4 things you didn't know about shooting a Christmas movie in the summer

• Pat Mills is a movie director who's directed his share of made-for-TV Christmas movies.
• He says they're often made in the spring or summer, which makes filming tough.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Pat Mills, who directed "The Christmas Setup'' and "Designing Christmas." It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've directed two made-for-TV Christmas movies — "The Christmas Setup," starring Fran Drescher, which I did in 2020 for Discovery Plus, and "Designing Christmas," starring HGTV host Hilary Farr, which I shot this past spring for Lifetime.

I wouldn't categorize myself as a Christmas freak by any means. When I was offered the first movie, I admittedly I hadn't watched a lot of the Hallmark or Lifetime holiday movies. But as a child I really loved movies like "Home Alone," "Scrooge," and those classic Christmas films.

What attracted me to my first movie like this was the queer content rather than the Christmas aspect of it — but I loved the challenge of shooting a holiday movie when it's not winter time. A lot of these films are developed in the winter, and by the time they all get greenlit, it's probably June or July.

Here are a few things most people don't realize about how we fake that Christmas feeling when we shoot in the warmer months.

1. It's a tough job for an actor to act cold when they're actually incredibly hot

They should give out Emmys to actors who can act like they aren't sweating to death in turtlenecks while shooting these movies during a heat wave.

For "Designing Christmas," a couple of the actors, Marco Grazzini and Jessica Szohr, had this big date night scene inside a house that had no air conditioning — but in the film it's supposed to be cold outside, so we had a fire going. It was so hot that I was in a tank top.

We would take breaks whenever they needed to, but the second the actors were sweaty, their makeup would start to run. Makeup people — who don't get nearly the credit they deserve — would run in and dab the sweat away.

2. The cost of fake snow limits a lot of the shots you see

These kinds of films often have a low budget to work with, but it costs so much money to cover up a neighborhood with fake snow.

Once you lay the snow down on grass to shoot exteriors, it starts to look dirty quickly because people walk on it. If you have to come back the next day to shoot more, more snow will have to be put down — the cost can really add up.

When we wanted a very wide shot, we had to use stock photography. It's not ideal, but it is sometimes necessary.

3. The warm weather can actually help things

As hard as it can be sometimes to create that Christmas feeling in the summer, I still think it's the best way to make these movies. When I researched ones that were shot in the winter, they didn't have the fantasy of the perfectly white the snow — because real snow gets too dirty — so they lacked a certain artifice that's attractive.

Actors also tend to look a little more comfortable because they're not actually freezing in the scene. And in the real winter, you don't get a lot of nice sunshine — there are lots of overcast days that feel a little gray and bleak. The nice summer sunlight allows for the bright, attractive aesthetic that people expect from these movies.

4. The natural environment can give us away if we're not careful — but we have a few workarounds

One big thing to look out for is a deciduous tree in the frame — because if viewers can see a bloomed maple tree, for example, which loses its leaves in the wintertime, it'll blow our cover.

When scouting locations, we hunt around for specific evergreen trees — but they can't be too big, because it'll cost too much to cover them in snow. I once had a scene where two characters were walking down the street, and I realized they had to slow down because they were moving too fast past the fake snow. We have to be really creative to get the shots we want.

At the end of the day, so many of these low-budget Christmas movies get made because people can't get enough of them

It's shocking how many Christmas TV movies get made every year — but if people continue watching them, even though they're very similar to one another in a lot of ways, then they'll continue to get made.

These movies provide a fantasy, and people are looking for an escape. They want something predictable and familiar, especially during holidays — and especially now, when the world feels like it's in total chaos 24/7. These movies take us away from all that.

If you work in Hollywood and would like to share your story, email Eboni Boykin-Patterson at eboykinpatterson@insider.com.