Heavy Hallmark is launching Crayola Studios to create programming geared for kids
After decades of success creating original programming for its TV networks, including Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, it’s been announced that Hallmark has begun developing programming for kids, too, with the launch of Crayola Studios.
In April 2022, Hallmark Media announced in a press release that it planned to explore programming opportunities leveraging two iconic brands that were already under Hallmark’s corporate umbrella — Dayspring, its faith-based card and product line, and kids’ creativity brand Crayola, which Hallmark has owned since acquiring the brand from Binney & Smith in 1984.
“We are exploring content projects from movies and series, to short-form entertainment and podcasts,” Lisa Hamilton Daly, Hallmark Media’s Executive Vice President of Programming, said in a statement at the time.
While Dayspring movies have already begun airing on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries network, Hallmark has just outlined its initial plans for expanding into the children’s market with Crayola, starting with an animated series based on a popular children’s podcast. The news comes the same week that Hallmark Media president and CEO Wonya Lucas announced her plans to step down from her position later this year. Here’s what you need to know:
Hallmark Media to Support New Crayola Studios Division
Heavy/MIMO Studios/CrayolaHallmark’s Crayola Studios is developing “The Adventures of Finn Caspian” series
In a move first reported by Deadline, Hallmark is launching a new division called Crayola Studios to produce media content for kids and families. In a subsequent press release, the company said the programming it develops will explore “the limitless possibilities of children’s creativity and leverages color as an intrinsic element of the story.”
Crayola’s Executive Vice President of Marketing Victoria Lozano will oversee Crayola Studios with help from brand-building firm Goatfish Agency, according to Deadline. Hallmark Media will also “support the initiative,” thought it’s not clear how or if Hallmark’s stars, networks or distribution channels will be involved.
The new division’s first project will be an animated series based on the popular children’s podcast “The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian.” Crayola Studios has teamed with MIMO Studios, which is run by former Nickelodeon chief Cyma Zarghami and is also behind the upcoming “Pout-Pout Fish: The Movie,” based on the hugely popular “Pout-Pout Fish” book series for kids.
“The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian” is a science-fiction adventure about eight-year-old Finn Caspian, who’s aboard The Famous Marlowe 280 Interplanetary Exploratory Space Station. With his friends Abigail, Elias and Vale, the launch release says Finn “forms Explorers Troop 301 which takes off from the Marlowe to explore uncharted planets, help aliens and solve a mystery that threatens to destroy the Space Station.”
The show is described as a “52 x 11 series,” which typically means they’re producing 26 half-hour episodes, according to Kidscreen.
It’s not clear if there’s any connection between the announcement about the new Crayola Studios and the surprise departure of Hallmark Media CEO Wonya Lucas, who said in a company statement on August 8 that she’ll step down at the end of 2023 but remain as an advisor by serving on Hallmark Media’s Board of Directors.
Hallmark Media Has Also Begun Producing Dayspring Movies
HallmarkBrennan Elliott and Nikki DeLoach in “The Gift of Peace”
Hallmark has also kept its word on developing and releasing Dayspring-inspired programming since it first announced its intentions to do so in early 2022. Its first Dayspring-branded movie, “The Gift of Peace” starring Nikki DeLoach and Brennan Elliott, premiered in December on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
The movie is about a once-devout Christian artist who lost her faith and creative spark after her husband died, but finds hope and community when she meets a man running a grief support group who’s going through a similar loss.
In April 2023, on Easter Sunday, the network premiered its second Dayspring movie, “The Blessing Bracelet” starring Amanda Schull and Carlo Marks.
That film follows a single mom named Dawn who’s working to get out of the debt left behind by her ex-husband. Stressed and overwhelmed, Dawn finds a bracelet she made years earlier using four beads, each placed as a reminder to count the blessings in her life.
“As Dawn begins to focus on the good, her faith is renewed, and her life takes a positive turn,” the synopsis reads.
Meanwhile, though actress Candace Cameron Bure left Hallmark Media in early 2022 to exclusively develop and star in movies for Great American Family, the deeply religious actress launched her own product line with Dayspring in October, according to The Business Journals.