Latest / Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews / Ashley Williams on Small Town Setup

Transcript

Ashley Williams on Small Town Setup · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is a bramble jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone Homework,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: a homework review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: homework fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former homewark hater. Today
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: we are joined by the lovely, talented, super smart, super
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: funny Ashley Williams.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: We asked her here.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Because we really wanted to talk small town set up.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: And then as I was sitting down to make my notes,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I was like, wait, I want to talk about this
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and I want to talk about this, So we're going
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: to go as fast as we can to go through
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: this much mush.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Listen. I'm unemployed currently, so take it away. Let's go.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being here.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Happy to be here. I feel like, did you guys
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: reach out to me on Instagram or something?
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: We did?
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I was like, yeah, let's do it. Let's
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: stay like done.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's our MO. A lot of people go through
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: more official channels. Were like, it's working for us.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: So that's so my vibe, Like I don't, I am
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: my own publicist.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So let's talk small town set up for listeners
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: who might not be familiar. All six episodes are currently
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: available on Hallmark Plus, and the premise is kind of
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: like a Hallmark movie goes reality show, right, like Big
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: City Single goes Home to Find Love. So we know
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: you were super involved. Obviously you host it, but you
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: were involved in the creation of the show. Can you
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: tell us how it came about?
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Well, so the show is actually based on a really
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: popular Israeli dating show called Dear Neighbor.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: And you know, it's.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: A little bit of a like Fiddler on the Roof story, right,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: So it's basically parents wanting their children to find love
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: and be happy. And so we took the best, you know,
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: part of our favorite parts of that, and Kesha actually
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: found the show in Israeli based UH production company. And coincidentally,
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: when I first heard that Hallmark was going to be
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: doing unscripted, I came clean about my obsession with Kelly
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Rippa and my confession that I have always secretly wanted
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: to be a host. And so I called David Stefano.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: When I say called, that's not exactly accurate.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: I stalked him and began profusely pitching unscripted show ideas
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: to him.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: And I'm not just I didn't just call a.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Sell and like throw out the ideas like I made
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Canva packets, why decks I made very like multiple decks
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: I had, And I pitched him nine unscripted shows. And
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: by the way, if you want to hear those unscripted
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: show ideas, they are hilarious, pass.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: On every single one. Oh no.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: But right around that time, Kasha had approached him about
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: this idea of a dating show, and so he called
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: me and he said, all right, all right, all right,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: we're not doing you know, the nine ideas you pitched me,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: but do you want to host a dating show?
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: And when he was halfway through the question, ice creamed
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: yes please, So so yeah.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: I mean, what I love about the show is that
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: it's not just about finding love. It really does a
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: great job of wrapping in the family elements, which we're
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: all too familiar with.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: You know, who we marry is.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: You know, it's a little bit the person and it's
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: a lot bit the family. So this is really a
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: show about parents and families trying to find love for
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: their grown up kids. And it was the most first
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: of all hilarious time of my life shooting this show.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: I mean, just so often I would be like standing
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: in front of a town hall full of community members
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: and just be like, I am hosting a dating show
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: right now, and this is the most ridiculous thing I've
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: ever done in my entire life.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: It was so fun. It was just the most fun.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Now they shut that in Georgia? Is that right?
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: How what's the time frame there? Like, was this over
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: like a month?
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Well each episode is a week, So yeah. So I
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: meet with the parents and then the and then I
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: meet with the town, like an entire small town where
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: we have like an open forum for everybody who knows
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: this girl or guy, and we get to know her
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: and we just talk about her behind her back, and.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: We talk about, you know, what her.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Personality is like, what her interests are, what her value
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: system is, et cetera. And basically, the town nominates single
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: people that they know in the town, and then the
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: parents get to go meet with those people, and then
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: we set her up on three blind dates, and then
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: we watched the dates live, and then we she basically
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: tells us who she wants to go on a second
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: date with.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: It's the silliest, most fun time ever.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: It is fun. I watched all six episodes of the
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Week You did. Yes, I did, of course I did.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I'm a fan I had for you. I love reality TV,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: so this was like so up my alley. I had
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: to wonder though, because I've watched a lot of reality TV.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: The singles by the time we meet them on the show,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously they're aware some things going on. Did
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: you get any pushback from anybody who was like, no, no, no,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be involved in this.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: Well, so this is something that we didn't We actually
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: went back and forth a lot about which aspects of
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: the story to tell to the audience. And what the
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: singletons were told was to do you want to go
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: be on a dating show? Because this dating show? And
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: then they say yes, and they would volunteer for the
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: dating show, and then they would say, the dating show
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: is interested in you and they want to interview you.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: So they don't know yet that they have been chosen
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: to be on the dating show already. So we have
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: buy in from the singletons, but they don't know that
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: they're going to be on the actual show show.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: They just think that they're being interviewed.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: But you're right that aspect, that piece of information is
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: not communicated on the show.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: And they don't know that their families and communities are
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: so heavily involved in the choosing of their suitors either, correct, Yeah,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: because you could see we'd be like, sure, I'm interested
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: in dating, but I have absolutely no address and my
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: mom being my lead matchmaker now for me, like we're
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: old right, Like we've both been married for a million years.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: So I'm like, hm, I can see the value in
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: somebody outside of me who knows me really well showing
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: up and being like, I know what you think you need,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: but we know what you actually need, and we're gonna
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: step in because you haven't been doing this very well
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: yourself exactly.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: And I feel like, you know, it was reminiscent, like
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: everybody's childhood was different. But the people who are on
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: our show, the families are so strong, and it's not always,
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: you know, a conventional family dynamic, like we have one
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: widow and her son who want to set up their
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: single daughter, and we have divorced parents who got remarried
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: and all four of them are trying to set up
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: their son.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: You know, it's not all conventional.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: But what we what is consistent throughout each episode is
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: the commitment to and the love that you know, only
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: parents and only family members can really speak to about
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: their single kid, and a lot of it is a
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: lot of the questions we ask is like what kind
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: of child was this?
