with wine in hand, she begins blogging—because the drunken pen writes the sober heart (also she has a lot to say). This leads to writing a memoir, mostly because she leaves her husband for another man and then that man’s wife gets together with her husband and if that ain’t a good story, what is?
She is a self-professed Christmas Queen so imagine she decides to produce a holiday album for charity, enlisting the help of her famous musical friends and writing 8 new songs for the project. Imagine some Toronto music-biz dude asking for these very songs, hoping to place them in holiday movies, who then forgets to do anything. Literally—forgets. Imagine this same girl, about to sign a new contract with said dude, thinking—Hey, wait a minute—I’m a writer. I’ll write my own damn Christmas movies!
And just like that—a new passion is born.
Someone (who shall remain nameless) once said:
If Nora Ephron had a glass of wine, hosted a radio show, shared her innermost feelings in a blog and a memoir and wrote Christmas movies with original songs—you’d get Vickie van Dyke.
And now—with 7 completed scripts, including The Downbridge Trilogy—absolutely ripe for Downton Abbey/Bridgerton fans—and all with original music—Vickie van Dyke has stopped imagining and has actually produced 7 memorable, original, gripping, romantic and festive holiday screenplays. And pitch decks. Words, pictures, music—these films will practically produce themselves.
Just imagine what she might do next?
Featured Screenplay
A Downbridge Abbey Christmas
Feature · Holiday Romance · Time-travel rom-com
Logline: When a rom-com-obsessed American inherits an English manor and is mysteriously transported to its past, she falls for a principled gardener and must decide whether to follow the rules of time—or risk everything to rewrite them.
Screenplay · Pitch deck · 1 original song — Christmas in My Dreams
From the Writer’s Desk
Confessions of a Potty-Mouthed Chef: How to Cheat, Eat and Be Happy
A candid, emotionally raw, sometimes hilarious memoir of food, sex, love, mistakes and second chances—the same wit and honesty you’ll find on winesoakedramblings.com plus some tasty cheater recipes!
Music & Musings
Life, relationships, love, music and reinvention — because the drunken pen writes the sober heart.
For Producers & Agents
Holiday screenplays with pitch decks and original music. Request materials or discuss collaboration.
For Readers & Fans
Read the memoir, follow the blog, and hear Simply Christmas on YouTube.