Miracle On Set: How Hallmark's 2023 Christmas Movies Almost Missed Their Deadline

When you want to feel festive with a Christmas movie playing in the background, the Hallmark Channel is usually the first place fans turn. While their legendary "Countdown to Christmas" movie series starts in October, the planning that it takes to produce over 40 new movies happens all year round. It's hard for dedicated viewers of the channel to imagine the holiday season without the premiere of new festive films, but after the WGA strike beginning in May 2023 and the SAG-AFTRA strike following in July, there was a chance that fresh productions wouldn't make it to the screen.

The unprecedented halt to Hollywood productions rocked the entertainment industry, and temporarily shut down many primetime TV shows while delaying the filming and production of others. Among those delayed projects were many of the movies set to be included in Hallmark's 2023 "Countdown to Christmas" series. However, even with little or no time to film and produce the movies, the channel managed to keep the Christmas spirit alive.

As they do every year, Hallmark announced on September 19, 2023 that they would be releasing 42 brand-new Christmas movies, starting on October 20 and running through December. Many of the movies had yet to be filmed at the time of the announcement. Thankfully, Hallmark films their Christmas movies all year, so they had some already done. In an interview with Variety, Lisa Daly, EVP of programming at Hallmark, explained how they were able to keep on track despite the delays.

"Christmas is a year-round business at Hallmark, so we were able to mitigate early in the year understanding that the strikes were unfortunately imminent. We're grateful to meet all our goals for a full, all-new holiday slate and to bring our viewers the content they love most to celebrate the season."

Hallmark Channel was also able to finish filming their "Countdown to Christmas" movie roster due to some exceptions made by SAG-AFTRA. Further in their favor was the fact that Hallmark employs many Canadian actors, most of whom are under different contracts not associated with SAG-AFTRA, so they were able to continue working through the strike.

With the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes putting most Hollywood projects on hold, fans were worried that the Hallmark holiday roster would be much shorter than it has been in the past. And 2023 was a year that fans were particularly excited for, as the channel teased a "Party of Five" reunion with Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf in the new film "A Merry Scottish Christmas." As a regular of the channel, Chabert was expected to appear in a few of the new movies, but the addition of her former co-star brought a whole new anticipation for the film. 

In an interview with Deadline, Chabert revealed that she shot her two new films for the year in April and June, before the SAG-AFTRA strike began. She also opened up about the quick turnaround that Hallmark movies have, even when not pressed for time. "Every single Hallmark movie I've done, all 38 of them, have been in about 15 days," she told the outlet. "It really is incredible to shoot that much that quickly, but it's a pace and a rhythm that we've all become so accustomed to and it's really nice that I get to work with a lot of the same crews. I've worked with the same directors and producers repeatedly, so there's a bit of a family feel."

As always, Hallmark continues to bring the Christmas spirit to viewers all season long. Despite the setbacks, they still manage to be the place to go when you want a little festive cheer.