Latest / Hallmark Mysteries & More / Lisa Hamilton Daly Reveals What to Expect from the New Hallmark Mystery Channel

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Lisa Hamilton Daly Reveals What to Expect from the New Hallmark Mystery Channel · Hallmark Mysteries & More

• 0:00
  Okay, so Luther friends, this is our biggest interview ever.
• 0:05
  Today we talk to Lisa Hamilton daily. And here's what I want you to do. Worse Luthers I want you to really closely listen to what she says, gives us answers without giving us answers. So read between the lines, I totally, fully encourage you all read between the lines. Here we got this podcast was created by fans for games affiliated with or sponsored by Hallmark Channel. Okay, this may be the biggest day of the podcast because we have the main person on the entire planet who knows the future of Hallmark mysteries. Lisa Hamilton daily.
• 1:07
  Hello, how are you doing today?
• 1:09
  I'm well, I'm so thrilled to be here. Good, I'm glad and once again, to be the most important person on the planet as far as our podcast is concerned. So as I was starting to do my little investigation and figuring you know what to ask you, I looked at your LinkedIn because lo and behold, we're connected on LinkedIn, which is absolutely fascinating.
• 1:30
  Thank you for that. But you have your PhD in English and American literature, which I am guessing a lot of your peers do not have a PhD. So I'm guessing at mid 20s, you're not thinking you're going to be you know, this network giant that you are, like, how did this all happen?
• 1:54
  Ya know, it's, it's, it's funny, it's been an interesting road on. I wasn't, I didn't know for sure that I wanted to do this.
• 2:02
  But it's interesting, I spent a lot of time when I was in grad school, going to the movies.
• 2:05
  Also, we hadn't quite hit the golden age of television yet, you know, there was I watched TV a lot, but I really was actually spending a lot of time going to the movies. And so I kind of went to like film school side by side with getting my PhD.
• 2:17
  Because the I where I went to school, there was this amazing theater called the Brattle theatre that showed everything and I watched, you know, for our Indian movies about about cricket and and you know, French movies and every movies from all over the world. So I got this really great kind of education in film. And, and then it became a big TV fan as well. So it made sense when I got back. And I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do rather than be a professor, I decided I wanted to go into film. And I did start in feature film. And then I moved into television. Did you have some moments where you thought maybe you wanted to be like I went to prep school and looking at your background and you're like, literally, the teacher, you know, that that background, actually, I interviewed to teach. I interviewed at colleges, and I didn't I don't know, it just it wasn't I loved teaching because I actually did teach for a minute. But I also interviewed to be a teacher at the school my daughter now attends, which is really funny. I interviewed her and I was like one of the two finalists to be like the English teacher there. So um, you know, but I think what unites all of this, obviously, is a love of story. Because you know, and I also, at some point decided that I wanted to switch from large sort of teaching to actually helping create the content, which we call now called content, but it Yeah, so I wanted to be on the creative side. And, and so I switched, I was here on I was living in Los Angeles, again on a postdoc working on Oscar Wilde, actually, and I started interning for different film companies as a kind of an older person, which was interesting.
• 3:55
  So I started at the bottom again in film. It's actually interesting because I was, as I told you, I was just talking to Nikki Loesch and Megan McNulty, and Megan McNulty has a similar background. She has her master's in teaching and she taught she tutored. And she said, at the end of the day, it's all about telling stories. And I've continued through that, so.
• 4:15
  Okay, so we're gonna mostly talk about mysteries, but I do have to hit a little bit on some of the romcom stuff because there have been two movies that have just recently come out round and round over the holidays and then an American and Austin and those movies were just completely other lovers now are met I love all Hallmark movies. So the tried and true hallmark is still love all those. But I showed those movies to some of my friends. I said, you gotta watch this, who aren't Hallmark fans, and quite frankly, kind of don't like the Hallmark genre. Right?
• 4:50
  And they were both universally like, wow, these are great movies. So what is it like? Is this like the direction we can expect a little bit More from hallmark of this whole other level type movie.
• 5:03
  Look, I am I'm so proud of what the team did with these movies and you know with all of our movies this year, but those two are are definitely stands out standouts creatively. And I think that we're always thinking about the range of an audience and who can we capture, you know, at different ends of it.
• 5:22
  And so to that end, we're trying new things, and we're trying things that are funnier, or we're doing more period pieces.
