A Carpenter Christmas Romance Filming Locations and Cast Details
A Carpenter Christmas Romance filmed in Los Angeles during September 2024. Full cast list with character details, filming conditions, and production credits.
Lifetime’s A Carpenter Christmas Romance filmed entirely in Los Angeles, California during September 2024. The town of Wildwood, where the story is set, is fictional and was never used as a location. Sasha Pieterse plays novelist Andrea Metcalf and Mitchell Slaggert plays artisanal woodworker Seth Ferguson. Both also held executive producer credits on the project. The film premiered December 21, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET as part of Lifetime’s “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” holiday slate. Grey’s Anatomy veteran Sarah Drew wrote the screenplay and served as executive producer. Jake Helgren directed.
Where Was A Carpenter Christmas Romance Filmed?
The shoot completed in a few weeks, with conditions Pieterse later described on Instagram: “100+ heat, fires, potentially haunted farmhouses, long drives.” Producer Autumn Federici, who produces alongside Helgren through The Ninth House production company, also commented publicly that the team felt “on fire metaphorically [sic] and figuratively” during the shoot.
No specific filming venues within Los Angeles were identified in production materials released by the studio or the cast. The Ninth House produced the film in association with Apex Content Ventures.
Cast of A Carpenter Christmas Romance
Sasha Pieterse plays Andrea Metcalf, a bestselling romantasy novelist who retreats to her family’s farmhouse in Wildwood after fans begin protesting her plan to kill off a beloved character in her next book. Mitchell Slaggert plays Seth Ferguson, Andrea’s former crush who is now working as an artisanal woodworker hired to help rebuild Wildwood after a devastating fire. The two team up to revive the town’s Christmas spirit, and old feelings resurface.
The supporting cast, with character assignments confirmed by production materials, includes:
- Kaley McCormack as Ella Metcalf
- Asia King as Aiko
- Sam Myerson as Chance
- Zuri Hall as Vanessa
- Chris Gann as William Ferguson
- Amanda McCants as Cindy
- J. Rene Pena as Martha
- Fiona Aoi Williams as Pearl
- Charles Karafotas as Santa
- Omar Aragones as Hector
- Khalen Roman Sanchez as Aiden
Sasha Pieterse (Andrea Metcalf)
Best known as Alison DiLaurentis in ABC Family/Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars (2010-2017) and its spin-off Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists (2019), Pieterse was born on February 17, 1996, in Johannesburg, South Africa, and moved to the United States in 2001. Earlier credits span television and film: a guest appearance in House M.D. (2005), a recurring part in the NBC series Heroes, the role of Japonica Fenway in Inherent Vice (2014), and a brief background appearance in X-Men: First Class (2011). She also played antagonist Dawn Hatfield in the Hawaii Five-0 Season 4 episode “Pe’epe’e Kainaka” (2014).
Mitchell Slaggert (Seth Ferguson)
Before transitioning to acting, Slaggert built a career as a professional model, appearing in campaigns for Calvin Klein, Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, and other international fashion labels. Born on September 15, 1994, in Fayetteville, Georgia, he moved to acting with the lead role in Moss (2017), a recurring part in the Mexican thriller series Diablo Guardián, and the role of Jackson in Season 2 of HBO Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls. His highest-profile current role is Ryder Sampson in the Paramount+ series Landman (2024-present).
Who Wrote and Produced A Carpenter Christmas Romance?
Sarah Drew wrote the screenplay and executive produced. Drew is best known for her nine-season run as Dr. April Kepner in Grey’s Anatomy (Seasons 6 through 14). Her previous Lifetime holiday film was A Cowboy Christmas Romance (2023). Drew described her structural approach in an interview with Swooon: “The slow burn is so important. Otherwise, who cares?” She crafted Andrea as a romantasy author, a genre she said she developed the character around before reading any romantasy fiction herself.
Drew executive produced alongside Eric Levin, Allie Dvorin, and John Turner for Apex Content Ventures. Jake Helgren directed and produced through The Ninth House alongside Autumn Federici, with whom he has worked on multiple Lifetime productions.
The executive producer credits carried by both lead actors are unusual for a seasonal Lifetime film. Standard holiday TV movies of this type cast their leads as hired talent rather than stakeholders. That Pieterse and Slaggert both held formal producing roles from the project’s development stage is the clearest available signal of how the package was structured. Our reading is that the producing stakes change the incentives involved, independent of what the finished film delivers on screen.
