Heavy/Getty Popular Hallmark actors (from L-R) Catherine Bell, Alicia Witt, James Denton, Ginna Claire Mason, Benjamin Ayres, Cindy Busby, Victor Webster, Ashley Williams, Kristoffer Polaha, Vincent Rodriguez III, John Brotherton, Erin Cahill, Will Kemp, Nikki DeLoach, Paul Campbell, Andrew Walker, Steve Lund, Tyler Hynes, Kimberley Sustad, Taylor Cole and Jonathan Bennett attend Hallmark Channel’s "Christmas on Cherry Lane" New York Screening on December 7, 2023
While Hallmark fans continue to bliss out over nearly nonstop Countdown to Christmas movie premieres, network executives are already focused on plans for Christmas 2024.
In an interview with The Wrap published on December 8, 2023, Hallmark’s EVP of Programming, Lisa Hamilton Daly, told the outlet that most of its 2024 holiday lineup has already been determined. And without writers’ or actors’ strikes to contend with, she said the network will have more chances next year to expand on its goal of producing more inclusive and innovative projects, including less predictable storylines.
Here’s what you need to know:
Lisa Hamilton Daly Says Hallmark Will Feature Greater Diversity in 2024 Movies
HallmarkMorgana Wyllie, David Epstein, Bryan Greenberg, Marnie Mahannah in Hallmark’s “Round and Round”
Despite the work halts caused by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Hallmark managed to produce 42 original holiday movies for its current Countdown to Christmas lineup — more than ever before. Hamilton Daly said that her team anticipated the strikes, so they got to work early with its stable of writers and production partners.
“We started preparing for (the strike) last October,” she told The Wrap. “I don’t think we understood how long the actors would be on strike, but I was aware that we’d have a writers’ strike, so we started to push our partners to deliver stuff a little early (and) for a large number of our shows, we were able to produce early.”
But one thing Hamilton Daly said the strikes negatively impacted was the diversity of their casting, given that so many American actors were unavailable to film. Hallmark Media has made inclusivity a core goal over the last couple of years.
“We really want people to be able to see themselves in our movies, and we know that people seeing themselves means that there’s a wider range of people who really are excited when we tell their stories,” Hamilton Daly said.
Of this year’s holiday movie casting, she explained, “When I look at the slate and the (strike’s) impact on it, I’m like, ‘Well, in an ideal world, that show might have looked different,’ but we did what we could in order to deliver a full slate.”
That said, Hallmark has still featured more inclusive Christmas programming in 2023 than it used to, from the Hanukkah-themed movie “Round and Round” that premiered on December 9 to several movies featuring LGTBQ couples, including “Friends and Family Christmas” on December 17, starring queer actors Ali Liebert and Humberly Gonzalez.
Next year, Hamilton Daly said, Hallmark fans can expect a renewed dedication to even greater diversity in the network’s programming. But no matter the cast or storyline, she said, the thread that connects all of its projects will continue to be love.
“At the core of all of our movies, it comes down to emotional connections between people and a positive outcome,” she said. “We stay rooted in those essential elements that people are always going to find their way back to each other — whether it’s a family or romantic couple or a group of friends.”
Hallmark’s 2024 Movies Will Likely Feature Less Predictable Storylines
GettyLisa Hamilton Daly and Mike Perry attend Hallmark Media’s Countdown To Christmas Premiere Event in October 2023
Known (and often mocked) for its predictable storylines, Hallmark has branched out over the last year with more innovative storylines, from the new movie “Christmas on Cherry Lane” about three families living in the same house during different time periods to 2022’s smash hit comedy “Three Wise Men and a Baby” co-starring three of the network’s most popular male leads — Paul Campbell, Andrew Walker and Tyler Hynes.
There are already signs that Hallmark will continue to experiment in 2024 with inspiring and uplifting content that goes beyond the traditional love story, including the just-announced reality series “Celebrations With Lacey Chabert.” In addition, actor and screenwriter Campbell recently said the network is exploring ways to reunite the “Three Wise Men and a Baby” cast in a new project.
Hamilton Daly joined Hallmark in September 2021 after developing TV series for Netflix like “Virgin River.” In fact, she developed “The Way Home” there, a series starring Andie MacDowell, but brought it with her to Hallmark. Launched in early 2023, the time-travel series became one of the top original cable series of the year, according to Vulture, and just wrapped filming its second season.
When Hallmark Media president Wonya Lucas announced her resignation in August 2023, including plans to leave her post by the end of the year but remain on the board, Hamilton Daly and Hallmark CEO Mike Perry took the reins to keep evolving the network.
In November, Hamilton Daly told Vulture, “Every change we think about, we center it by asking, ‘Does this stay true to the mission of a purpose-driven life of love, of emotion, of family?’ So we’re just trying to find different ways to tell stories that are still centered on those characteristics.”
“Maybe that means it’s not always romantic love as the center of a movie,” she continued. “Maybe it’s being more diverse in what kinds of people we talk about and what kinds of stories we tell. And I think that as we seek to draw in more viewers and to have everybody be reflected, it’s about making sure that the core stories we’re telling are still centered on love. That’s the big thing.”