• 5:29
  And I think with this, we decided to just say like, I feel like these are like, feature film, like you'd go see them in a in a movie theater and be totally content and think I might $25 or whatever movie ticket costs in your area was well spent here. And I think I want to have some of those in our docket because I think that it helps us bring in some new audience members, like your friends who are saying, you know, wouldn't watch a Hallmark movie, I think that all Hallmark movies at their core are about love and connection. And I think those movies are also about that they just take a slightly you know, more feature type way in, we're going to, I don't think that they don't signal a mandate a change across our whole portfolio, but they definitely are something that we want to keep doing keep making films that feel a little more like a feature movie that you might see, you know, and and as we continue to move across and expand across more platforms, I think that it'll be helpful for us to draw in new people with content like that.
• 6:26
  I will admit, I have watched around and around eight times and that is a record I literally I'm in the time, right there that I just can't get enough of that movie, summer villa, which is old schools. The only other one I've seen that many times, I thought round and round was was really, I mean, just adorable in every way. And I'm so glad you were a fan. And look, I saw American and Austin and like the that's where the in the English professor and he was just like, This is amazing. I love it. We you know, our whole Austin stunt this year was fantastic. I thought that we really brought it. And I think we did something a little different in each movie. You know, and I think that that's what made it the whole stunts so special and unique. You know, we had the incredible costumes and, and just everything else about our sentence sensibility with our, you know, with an African American cast and everything like that. And then, you know, diving into the world of like an English of a conference of like a romance novel conference, and just the fun of of seeing Ali Sweeney talk to Jane Austen.
• 7:23
  Still, I just I thought we did, I thought the whole thing was amazing. But I agree that American and Austin was secretly probably my favorite plot wise, just because I love I love a little time travel, as you most know, from seeing the other things we've done. So I'm right there with it right there with you. So now you've been at Hallmark for a couple years now.
• 7:42
  Right? So what is your thing that you have been the most proud of the accomplishment because it's changed considerably, since I'll just use COVID as a breaking point.
• 7:52
  But if you just look at it in the 2020s, it's very, very distilled this a lot of the same, but it's very different.
• 7:59
  So what's the thing?
• 8:02
  I think I'm proud of the thing that you're pointing out, which is that I think we're making a wider range of, of kind of shows, I think that we are our stuff looks is starting to look a little more sophisticated. We have we're working, we're partnering with amazing like writers and cinematographers and you know, actors and directors like I think we just expanded the pool of talent that we're working with. And I think our you know, our scripts are getting better. And when your script gets better, the director that you attract gets better.
• 8:35
  And the director you attract gets better the actor you attract gets better. So it's like incremental. It's all built on the basis of you know, having a great concept and a great script. And I think that's what's happening is we're kind of letting our writers first and foremost, like run free and use their imagination and think about more things. And I've also let our team like we have what is the what's the thing you've always wanted to make, like what the team has been so great about is like following their own passions, and like finding writers to partner with that make exciting new kinds of stories, because I think that, you know, at some point, our basic story, which is beloved, and we'll never move away from having a handful of like, you know, girl goes back to like save the Christmas tree festival, we're going to tell a variation of that, because I think there's something very satisfying about that. But I think that also finding new kinds of stories to tell and diversifying the stories you're telling as well as the types of actors you're using and just everything else like just more diversity on every single level, and more and more quality like filmmaking and art, bringing all that in. That's what I'm proud of is that we are leveling ourselves up even when we have a really fun traditional straight down the middle story. I think those are even better now. I think that I think we've just found better ways to sort of do it. And it's really out of necessity because look we have made Hallmark has been so successful over the last 10 years or so, at you know making these having a huge fan base really pleasing that fan base, you kind of run out of, you know, run out of things, you gotta find new ways to do it.
• 10:06
  And I think, as we started also, to produce so many more movies, you really have to tell to differentiate between 40 movies at Christmas, you actually need to get more unique. And so what I love that we're doing two is that each, everything we do is becoming more unique in its own way. You know, if we have a movie about faith, it's getting more deeper into that faith. If we have a movie, say about the LGBTQ community, I really want us to have something that feels more realistic that's built around it, you know, that's built that the community feels like something you'd really find. So it's like, it's really diving into those places, and finding stuff that just feels more unique, more special and more different. And really true to the story that are telling.
• 10:45
  So that's what I'm excited about.
• 10:49
  That's awesome. So I imagine you see pretty much every movie before the rest of us see this?