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: Was he shy? Was he outgoing? What were his values
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: when he was a kid? As opposed to what who
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: did you think he was going to marry when he
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: was younger? You know, and now what's his type? And
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: having that input from the family members honestly changed my opinion.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: And thank god, by the way, like you're just like me.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: I've been married for twenty years. I cannot even remotely
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: imagine what it would be like to be dating right
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: now online. I'm so glad I missed that, you know,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: aspect of dating now. But this show really brings back
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: the sort of old school like who am I? Who
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: was I as a kid? What are my values? And
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: ultimately what are my goals for the future? Do I
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: want a family? Which right now, when you go on
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: a dating app, you're not always saying, you know, yes,
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: I want children, Yes I want somebody who actually is
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: financially stable, Like those are achy conversations to have on
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: a date or to put on your dating profile. But
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: we go there on the show, you know, like, hey,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: would you be okay traveling a lot? Are you okay
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: with the fact that, like, you know, he doesn't like
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: to be he's not a planner, you know, Like we
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: went right to those conversations that often when you're dating
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: online you don't get to for six months to a
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: year or until you're already married, and you're like.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Uh oh, you know.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: So one of the things in watching it, I found
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: myself dying to know more about the couples because we're
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: left with like, Okay, this is who I choose to
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: pursue something further with. I assume there's not like a
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: where are they now? Episode planned, because we would watch
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: the heck out of that.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we we talked about doing like a
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: reunion episode. I think because it's on a streaming platform
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: and stuff. We're still trying to figure out like do
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: you know, are people watching the show like what's happened?
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: You know? Are you interested?
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: And that is I keep hearing like we would love
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: to do a follow up episode. Yes, I do know
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: from just some sort of like brief conversations with the
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: single people who've been on the show that they it
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: completely transformed how they date, which I really.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: I was proud of.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, of course.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: And you know what I kept hearing is like, I'm
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: gonna be more upfront about you know who I am
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: as you know, a dating person from now on, et cetera.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: But I don't have.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: The information for you the way that I would like
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: to right now, Like I don't want to. I would
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: love to be like, oh my gosh, Victoria and Michael
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: are getting here. I don't have that information for you
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: right now, frankly because we I haven't talked to Victoria,
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: like I don't know, you know, it's We're like, we're
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: gonna put it on the.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Streaming platform and see what happens.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: So with enough positive response, I'm sure you know we
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: would we would go and do some digging and find
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: out what's going on.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: But I don't Yeah, maybe if like a season two
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: gets picked up, you can start like with a recap
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: where are they now?
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: I know we were saying like the end of the
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: episode was it this show? I was saying it out
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: I think so where we wanted like the overlay like
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: you get on Real Housewives of like what's happened since
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: like this stop filming and like present day, Like that's
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: what I wanted, like the freeze frame.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great I mean, it's one of the
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: cool things about being a producer in the show is
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: I can pitch things like that, you know.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we heard it in our Facebook group.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Two people were like, wait, we want to know more,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Like what now I'm invested in these people and like,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: you know, did Sosa come back and shoot his shot?
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Even though he wasn't the one she chose, because I know,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: like people at home were like, wait a minute, it
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: should have been Sosa.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought it was.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: And I got a little video message from Brad Paisley
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: the night that the show dropped. He sent me a
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: video message that was like she's crazy.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: What is wrong with her? Like America should be furious.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Right, Like the chemistry was like coming off the screen
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: with those And.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: I have to tell you that day when I didn't
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: know who she was gonna pick, because they don't tell
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: me the producers know because they have to get in
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: touch with the guy or the girl, but I didn't know,
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: and I was shocked. I thought it was going to
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: be Sosa. And afterwards I went up to the producer,
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, can we get Sosa's phone number and
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: just sitting her backpack just in case, you know, like
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: because this guy like I would have dated Sosa.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well just they just seemed like such a good batch.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: So yeah, so fun the food and the Yes, I
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: loved it. Yeah, that's the stuff that you like don't
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: really think about, like the little ways in which you
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: connect with people.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, thanks, I appreciated that.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I was. We were a little surprised that
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: they dropped all the episodes at one time. Some part
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: of actually, part of me really enjoys that because I
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: love to like binge out and watch all the things
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: at one time. So I was happy that they did that.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: You know, I think there's.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Plus of minus. Like we've talked about when you draw
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: something out over the six episodes, like it creates appointment television.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: It creates this like shared experience of like they're coming
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: out one at a time and so you can talk
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: as opposed to them all coming out at once and
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: then not everybody's on the same page. I think there's
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: advantages to both.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: I was just gonna say, like, I think I think
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: you could have gone either way. You know, they definitely
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: drew it out with Finding Mister Christmas, which was so fun.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: But I also think like Homework is now really embracing
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: the streaming idea and dropping all the episodes at once
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: is in keeping with that. You know, I want it
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: to be on Netflix, you know, I want I want
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: everything to be available all at once so that you know,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: people can go at their own pace, but that there's
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: a lot of content that is really satisfying to put
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: on and uh and let it roll out. And you know,
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: I'm I'm in I'm into I'm into that model personally,
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: but maybe that's just because I'm I'm not as much
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: like a cable person anymore.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The only part of me that's like I don't
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: want it is like us, as people who cover it,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: I'm like, wait, don't drop down to what I once Please,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: don't drop them all at once. But as a viewer,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, of course I want it all. Like,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: don't make me wait another week to find out what's
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: going to happen on the show Switching Gears? Can we
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: talk make her mark really quickly? Yes? First of all,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: we're Crystal Low's biggest fans, so we're so thrilled that
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: she was Oh my god, love her. Love She's amazing.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: She's such a great human.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Love the podcast how I found her? Tell us, Oh
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: my god.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: So we ended up we were at like this convention
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: in Florida, at this rama drama convention, and we ended
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: up sharing a van together. And it was right when
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: I had been given the green light to go try
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: to find some women to go through the program. And
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: she was like, well, you know, and I'm a director
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: and da da da, And I was like, you are
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: tell me more, you know, And we ended up having
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: this great talk. And then like halfway through the van ride,
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: I got really emotional because I was in the middle
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: of a renovation and I was so scared about it.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: And she was like, I'm sending my husband over to
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: your house. He's a contractor. And I was like, who
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: is this very kind person?
