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When Hallmark Channel promoted its new movie “Holiday Road,” which premiered on November 24, 2023, it touted the film as being “inspired by true events.” But a woman who says the network ripped off her travel story, which went viral on social media in December 2022, is upset she and her fellow travelers weren’t compensated or even informed that a movie about their experience was in the works.
Hallmark execs deny stealing the storyline, calling the script “wholly original,” according to Business Insider. But the dispute has created an uproar on social media, with some calling for Hallmark to right the situation while others say the network did nothing wrong.
Here’s what you need to know:
Hallmark Insists ‘Holiday Road’ Was Inspired by Multiple News Stories About Holiday Travel Adventures
“Holiday Road,” written by married screenwriters Grant Scharbo and Gina Matthews, is about nine strangers, stranded at an airport during the holidays, who join forces to rent a van and drive to Denver together.
“Misadventures lead to unexpected bonds and heartfelt conversations,” per Hallmark’s press materials about the movie, starring Warren Christie and Sara Canning.
The plot sounds eerily similar to Alanah Story’s travel saga, which she first shared in December 2022 on TikTok after her Frontier flight was canceled and she got stranded in Orlando, Business Insider reported. Her family and a group strangers banded together to rent a passenger van, driving 10 hours to Knoxville, which they all needed to get to for various obligations.
Documenting the trip on TikTok, Story’s original post racked up 4.3 million views and lots of media coverage. The group’s heartwarming adventure, which resulted in funny moments and unlikely friendships forged, caught the attention of national news outlets including CNN and the “Today Show.”
One year later, Story and some of her 12 van mates, with whom she still keeps in touch, said they were stunned to see Hallmark promoting “Holiday Road,” claiming the plot, characters and even specific lines in the movie mirrored what Story had originally shared on TikTok.
After watching the whole movie, Story uploaded a new video on December 7 to call out Hallmark for being “sheisty.” She spliced in scenes from the movie trailer and her own TikTok videos to show some of the similarities between the movie and her experience.
Story said Hallmark didn’t consult or compensate her or any of the original van passengers. One of those passengers, Michelle Miller, uploaded an Instagram video on the same day to complain that the network “completely STOLE, ripped off & exploited our ’13 strangers’ story.”
But a Hallmark spokesperson told Business Insider that the company is “very proud” of the movie and insisted it did not steal the premise from Story.
“While inspired by multiple news stories of strangers banding together across the country over the years, ‘Holiday Road’ is not based on any one story and all characters are wholly original,” the spokesperson told Business Insider.
At least one of the original van passengers agrees with Hallmark. A passenger who goes by “Amy Travels the World” on TikTok posted her own videos, including one that showed Miller blocked her from the group text’s thread when she disagreed that Hallmark was at fault and asked what they hoped to gain from speaking out.
In a screen shot of their exchange, Amy wrote to the group, “There are plenty of movies with the same thing” and added, “just Google ‘road trip strangers.'”
In a separate video, Amy said she thought the movie was very different from the group’s experience, adding, “Hallmark, y’all didn’t do nothing wrong. You took public domain and you made a movie, period.”
Van Passenger Says Group Had Been Approached by Other Entertainment Studios to Collaborate on Projects
In Miller’s video, she said that before Hallmark aired “Holiday Road,” other entertainment studios had reached out about producing projects based on the group’s experience.
“We were contacted by a literary agent, by Tyler Perry’s producers, by Netflix to do a documentary, all of these cool things happening,” she said. “Hallmark swooped in and completely stole everything we did. They stole our entire storyline.”
Meanwhile, Story has since uploaded several new TikTok updates, including one in which she said that when she and her van mates called Hallmark out on its Facebook page, the network’s account blocked them.
“Hallmark has seen us, they know that we’re mad, they still haven’t reached out to us, and instead they’re just blocking us on everything,” she said.
Story and Miller’s posts have attracted thousands of views and comments, primarily from people sympathizing with them, including many encouraging them to sue the network.
But it’s not likely any of the original van passengers will take legal action. Miller posted an Instagram update on December 10, sharing that attorneys she checked with said they don’t have a case.
She wrote, “I called a couple attorneys, but apparently what they did is technically ‘legal.’ But I gotta tell ya… it feels violating. I feel exploited, blindsided, needless to say… PISSED.”
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