• 10:53
  Have you had one that you've looked at? And just were like, wow, I know this is going to nail it, that may have been a shock to everyone. And maybe it's one of the ones we just talked about, right? But just one where you're like, Oh, this is this is good. I have to say that the movie that I could not stop watching and that every time it came on television, like I'd be like, you know, I flip on our air sometimes to see what's happening. Today was a bit more Christmas last year, every single time that movie got to the end, I was crying when like Chris Blaha comes to the future.
• 11:29
  I just I thought that that movie was really, it was a whole new level of quality for us in terms of production value, and just sort of like what it brought to the table in terms of our Christmas movies. And I loved it. And from the first I went on set saw a little bit of it being filmed. And when I saw the first cut, I just I was in love with it. So I really excited with how well that turned out.
• 11:54
  All right, my only question of that is how does he survive without a social security card in 2024 Take over the social part of a dead person like. So that's where we're at now. Love it. All right. All right. So we kind of talked a little bit about this purpose of recording.
• 12:13
  But hallmark is a business. It's not a nonprofit organization, as much as US fans would love to believe that the sole purpose of the network is just to make us entertainment, we understand. At the end of the day, it is a business, you have to have your business goals, you have to make money to keep producing movies.
• 12:31
  So with mysteries, like when you look at it, they have a significantly smaller audience than the rom com does. So what is it really that goes into this decision? When you see something to say, Hey, let's go make this movie. What are the business decisions kind of behind that firm history? Well, obviously, we do look at the numbers, but I am I'm a big instinct person. And I had as I kind of commissioned a study from our, with our research team, to look at how mysteries worked historically. And what we found out is that the first episode of a mystery was always a little softer, that it took a minute for fans to figure out to come to a mystery. And I think they needed to know the problems that there might be some more of them, you know, and so it took about two or three to really get to the place where stuffs were achieved lift off. And I think that, you know, we've seen some weakness in some of our first episodes. And I'm like, No, let's stay with it. Because we've seen that it you know, it can get better. And so it's really about like, what feels like it's really fresh and new and different and and can really grabs more eyeballs, and who has our fan favorites in it that we know can you know, stick around for eight more episodes. So it's it's a combination of a lot of things. And I think we've tried a lot of stuff over the last two years. With our mysteries. When I got here we had sort of paused the production of mysteries, because I think they felt that they were mostly skewing a little bit older and is audience wise. And they had sort of people, we transitioned ourselves a little bit more into romantic dramas. And I don't know, I looked at that list that new mysteries are so fun. And they, I felt that they were a big differentiator for us. I did not think that there was any place else that I could see that was doing except for like British people. And you know, people have breadbox and acorn things like that. And they can go there. But like there was no one no, US companies or networks are anything that we're really leaning into mysteries and I thought this feels unique for us. You know, it just it feels like it's different enough from our main channel. It's fun. I love that you can just you know, have a wheel now. It's like 10 and we plow through them. It seemed like a great seemed like a great especially in a bingeable world seemed like a great alternative to series that felt like unique. So I'm seeing a lot of this I'm saying the same thing over and over again.
• 14:53
  But basically I felt like this felt unique for us. So I thought we need to do more in new so and the team took the challenge and I I think has produced some new stuff. And we have, we have not rolled out bringing back, you know, some of our older things and also doing more of our new things. I think we're just testing and learning and trying and seeing what works. And, you know, we have some fun surprises for people coming up. So, you know, I'm not going to say more.
• 15:15
  But, you know, we hear the fans, I, they email me, they've sent me letters, you know, about some of the older ones and some of that some of that is delayed, hence, signed, sealed and delivered people by logistics, you know, it's just, it's, it's, it's not on us, it's literally on the people that produce the shows, we are often at the mercy of other people like him bringing something back, or actors leave, they want to do something different, or writers are busy. So we're sort of working through trying to get around some of that stuff, and sort of see what can we do. And I think we're excited to, you know, to lean into what our fans like, but also try to introduce new stuff, because we know if we introduce a couple of new episodes, they're probably going to fall in love with that, too.
• 15:58
  So we're hoping you know that as we do more if we do another Gildan mysteries, or we do more of, you know, the, I just I love the cases of mystery lane, which we're doing another one of I thought that I just thought that was fun, it reminded me like a tiny bit of like a moonlighting or just something different, was little, you know, how little sparring going on and so I think it's, it's some, it's bringing people new stuff that they're gonna love, while also balancing it with the older stuff that we know, they we know they love.