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: And then I said, let's go for like a little hike, right,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: So we meet up. It's like eight ten in the morning. Okay,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: neither one of us have brushed our teeth, We've just
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: dropped our kids off. We're right.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: We're like five minutes from our both of our houses.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: We live very close, and she has her two year
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: old with her, and she's got him. He's sitting on
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: this picnic table in the parking lot and she's just
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: leaning over and just nursing him.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Right, this girl is amazing.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: And then she's like hey, and she like throws him
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: behind her on this like pack and hikes up the
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: entire mountain talking about everything that she's writing directing program,
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: she's applying to who she wants to be as a filmmaker,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: and like halfway through, I was like, you're you're And
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: I say, to this day, I'm like, she's my greatest
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: discovery I.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Take because I plucked her.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: I mean she she's, by the way, such an amazing
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: actress too, but also like people didn't understand that she's
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: like a real filmmaker. So I put her through the
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: program and she's now directed three different movies for homework
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: and has more coming down the pike.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: And it's not just that like she will.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: I think it was like January second of this year,
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: she sent me a text message that just said, Hey,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: I have a couple of hours for you today.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: You need help with anything?
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Oh she's awesome.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Aw do you need my Christmas cards? Did cross my mind?
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: I'm like can I make you some tea and we'll
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: do my Christmas cards? But I didn't. I'm not going
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: to take advantage of her.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: But she's just the kindest, nicest and by the way,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: absolutely brilliant women.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: She's wonderful.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean we discovered her because we did a
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Sign Sealed Deliver deep dive last summer on the podcast,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: and so you know, that's kind of was our like
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: origin story, and we've had her on since to discuss
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: like her Christmas movie, and she's just she's so smart,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: she's so fun and I think once the biggest shock
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: for me, which is this is going to sound so stupid,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: but like she is so Rita on Sign Sealed Delivered,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Like she is so that character, and then you meet
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: her and you're like, well, that's not who you and
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: all are at all. Like she's a acting you're a
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: great actor. Yeah, she's so fabulous. I love her so much.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she's wonderful. Thank you. I'm glad you agree.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: So what's happening with the program right now?
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: So what we.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: Did was, you know, I raised my hand and said,
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: because honestly, the majority of the people that have gone
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: through the program so far are plucked by me. It's
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: through who you know, who your agent is, who you know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: who you know at Hallmark, And then we do an
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: interview process and all this stuff, and so we have
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: this like little incredible collection of women. Two of them
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: were waiting for two of them to one of them
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: is shadowing. Now two of them have already shadowed, and
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: so those two are about to direct their first movie.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: We've got one shadowing. And then I said, you know,
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: it's just we're not a diversity inclusion program if it's
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: who you know, like, it's just not We have to
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: open up applications globally. And they totally agreed. I mean,
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: this executive team that I work with at Hallmark is
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: so smart. They really understand my philosophy and respect it
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: and are working with me, which I really appreciate. So
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: they said, yeah, let's open up applications. So we opened
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: up applications wide in the spring. We got three hundred
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: and ninety applications and it was overwhelming, not just because
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: of the number, but because of the caliber of applicant.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: So the it just is like further evidence like women,
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: especially creative women, are just so capable, so responsible, so
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: on it. So you know women are doers and also
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: have strategy, and anyway, I was absolutely blown away. These
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: are women who are dp's, they've gone to film school,
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: they've been directing for fifteen years, they have three children,
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: they are taking care of their mothers, and they have
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: full time jobs. But also on weekends they're shooting short
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: films that communicate an aspect of their storytelling and their
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: voice that they're not able to express in other ways, like,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: these are our people and they should be behind the
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: camera making Hallmark movies. So it took me a while
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: to get through those applications. We have it now narrowed
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: down to twenty applicants right now, and we're actually meeting
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: on Friday to figure out.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: The next steps with those.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: But we've got, uh, we've got We're going to announce
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: basically in the next couple of months two more rounds
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: of maker Mark Group, which is six people, six women
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: are going to go through the program. And then I've
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: got a little bit of scholarship money that I can
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: give out, so we're just trying to figure out where
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: best for that to go, et cetera. So that's where
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: it is.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: You know what, I would love a reality show about Yes,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: process would.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Be an amazing that show. I pitched that show.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: It would be so wild to watch. I would love that.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: People love the behind the scenes stuff.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: It's I have to tell you, it's a it's a challenge.
