#romcom professions

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Jake West, not a hat seller (Lucas Bryant, The Real West, 2024)

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Matthew Jamison, contractor and project manager (Lucas Bryant, Five More Minutes: Moments Like These, 2022)

Many people won't know that Lucas has a thriving business outside of acting, and it seems like fate was calling for him to step into Matthew's shoes.

"Well, first of all, in a strange mirroring of art meets life, right now, when I'm not working as an actor, I'm often doing building stuff. And so I'm working right now on a renovation that needs to be done by Christmas."

That's right, Lucas is a real-life Hallmark character.

"Right! So they were like, 'Well, this guy's a contractor.' And I said, 'Well, as much as I'm able to play any kind of character, this is in my wheelhouse.' I was right on board. And the director, Kevin, thought it was hilarious that the things that I was most particular about were when we were doing various installation techniques.

And so I was just like, 'This is upside down. This needs to go the other way. If you were hitting this, you'd hit it from here. And I'm not going to use a wrench here when I need a hammer.' And I just want to make sure that I'm a believable builder."

When you've got two worthwhile professions, you would certainly want to portray both in the best light. What would anybody think of his construction work if he couldn't handle the tools properly on screen?

He laughed, "So I was my own technical advisor when it came to my contractor work."

In the story, Matthew is a local contractor with ties to Kaitlyn's family who finds himself playing middleman between a developer and Kaitlyn for the home she shared with her husband and son.

It's "special because it was the first house that was designed by our lead character's late husband, who was an architect. So it's a touchy situation, obviously, but Matthew has heart and soul and a relationship with the family. So he's just trying to navigate that transaction without being insensitive to the needs of the family."

Lucas Bryant Talks Five More Minutes: Moments Like These and Life Mirroring Art

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Colin Fitzgerald, CFO at K!zzm!t (Lucas Bryant, Summer Love, 2016)

Colin Fitzgerald: Who says accountants can’t be creative?

Maya Sulliway: The IRS.

Colin Fitzgerald: Right.

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Tom Nowak, flower broker (Lucas Bryant) Tulips in Spring [Tulip for Rose] (2016)

Sarah Newell: We were just lucky that his broker was with him.

Rose Newell: Since when did you start working with a broker?

Sarah: Since we haven't been able to keep up with everything ourselves.

Rose: But Dad always said that brokers are slimy middlemen out to cheat you.

---

Tom Nowak: I work with your folks. Tom Nowak. Nice to meet you.

Rose: Rose. Newell.

Tom: I know.

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Rose: The only person my Mom has talked to me about is some slimy new broker they hired.

Tom: Slimy?

Rose: Well, my word, not hers but, I mean, c'mon. Brokers are basically salesmen and salesmen are all-

Tom: Slimy.

Rose: Exactly. -- As Operations Manager you're supposed to stay on top of this.

Tom: I should probably clarify one thing.

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Sarah: He took a nasty fall. Would have been a whole lot worse if Tom hadn't been there.

Tom: Just glad I could help.

Rose: Wait, I thought you said Dad was with the broker when he fell.

Sarah: Tom is our broker.

Tom: But you can call me mister Slimy. Trucks will be here 6 o'clock sharp. See you then.

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Rose: I don't get it. The whole time I was growing up, you were like, 'No brokers. They're just sneaky business men out to cheat you.

Sarah: We didn't make this decision lightly. There were a lot of factors that your father and I-

Frank Newell: The point is, Tom is different. He's local, he works with a lot of farms in the valley and he grew up with farmers just like you did.

Rose: Except I'm not out to make a big profit by marking up prices.

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Rose: You may not have noticed but brokers are not exactly at the top of the list of my favorite people.

Tom: Wait, really? *laughs*

Rose: I don't know. I always thought they were grumpy old men in cheap suits who were afraid to get their hands dirty.

Tom: Give me time.

Rose: So how did you get into this?

Tom: Well, I grew up not far from here. Little town called Grady. But I went to school on the East Coast. Got my business degree. Did pretty well for myself. Or at least according to how people see it.

Rose: But not you?

Tom: [--]One day a buddy of mine was talking about flower brokering, how it combines nature and business and I had this a-ha moment.

Rose: And here you are.

Tom: And here I am.

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Tom: The orders have not stopped coming in.

Rose: Well, you're the broker. You can start taking orders for next year.

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Matthew Anderson, barista/diner owner (Lucas Bryant, The Angel Tree, 2020)

*singsong* We’re doing this coffee thing! *dancing*

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Maggie Shaw, editor (Emily Rose, Matchmaker Christmas, 2019)

Maggie Shaw: He’s an author, I’m an editor, it was just work.

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Jake West, former Rodeo star, MC (Lucas Bryant, The Real West, 2024)

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Hayley Udall, ride share driver (Emily Rose, The Killing Pact, 2017) 2/ 3