• 16:26
  So, well, your answer couldn't have been better, because my next one was going to be that one of our big platforms we stand on is that every mystery needs three episodes just for exactly we said, because that first one is a little clunky. In fact, I told you, I just talked to Nikki. And we're talking about the first curious cater where I kind of liked it. But it was that second one when I really got to know those characters when I was like, Oh, this is good. And then by the third one, you just have that development. So that is what I said, that's, I don't have a question, I just have a mandate three, three episodes, we look at it, it makes sense for us to do that, too. Because it's the standalone, the the things that are standalones, you know, don't repeat it, it's better to have like three or four or five or more, because you can run them as a little you know, as little stunt or whatever any just the ones that are alone, you don't get to have the fun. You know, these are built around interesting characters, really. And you don't have the fun of seeing those characters develop. And so I think I feel the same way that these have to be multiple multiples.
• 17:29
  And I do feel your not your pain, but the signed, sealed delivered, folks, we get a lot of messages, our DMS and people think seem to think we have a direct line to which now we do which is great. But they'll say, you know, when are we getting the science to deliver? You know, they said it's coming what's going on? And so what I've been saying is what would Oliver say patience is a virtue.
• 17:48
  It's coming. This now this is me, this is not you. But I'm saying Just be patient. Let them go that you know, you've given us enough information. So yeah, there's realities of the world right now that we have to contend with. So as fans we don't write everything is just magical.
• 18:08
  Like, just touch it and it can happen only it was that easy to do production. Yes. Actor schedules, all those writers things that doesn't matter.
• 18:17
  Right. It's just give me that my mystery. Give it to me next week. Yeah. Okay. So, one of the things with mysteries is a lot of these tend to be based off cosy novels that already exist.
• 18:31
  We had Alyssa Maxwell on and she was telling the story about how one of the hallmark executives just happened to be doing a tour of a Newport mansion picked up the novel and said, Oh, hey, this may work and years late, it literally took years and then we're just you know, we're talking to patients here. But what is it that like how do you guys go about finding this? Is it where you are out there having someone who reads a whole bunch of cozy novels or I mean it can happen in so many different ways and it happens very much the same way that any movie production happens which either yes, it's serendipity you're you pick up a novel you happen to be a person who is able to make that happen and great a lot of times our our partners who are producers come in with the the concepts on pitch us and they're really the sort of producers are meant to really be the engine of idea generation so they're often the ones out looking for books out looking for concepts looking at you know, podcasts, articles, whatever across the spectrum finding different things or have having a writer who's come up with a great idea in their head so there's that which is a fully spec ideas so there's there's lots of different ways and we're open to all of them like we really do kind of like try to you know, especially when you're looking for something new sometimes we're you know, thinking wow, that really worked you know, that concept really worked for all the murders in the building or whatever, like what can we do that feels a little bit like that that's hallmarks version you know, and and knives out, you know, we had a kind of knives out ish mystery the Yeah one on the other island which I just spaced on the name of Mr. Island Thank you like that was the obvious name right, which I loved I thought was super beautiful shot Panama very atmospheric like I really want to do more of those because I thought it was just And it felt sophisticated and like it's so I just think you know, it's fun when we're sort of you know riffing on something that's in the culture, whatever. So we're doing it all different ways.
• 20:25
  But we couldn't agree more we actually the podcast we dropped today is on our favorite sidekicks. And one of mine was from Mr. Eiland, which is Baroness Janie. But it's the same thing and John Christian Palmer has been a great friend of ours and I was talking to him I'm like, you have to do more because we need more Baroness Jane.
• 20:47
  I am I feel the same way. I'm Australian. I just loved it like it was it was very much my jam like I think everyone has their own kind of mystery they like and that for me it because it felt like a little bit I made doc when I was at at a&e lifetime we made with it. We partner with the BBC and we made a really cool version of And Then There Were None the Agatha Christie novel and I think it was like six parts or something like that. And it was their Boxing Day. Mini Series. And it was so fun. And I love working on it. And mystery Island was reminding me of like knives out and Agatha Christie had a baby, it was mystery island. So um, you know, that was my, my secret favorite one.