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: Running this program is hard. It's there aren't quite enough resources.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: It's a lot of the time it's just me. I
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: have honestly been relying on Crystal. Hey, will you watch
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: the short film? Tell me what you thought? You know,
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: because each application is an essay, a resume, uh, a
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: letter of recommendation, three, three work samples, and it's a
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: each Each application probably.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Takes an hour to go through in a responsible way.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: So you know, a lot of the reality show would
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: just be me like bending over the computer like this,
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: you know, stop trying to be like, oh god, okay,
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: all come together.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, I are you familiar with that show? I don't.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: HBO's Project green Light they did like a reality behind
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the scenes like years ago. I don't know.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: I really want to bring up the deck of pitching
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: the Make Her Mark behind the Scenes documentary, which was
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: formatted on Project green Light.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's exactly it.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and listen, you got a person right here who
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: would watch it, so there is an audience for it.
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: So timeline is so long, Like, yeah, people won't understand
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: about on script is like you hire a film crew
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: you a day, so like it would be me recording
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: on my phone ninety five percent of the time, you know,
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: and then my mic. Am I putting like a mic
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: on the people that I'm interviewing over the phone while
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: I'm by the way, like walking my dog in the
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: neighborhood and being like, tell me who your favorite filmmakers are.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: Like that's that's the reality of me running this program
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: is it's like two in the morning and I can't sleep,
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: and I'm watching short films and my gosh, yesterday for
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: three straight hours, I just walked my dog in my ugs.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Interviewing women, Oh my god.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: That's like the spirit of the whole thing, right is
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: like all these women are doing so many.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm like always folding laundry while I'm doing these
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: interviews or watching you know, I'm cooking. I'm in the
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: middle of one meeting while I'm responding to text messages
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: of women that I'm like I owe answers to, you know.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: It's I'm like hiding in my child's bunk then, you know,
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: doing makr Mark meetings. It's it's women are incredible, you know,
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: and it's why we make such good directors because we
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: know so many different aspects of life.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: We don't just go to an office I mean historically
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: to uh to get our jobs done.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: We do our jobs.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Damn, do you have any I mean, I know you
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: have a few directing credits yourself. Do you have any
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: aspirations to be directing on Hallmark yourself? Are you having
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: more fun like making it happen for other women?
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: I just I'm actually not allowed to talk about it,
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: but I just directed an episode of an ABC show.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: Oh I am not allowed to announce that January sorry,
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: February fourth, I can announce that, but I can talk
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: more about that. But I'm really looking to break into
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: episodic television in a big way, and like you know,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: I love making Hallmark movies.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: It is a dream come true.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: I was offered a Hallmark movie to direct last year,
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: and if I'm honest, it was right when my littlest
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: was going through like a really intense time at school
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: and it did not make sense for me to leave
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: town for seven weeks so I respectfully said, please put
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: a pin in this and please offer me more in
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: the future. But I can't do this right now, and
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: it was the right choice. I would love to direct
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: for Hallmark. I am a massive Chicken Sisters fan. I
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: would love to direct an episode or two of that show.
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: But yeah, episode is really where I'm I'm setting my
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: sights right now as as a director.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Talking about episodic television. If we can throw it way
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: back to your how I met your mother a parents
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: we had a member of our Facebook group was like, wait,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I need to know did you ever wonder if Victoria
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: was the mother or were you Like this is a
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: gigantic red hairing, it's too early.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm so glad you asked this because you
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: guys so you know. It was a TV show that
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: was on the bubble for the first couple of years,
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: and every time the show almost got canceled, I got
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: a call saying they're going to make you the mother
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: if the show gets canceled, you know, are you available?
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: Blah blah blah, And then the show would get picked
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: up and I wouldn't be the mother, right, So basically,
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: like I kept being like, I think I'm going to
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: be the mother on the show, like this is you know,
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: for years, for like years, and then that stopped happening
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: when the show became a hit. And then at one
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: point they were having an issue with contracts, and I
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: got another call saying, all right, we can't the contracts
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: aren't gonna if we have to, you know, end the
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: show in one episode.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: You're going to be the mother.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: And this is like ten years in and at the
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: eleventh hour the contracts were all signed, and then suddenly,
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: like a month later, I found out that the mother
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: was going to be the person that played the mother, who,
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: by the way, I'm a huge fan of and I
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: can't remember her name right now, but I saw.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Christina Malatti, thank you.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I seen her in once on Broadway.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: And yes, that's how I know her too.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: It's credible. I was like, oh, yeah, she should be
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: the mother. She's amazing.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I know, but that Victoria character, I mean,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: I have issues with the way of the story, with
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: the whole show wrapped up with the like just kidding
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: of it all at the end. But I gotta tell you,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: I was written for Victoria too, and that's long before
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: I was like an Ashley Williams fan to be you
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: know what I mean?
