The house, a traditional 1940s white stucco ranch, felt just right to Nina Weinman. It was in central Los Angeles, where she and her husband wanted to live, and it was in their price range.
It had a dishwasher and a garbage disposal, central heat and air conditioning — all things lacking in the couple's rental apartment. An especially welcome upgrade: the extra bathroom.
"Our apartment only had one bathroom. That was not a lot of fun when we were potty-training our two children," said Weinman, a prolific contributor of movie scripts to the Hallmark Channel — 30 produced so far — many with holiday themes. Her latest, "Catch Me if You Claus," premiered Thanksgiving evening.

The house was in disrepair, but it had a solid foundation and a roof of recent vintage, making it catnip to flippers. They were out in force, making all-cash offers. Weinman and her husband, Will Swift, a talent manager, had several contingencies and needed a loan.
Fortunately, currency comes in many forms. Weinman, who is exceedingly well versed in happy endings and how to achieve them in 84 minutes (excluding commercials), put her writing chops to work in a letter to the older woman who owned the house.
"She'd bought it in the 1950s, and it was really hard for her to sell. She didn't want to leave," Weinman said. "I wrote her: 'You've loved your kids in the house and raised your kids in the house and that's what we want to do,' and I enclosed a picture of our family."
Ultimately, she and Swift prevailed, closing on the property in 2016.
"Maybe my letter was a little bit better constructed than the average one, and maybe what I do for a living gave me a little bit of an advantage," Weinman conceded. "But honestly, it was from my heart, and the owner felt that."