• 21:28
  I love it. Love it. So the other thing that's interesting, though, and maybe this is more, I guess the producers is one of the things I've started doing is reading the book to see kind of how the books a little different. So you know, the Hannah Swensons. But the curious, cater is one that really sticks out to me, because if you read the book, that is not Hallmark. I mean, there is abuse there. It's crazy. So I'm just curious, like it maybe once again, this is a better question for producers who were talking to Mike Barbeau. Tomorrow who may be there. But like how you can read a cozy mystery like that and go hmm, this seems whole marquee when you read the book? And is I think our characters, yes, I think that what producers are able to do is figure out the kernel of the idea that works for us, and then kind of adjust accordingly. I think that's, you know, we have that a lot where, especially when people bring us pitches that have been someplace else, or scripts that were set up somewhere else, and now we're looking at them, and we just have conversations about what works for us and what doesn't, you know, we're very much a G, light PG place. And so, you know, you can't have a lot of the things you can have other places and, you know, you strip those out, basically, you know, you take out that stuff and it's we're used to doing that a lot because I think it's you know, some of the books the some of the source material we will look at is not entirely homework, but especially for the mysteries, you know, are the cozy mystery genre is not quite as focused on sort of a you know, the, the the love and the enveloping love because you know, someone's dead, usually at the beginning of something bad has happened.
• 23:07
  So you're already in a little bit of different place, but you're not going to there's not gonna be a lot of blood, there's not going to be a lot of abuse, there's not gonna be a lot of weirdness. Like it's just it's a world where things can also it's the fantasy of crime, where it's like everything is right at the end. And so for that, to me that fulfills that Homer promise that everything's gonna be okay. It's just a little darker to get there in our mysteries. So but again, it can't be that dark.
• 23:29
  Okay. Well, we are one of our big claim to fame is we're the only podcast that focus solely on mysteries. And so March 6, for us was a fantastic, great day with the whole rebranding of the network. So can you tell us now, I then go look at the whole schedule, and it didn't look that different, right, which so I imagine there's a bigger vision and there's changes and all this content is coming. Can you just share a little bit about what do we have as Luthers? To expect? Sure, I think look, I think our you know, our daytime stuff will continue to be sort of mystery and and, you know, like crime focused, daytime day part, you know, that daytime Park, and then our original Ministries which we are ramping up, the number of, you know, as we have been over that will be the, you know, our evenings and premieres. We may do more with types of shows coming forward. I can't say much more about that, because it's still a work in progress, you know, maybe limited series, like we're just thinking about how we can bring more to it. But I think for us, I always thought that homework movie and mystery was a weird name. I was like, Why? Why?
• 24:43
  Because it just it doesn't make sense. They're like two different categories, like movies and mysteries are not the same category of things. Like one is, anyway, you know what I mean? So I thought, well, we should just make it simpler and also a little more declarative about our intent, because I think again, And this is what makes us distinct and what makes us stand out. And also, I did see so much online about what our viewers wanted, which was more mysteries, they wanted the back. And so I think this is just, you know, we brought them back. And now we have sort of dedicated that channel to them.
• 25:14
  So, you know, that's And so yes, there is going to continue to be sort of an evolution around like, what can we do here? And we're thinking about that.
• 25:23
  So it's funny you said, because people are always complaining, like, to us saying, oh, hallmarks not committed to mysteries anymore. And then I just went through and I just did a drop back. And one comment, I was like, Do you realize they've done 14 brand new not talking about the continuations, but 14 brand new mysteries, essentially, in the last two and a half years? Like, I think that's a pretty big commitment shows me the money. I put in, we put our money where our mouth is here on look, and I think, you know, we need to start to focus in on on building some of those into wheels. I think we just, we actually I think we had so many fun ones. We're just like, let's do this and see what happens. So you know, I think I think that, uh, and I know that people are, you know, worried about, we're never going to bring back some of the old ones. Some of them we can't, because the actors are no longer, you know, available to us for whatever reason, but we're always thinking about what we could do. Well, I will say right now, gourmet detective would be my put that on my wish list. That's my favorite mystery of all time.
• 26:28
  But going back to some of the old mysteries, will this there's ones like Jane Doe murder, 101 mystery woman that, you know, going way, way back to the early 2000s? Like, are these gonna?
• 26:41
  They don't really ever ever?
• 26:41
  Probably not?
• 26:43
  If they really if they're 20 years old? I don't know how we go back to them. The actors are probably much different.
• 26:49
  Oh, no, not making new ones. But yeah. Ever air?
• 26:54
  I was like, Yeah, we're not reviving those? Um, no, no, that's interesting. I should talk to my eyes. It's probably like, every time something's not on the air, it's not on the air for a reason, because it probably stopped raining honestly, like, it's so it's, you know, our team is super clever and super strategic about what they do with what why something why you're seeing something right. And you're seeing it because it's proven.