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: May I just say, would have been so good for
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: my career if I'd been there. But there's this like
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: I have this thing where I'm like, well, would I
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: rather have been the mother? And have people go no,
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: I didn't like Victoria? Or would I have rather.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Been the one? That's like I wish you'd been the
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: mother which got away? I'm not kidding you. Every day,
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: like I'm walking down the.
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: Street and people are like you should have been the mother,
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: and I'm like, call my agent, and I kind of
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: feel like this is the sweeter road in a lot
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: of ways.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, the one that got away?
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like he's been you know.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: You're super active. We're jumping all of the place. I'm
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: sorry with the Alzheimer's Association.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, can we.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Expect another dance to and Alzheimer's this year?
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: We're guys. Nonprofit work?
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Is I know? I used to do so hard?
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's hard. It's so much I would love to
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: you know, in order for that event to happen, so
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: many factors come in that have nothing to do with me,
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: And it's about people coming forward early and saying we
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: will help you. You know, last year, I leading up
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: to the dance party, I said, I'm never doing this again.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: Exhausting and I have nothing left.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: And then the day of the dance party, I ran
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: around jumping in people's arms the entire day and saying,
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: this is the best day of my whole life.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: I want I want.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: To do this twice a year for the next thirty years.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: It's such a complicated thing because the amount of work,
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: you know, like sheer just blood, sweat, tears, grit that
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: goes into like it's truly like a from the ground up,
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: grassroots like it's just me Andrew Walker and Nikki like
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: in my life living room practicing choreography, like oh my god,
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: you know, I ordered costumes on Amazon, like I'm doing everything,
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: you know. So you know, there's part of me that
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: feels like maybe we'll take a year off and come
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: back really big and strong next year. I also don't
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: know if we can do it in the fall again,
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: because I don't know if you've noticed, but homework goes
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: so hardcore.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: I don't It was not like this a couple of
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: years ago.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Now we need to talk about all of that because
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: I don't know how most of you are still standing
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: with the amount of promo work that they had you
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: doing this year.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: They invited me to go to Countdown to Christmas, the
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: Jingle Stob Tour, and I was like, I literally am
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: gonna cry, I have to go on another five day trip,
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: Like I can't.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna get on a boat with y'all in a
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: week let me breathe.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And you know I also had another I also
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: because by the way, we're also working, like I also
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: had I directed that episode in November and I was
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: taking prep meetings on the cruise boat I landed. I
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: went straight into prep on an episode of television I
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: was directing, and then handed in my episode, and two
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: days later I went to Kansas City. I mean, it's
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: like Nikki told me that this fall she was home
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: two weeks.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's been bananas for you guys during like the
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: holiday season, You're just not at home and families were
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: like tall.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: In August, I flagged it for my husband and I'm like,
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: I'm looking at the calendar between September and December, like
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: I'm traveling so much, and I was like, we should
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: get our Christmas cards done now.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: And he was like, you're crazy.
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: By the way, Christmas cards are still not done twenty second.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: They're in a box in my kitchen. I should be
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: doing them right now while I do this interview with you.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: Like I sent out like twenty and everyone's like, cute
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: Christmas card and I'm like, don't tell anyone because they're.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: On my list. But you know, it's funny, you're better.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Than I am because I'd be like, well, I guess
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: it's over my Like like.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: Why don't we go digital? And he was like, because
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: we're not, don't surrender.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Let's jump into all those fanomans really quickly if we can.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: So the cruise, it was we were there, we were
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: on the first one, We're on sale one.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: For us, it's like Beatlemania with some of these actors.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: We've said it before. It was a little much like
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: the way some people treated you guys on the boat.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: I was like, we can we can be cool, right.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: What was your experience like just existing on the ship,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Like do you did you feel like you could move freely?
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Did you feel like.
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: There was There's been a kind of an interesting little
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: sea change for me as a Hallmark actor, Like the
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: trajectory was in the beginning, I just I took my
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: first Hamewark job because it was three weeks and I
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: needed the money. This was ten years ago, and I
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: thought it was like cute, you know. I did this
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: movie called October Kiss, and it was fun. It was
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: sort of harmless. It felt harmless, like a good little
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: stop gap in between you know, network television. And then
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: I would do a couple every year, and then it
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: wasn't until I went to Christmas Con the first time
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: that I was like, oh, there's like a whole really
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: interesting demographic of people that watch these movies. And they're
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: not all my aunt Diana and my aunt Nancy, like
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: they're my peers, and they're not just like the three
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: of us. They're network executives. They're like the head of
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: Warner Brothers is a massive homework fan.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: You know. They're legitimate professionals who see Hallmark as a
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: genre just like any other and are truly entertained and
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: also you know, sort of need it, you know.
