Crown Media's Michelle Vicary on Adding New Voices and New Faces to the Hallmark Family

Between Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Crown Media boasts upwards of 100 original movies per calendar year, many of them included in such seasonal programming events as Spring Fling, Fall Harvest  and, of course, the highly anticipated Countdown to Christmas  and Miracles of Christmas. So, in March, when the country shut-down and production should have been in full swing, the COVID-19 pandemic not only proved to be the Scrooge threatening to dampen the holiday spirit -- it almost did. Thanks to some clever schedule adjustments, both networks were able to present their Spring and Fall events, but a looming cloud of doubt over Christmas remained. Thankfully, a reprieve in July/August saw productions resume, in part due to the Canadian government (and COVID observant areas of the U.S.), whose strict protocols enabled production to resume, providing Crown Media with the opportunity to set COVID production standards now widely used by the entire film industry.