Amanda Kloots talks Christmas with her first film, ‘Fit For Christmas’

“I moved to L.A. three years ago and my sole job was my fitness business,” she says. “Since, then, in those three years, my life has completely changed.”

The idea for a movie struck while she was in bed in July 2020. Kloots thought it might be interesting to feature a fitness instructor in a holiday film. She shared the concept with others and was paired with veteran writer Anna White. Three months later, they started working on the script. And, says Kloots, “I could not feel like a luckier human being. She is just the brightest light.”

“Fit For Christmas,” the result of their discussions, airs Dec. 4. It was shot in August during Kloots’ hiatus from “The Talk.”

In it, she plays a fitness instructor at the community center in Mistletoe, Montana. She meets and befriends a businessman who’s behind a plan to buy the center and turn it into a resort.

“Every draft of the outline, every draft of the script I’d send to her first,” says White. “Then, we both would be on the notes calls with CBS. Amanda is so creative and thinks outside the box in such great ways. My workout is walking to Starbucks every day, so Amanda was able to work in a lot more of ‘this is the fitness lingo’ for the fitness scenes.”

While Kloots started in the business as a Rockette and Broadway dancer, she focused on creating a fitness program and was able to parlay it into a business. While in the musical, “Bullets Over Broadway,” she met and later married Nick Cordero, a Tony nominee.

Audiences got to know who she was when he contracted COVID-19 and she documented his struggle and death on social media.

In 2020, she launched her fitness brand and served as a guest host on “The Talk.” In 2021, she became a regular co-host. Since then, she has released a memoir, appeared on “Dancing with the Stars” and landed the movie deal.

“It was a complete evolution,” she says. “I can’t believe what I’m doing right now.”

Paul Greene, who co-stars in “Fit For Christmas,” says Kloots brought a “crackling newness and possibility” to the venture. “It was very ‘improv-ian,’ in the moment and spontaneous and exciting.”

Having White on the set enabled them to change scenes on the spot.

Director Jessica Harmon says she loved working with the story’s creators. “They come in with this incredible vision themselves and they trust you to kind of take it and go forward with it.”

Both Harmon and White were surprised at Kloots’ ability to handle so many jobs on one production.

“She was so present,” White says. “You will not believe that this is her first scripted movie/television role. She was a natural.”

To celebrate, Kloots says, she will have a watch party for other members of the cast.

“I’ll be able to finally take my producer hat off and just watch and enjoy it,” she says. “This has been an absolute dream come true for me. I can’t still believe that it happened. And it was a lot of fun to film.”

“Fit For Christmas” airs Dec. 4 on CBS.