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: And that kind of came after, Like, at first it
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: was entertaining, and I think people were watching the movies
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: ironically and then they realized, I think, especially when everything
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: got really complicated politically in our country and the pandemic,
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: these movies started to be a bomb for people, so
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: of you know, it's something that I would never have
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: anticipated because I'm much more of like I like Oscar
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: movies and I like, you know what, kind of more
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: gritty television. And I got to say, I am thoroughly
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: enjoying watching my homewark movies these days. And I was
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: never that person before, Like my dad's a journalist, you know,
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: I grew up in New York.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: Like it's I'm a little bit more I'm a little
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: more of like hard Edges. So then one of the
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: first changes.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: That happened was I did a movie called Two Tickets
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: to Paradise, and my network executive on the show on
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: the movie hired a director named Dustin Reikert, who has
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: a really similar sense of humor to me. And we
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: went to Hawaii and we were shooting this movie. And
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: I am a naturally very improvisational actor. Now I would
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: say ninety percent of the jokes that I improvise in
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: Hallmark movies get cut, and it's kind of a joke
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: for me, like I say inappropriate things. I am really
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: interested in making The editor laugh, I swear like a sailor.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: I am not a typical Hallmark girl at all. But
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: Dustin Reikert basically kept ninety eight percent of my jokes
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: on that movie. And for the very first time, I
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: watched the movie and was like, this character feels like
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: an authentic version of me, which I had never really
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: been able to play before in a homework movie. And
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: it changed things for me because I started to really
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: pour my heart into the movies because it was no
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: longer and no longer felt like a color by numbers job,
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: a stop gap in between my real job, my day job.
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: It wasn't my day job anymore.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: It was an.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: Opportunity for me to storytell as authentically. And when I
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: started to go to these Christmas con events and communicate
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: with fans and grill them about what movies they liked
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: of mine, what they didn't.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: And those people are honest, I mean they sure are.
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: You look me right in the face and go you
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: very annoying, And I was like, where have I been
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: the most annoying? You know?
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: Like I want to know, like tell me you know?
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: And I learned I've learned so much from those fan events.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: And so when I went on.
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: The cruise, I felt much more sort of understood as
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: a Hallmark actress, especially because like the first time I
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: went to Christmas Con et cetera, I had been, you know,
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: performing in a way that felt like a day job
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: to me. But once I started to really invest in
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: the work, I now feel authentic to myself. So when
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: I am on something like the cruise, I was able
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: to really let my freak flag fly. And the more
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: I do that, the more my little niche of the
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: Hallmark audience can find me. And that's where I started
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: really having fun. So the cruise was just a further
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: example of you know, like watch Christopher Palaja and myself
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: get wasted in forty five minutes on six strengths and
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: do were you guys in the audience that day? No? Unfortunately, Yeah,
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: I was doing tongue twisters. And I said, like, the
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: only way that I can describe hosting the whiskey tasting
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: on the Homewark Cruise was it was like pulling my
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: pants down slowly in.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: Front of two hundred people, Like it was so intense.
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: I got drunk by accident, but there was no other
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: way around it, Like we had to be drinking all
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: this alcohol anyway, and then you know, we did this
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: like very silly like improv game, which is essentially like
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: a Herald where Julie Sherman Wolf read, you know, a
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: like I think.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: It was like a horror Christmas movie.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: We were in the audience for that, I were spectacular,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: thank you, but.
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: Thank you, But that that was me performing as authentically me,
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: the way that I perform normally in my primetime actress life.
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: I was not like, that's me, That's how I work,
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: But normally my Hallmark stuff feels like a day job,
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: and that's no longer the case.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: I also got to host a couple or like go
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: and do.
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: Some meet and greets for you know, before they air
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: Jingle Bell Run, and suddenly, like I.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: Was doing fifteen minutes of stand up in front of
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: you know, all.
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: Like five hundred people and completely at ease because I
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: feel like I'm able to be me, and that means
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: like I'm gonna make jokes about how like I'm in
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: perimenopause and I should have worn a sports bra when
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: I was shooting Jingle Bell Run because my boobs ached from.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: All the running.
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: And by the way, like I wish I hadn't chosen
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: ankle boots and skinny jeans for that movie because I'm
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: running the entire time. And also the fact that Andrew
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: Walker is such a good kisser, and I say this
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: in front of my husband, like, holy cow, that kid
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: is so dreamy and it's and I have the best
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: job in the entire world that I get to kiss
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: all these Canadian men.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Oh gosh. We talk about Jingle Run for a minute.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: So we saw that on the cruise. It was our
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: premiere movie on the cruise. You were busy, so we
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: weren't in one of the ones where you got to
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: come out and like I'm sorry, I think you.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's okay.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: We loved that movie. It was one of our top
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: movies of the entire ye. Yes, yes, you know. I
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: think it's important to say. Like when we watched that movie,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: it was November sixth, we were in a really weird headspace.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: We cried at breakfast. We're like, we just need to
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: go watch a Hallmark movie. That's all we wanted of
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: the out of that moment. First of all, I cried
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: it three separate points during the premiere and I was like,
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: this movie was amazing. It was amazing. But then we
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: come home and we watch it on TAV on our couch,
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: no live audience. It to me and my husband, I'm like, hey,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: this movie holds up like this is so good. So
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: it's a great movie. I'm telling you. And I tell
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: this to Mecan all the time. The scene where you're
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: running and you get you find the bell and it's
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: shot in like slow motion. I balled my eyes out. Look,
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: I'm my former homework hater there. It was something about
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: this scene. I was like, yes, she did she did it.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: Women can do everything.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: It was awesome. It was so freaking awesome. It's one
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: of my favorite movies of all time.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: And that's so nice.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: In addition, the slow dance between you and Andrew Walker
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: in that movie is so so freaking hot. And the
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: dip I'm gonna dip you now, I was like, you know,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: was not scripted.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: That was being like Ashley, it's coming. It's so good.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: It is so good. That and the almost kiss and
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: then you're I'm gonna go to bed. Oh my god,
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: I could quote the whole movie. It's like me and
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: my best friend's wedding. I it's so good. It just hits.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: It's it's funny and you cry and it's sexy. It's
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: so good.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: So can I tell you a funny story about it?
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: About that scene because.
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: We had shot out of order. Okay, so the almost
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: kiss we shot after he had done the scene afterwards
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: with the guy talking about like the fake, like how
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: he was fakinglah blah. So he was not wearing a
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: Santa hat when he shot the scene with the producer guy,
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: but when he was giving out the presence, he was
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: wearing a Santa hat, right, and he and Andrew realized
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: this and was like, you need to take the Santa
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: hat off of me at some point during this scene.
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: I have to lose it because I'm not wearing it
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: the next time the audience sees me. And I'm like, okay, yeah,
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: And I pitch him a couple of like funny ways,
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: you know, for like he's I think his line is
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: something like we make a good team, and I say
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: something like, well, this isn't a part of that uniform
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: or something like that, and I was like it could
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: be like some joke like that, and he goes no,
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: he goes no, you know.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: What you're gonna do.
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: You're gonna just come up like for the almost kiss,
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: and You're just gonna like rip it off my head
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: in a really sexy way. No side note, I've said
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: this before. Andrew Walker one of my best friends. Andrew
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: Walker and Neil, my husband, are best friends because Sandra,
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: his wife, one of my best friends, are children best friends.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: I love it right.
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: I've been friends with Andrew for one hundred years. I
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: love him so much. And when he says I was.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: Literally like, Andrew, I am not a person who can
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: like sexily rip off the hat. But that's not my
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: brand of sexy.
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: Like my brand of sexy is a little bit more
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: like comical and vulnerable, and you know, I make itself depreciate,
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: like I don't know how to go how to be
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: sexy like that. And he goes Ashley, He's like, I
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: know you can do this. He's like, just come up
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: to me and just rip it off my head. And
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: I was like, okay, okay, like this in the background
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: like ig and I was like, oh my god.
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: Okay, I just don't want to think about it. I'm
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: not gonna think about it. I'm just gonna like go.
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: In there and I'm just gonna like rip it off
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: his head in a sexy way right, like, don't ever
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: think it, Ashley, and they're like action and he goes,
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: we make a good team, and I go.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: And this isn't a part of our uniform and I
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: took his hat off.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: My god, how to do this?
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: Not my that's not how I do sexy. It's just
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: not I don't know how caught up in the mud.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: I don't know how to do that, you know. Anyway,
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: it was. I just thought it was so funny because
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: for him it was such.
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: A normal thing, like just rip it off, like you
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: can't even handle how attracted you are to me.
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I have no idea how to do that. I
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: love it.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: It's awesome. I love it. Lucy Guess was the director
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: on that movie. It was that the first time working
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: with her.
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: That was my first time working with her.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: I like her a lot. Yeah, she had a big year.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: You guys should Did you have her on the show?
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: Not yet, but I think she's working on something right now.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: I'm sure she works constantly. I would love her. Yeah,
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: we would love to.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: Was so watching I'm telling you, you don't understand, Like
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: I loved that movie so much, and it's just such
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: a core memory for me now being able to have
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: seen it on the cruise that you were on. It
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: was just like it's just such good. Yeah, I think
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: you're right about those fan experiences really do something to
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: build the fandom. Sounds so stupid, obviously they do, But
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: like us, having seen like you and your fellow Hallmark
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: stars like they're having these kind of human moments makes
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: us feel connected to you guys in a different way.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I can appreciate this person on screen
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: in a different way after watching Brendan Penny be like
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: all in on the Festive viewd game, right, I'm like totally.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: It just it does something. I think there's a real
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: benefit to it, and I think I don't. I mean,
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: we've made a Hallmark podcast for five years, and I
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: think until being on that cruise, which is our first
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: Hallmark fan event, I don't know that we realized quite
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: the level of dedicated fandom that existed.
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, it's a really specific kind of It's a
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: little bit like comic Connie.
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like a.
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: Little bit of It's very specific and like we're not
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: parading around like Angelia Jolee, Like I'm not Julia Roberts,
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: but what I am now and when I've sort of
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: learned about who I am for a Hallmark audience. Is
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: I represent you? So it's like, I am, I am scared,
• 46:02
  Speaker 3: I am looking for love all the time. I am
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: a little bit, you know, confused about how fancy I'm
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: supposed to be.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: Does my hair look okay? Is this dress too weird?
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: Like I am I am, I am every man, every
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: woman you know, and I for the women, I am
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: I represent you. So Ryan Pavie comes in with his
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: shirt off. That was not scripted. I was like, oh
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: my god, you're not wearing your shirt.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: We love that movie to you by the way, Yeah
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: that's a great movie too.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: That was a good movie, right. But they But that's being.
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: Able to be authentic to who I am makes you
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: able to see yourself because the truth is we're all
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: fighting the same war together, yeh, you know. And it's
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: being a woman is so complicated, Being in love is
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: so complicated, making a plan for your life, figuring out
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: who you are. It's hard, it's scary, it's vulnerable. And
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: that's what If I can tap into how it feels
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: to be you, then I can play these characters authentically,
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: and then you can see yourself and then we can
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: hug at a fan event.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Speaking of your resume, the sister swap
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: movies you did with your sister, the two parter kind
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: of was so different for Hallmark that year when it
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: came out. Do you have any desire to do another
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: movie with your sister?
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: I do, and we actually we have one that we're
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: working on. Yeah, that's all I'll say. It's written. I
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: am obsessed with it. I love it, and we're working
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: on it.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: IMDb list a bunch of stuff like in production for you,
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: Like there's like an untitled Ashley Williams Kimberly sus Dead project.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: We have sixteen projects in development.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, there's an untitled Jonathan Bennett project with you. Sure,
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: I'm hoping we shoot that one this year.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: Yay, the Internet are correct. This is exciting. It's very exciting.
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, fingers crussed.
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: I really love I really love being able to produce
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: for Hallmark.
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: It's it's a miracle.
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: Like I'm I had this random idea one day. I
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: can come back and talk about it once this movie airs.
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: But I had this random idea one day and an
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: airport I ran into Julie Sherman Wolf that night at
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: a party, pitched it to her. Two days later, Hallmark
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: bought it, and I'm going leaving in two weeks to
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: go shoot it like it's a miracle.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: Oh, we need to have you two on together. Yeah,
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: and Julie both. Julie was our very first guest. She
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: was the first I ever did. Yeah.
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: I love her so much. We have a couple projects
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: with her.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's I'm writing it down so I
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: don't forget Okay, So circle back to that when we can. Okay. So,
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: I know there's a lot you can't tell us about.
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: Is there anything you can tell our listeners what to
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: look for for you? Or just go watch them all
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: town set up?
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: I think go watch small Town Setup. Also, it's really exciting.
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: I mean Hallmark plus it's you know, I think it's
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: something to get used to. A streaming service for Hamewark
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: is complicated, but so is Netflix in the beginning. I
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: would encourage people to go towards that because everything is
• 49:17
  Speaker 3: available on there now, so if you have got favorites,
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: it's not hard.
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: To find them anymore. And that's exciting for me.
• 49:25
  Speaker 3: So much of the time people are like, oh, my
• 49:28
  Speaker 3: parents saw you in a Hallmark movie, but now they
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: can't find it. And I'm like, yeah, you gotta just
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: wait for a reairing. And that's not the case anymore.
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: You can go have an Ashley Williams festival and I'll
• 49:38
  Speaker 3: call in. They're so cute drunk in my pajamas on
• 49:43
  Speaker 3: the bottom bunk, you know. So it's I think embracing
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: the streaming service. I think this is the future for homework.
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: I'm really excited about it, and I think it's going
• 49:52
  Speaker 3: to take us a little while to get used to.
• 49:55
  Speaker 3: Like my aunt Diana's very confused.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: No, there's no lie here. We have a Facebook group
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: and there's always it's always questions like how do I
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: get Hallmark Plus? Where do I find this movie? And
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: we're always like, okay, I just happened.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Let me.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: I don't understand why it's here and not there.
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah. My aunt like doesn't have a computer, or she does,
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: but she doesn't not open it or something and watches.
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: She's like, I want to watch your movies on the phone.
• 50:24
  Speaker 3: So I sent her a one year subscription to Hallmark
• 50:27
  Speaker 3: Plus and she's like, I can't enter it on the
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: phone because it's informations on the phone.
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: And you know what I mean, It's.
• 50:34
  Speaker 3: Like, oh, you have to write down the code on
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: a piece of paper and then enter it.
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: She's like, well, it's asking me to add my credit card.
• 50:43
  Speaker 3: I'm like, where's your credit card? She's like downstairs. I'm like,
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: I'll call you in a couple hours. So it's just
• 50:49
  Speaker 3: complicated in the beginning, you know. And once we get
• 50:52
  Speaker 3: our sea legs, this is the future. This is how
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: you're going to be able to be watching Hallmark movies
• 50:57
  Speaker 3: all day.
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're commercial free joining the way with the
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: few man. I sometimes I'm like I want to wait
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: and watch it because now I don't have to watch
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: it with commercials on cable.
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: One hundred percent.
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: Watch to the next day.
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the next day, and there's.
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: A ton of like exclusive stuff. I mean, we rode
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: so hard for finding mister Christmas. Like, if you missed that,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: go back and watch it because the reality way of
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: the future is happening on a Hallmark plus.
• 51:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah, And I would love to
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: do I'd love to do another season of Small Town Setup.
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: I had the best time shooting that.
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: He would do a different location, like new small town.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, I know it was different towns, but like
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: all in Georgia.
• 51:35
  Speaker 3: I don't know, you know, I ultimately, frankly, that's probably
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: mostly about like tax credit or brand wise. Frankly, so
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: that's a little bit above my pay grade. But I
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: I loved shooting in Georgia, like they were so so wonderful,
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: so kind, The crew is incredible.
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: So I would do that again in a heartbeat. And
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: then yeah, I want to shoot this jump and movie
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: this year.
• 52:01
  Speaker 3: And I've got another movie that I'm writing that hasn't
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: been announced yet that I want to shoot this summer.
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: So hey man, yeah, a lot going on.
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: I do have a lot going on. I'm so tired.
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: I not enough coffee girls. Anyway, thank you for.
• 52:17
  Speaker 3: Having me on this.
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you for
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: listening to Girls Gone Homework, a Bramble Jam podcast. If
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: you love this podcast, we love your five star ratings interviews.
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: You can leave them in the Apple Podcast app. We'll
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: see you next time. Bye bye. All right, friends, before
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: we go, just a quick heads up, you're about to
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: hear some ads. Diettle Gems help us keep the show
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: running and the home park love flowing, So do with
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: that info what you will, Grab a snack, hit the
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in and discover
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: your new favorite he ye