• 27:20
  It's a proven winner, it's holds up and repeats alike. So anything that's been kind of phased out, it usually means that it just kind of people lost interest after a while.
• 27:31
  Okay, fair enough. With the commitment with the network, and it does seem so just looking at the first four months, because you just announced the new Hannah Swenson and the new curious cater coming in April, can we pretty much expect maybe a higher frequency now of new releases? Whether it be part of a wheel or new one? Pretty much at the at the cadence we're going to be at for a minute? I don't think that I don't right now, there's no plans to increase the frequency huge amount? No, we're pretty much at that. Well, that's been like a two to a month, which is fantastic.
• 28:09
  Considering it used to be, you know, one month or, you know, there. So that's, I'm not complaining. I am very, very excited with with that. Do you have any ratio as far as like, a new one? Like, let's try to do a wheel? And for every one new one, and we'll do two, two wheels? Or is it just whatever sort of hits the desk? That looks weird.
• 28:36
  I mean, they're all They're all theoretically could become wheels. So um, you know, I think they're a lot of them are trial balloons in the you know, the, for the first one to see how we feel about them. And, but I don't think there's like a, there's no set ratio, it's really, like, again, especially after the strike, it's been about ability and availability to do to make some stuff. So all right. So one of the things that I've watched a few of them that are a little bit older are the true one off mystery movie where it's like a lot of the current ones, even if they'd only aired once, because for whatever reason decided overnight, going to pick it up.
• 29:16
  They always seem to end with the hope that there could be more, but Hallmark used to make ones that really were just a self contained. No, this is just a kind of like the rom com right?
• 29:27
  Yeah, at the beginning, you have a conclusion, you don't have an expectation, um, or is that something you guys are looking at doing making more? No, I don't know that we have anything in the pipeline like that right now. I think that if anything, we're probably looking at different ways to stack stuff, but I don't think we're we're not actively developing totally closed ended things at the moment. So all right. So we kind of touched on a little bit earlier as fans we don't have to deal with all of your, you know, business, logistics and all of those sort of things. But We have some like good ideas as fans is like, is there a possibility of crossovers? Or is it because of production companies and things like that? They just in our world, they work. But in the real world of programming, they just don't work because it gets, you know, out of a hallmark budget. And it's just too crazy to do things like that, because it'd be great to see, like, Travis Burke show up on curious caterer or something like that.
• 30:26
  And, I mean, like, I don't want to say anything, because these are supposed to be surprises. But look, I think we we love how the cameos operate for us, because they fun, little easter egg, the fans love it. Um, you know, and it's, it gives us a lot of like, you know, noise on social, a lot of times, I'll just be honest, it's because like someone's in town, or they're, they're filming something else. And I mean, if it ended and it feels good, like then we pull them over, and it's often opportunistic in that way. I'm just, I'm just showing you how the sausage is made here a little bit. Sometimes it's deliberate, but for a lot of times, it's like, we have a lot of people shooting stuff in the same town. And we're like, and they're their pals, or, you know, some of them are more deliberate. You know, when when it's like Tyler showing up in Andrews movie or whatever, like, those are, those are crafted or Paul's showing up. But But yeah, I mean, they're really fun. And we're constantly thinking of ways to do more of them. So it's, you know, it is just a it is a bit of a budget thing, because you really, it's hard to like fly someone all the way in for it. So it's it's opportunistic a lot of the time.
• 31:35
  One of the as I said before, we did our little podcast on the sidekicks. But the, the one that just primetime that just aired, had a fantastic character we loved which was Britney Mitchell's character of the M E.
• 31:49
  And as we're watching it, both my co hosts and I were like afterwards saying, it would be great to see a spin off with this one character. And that's something once again, a lot of the, you know, CBIC look at, you know, they've got Chicago Medical Hospital PD, like everything, they'll spin off everything. Do you think that's something that maybe Hallmark can do is like, take one intentionally? Yeah, I don't see. I feel like it's, you know, certainly a possibility. I think as we try to my feeling at the moment is we need to focus on building wheels out of all the things we have. But look if you'd like to come in and pitch us a spin off with a medical examiner, happy to consider it because it's a great idea. I love the medical examiner character, Quincy was one of those that I watched endlessly as a child, because I was always like, what new gross things is gonna happen, you know, this week, so, but I think yeah, it's a fun idea. And we're always open to those kinds of ideas.
• 32:48
  That's all right. Well, I have to get, first of all, I have to figure out how to do a pitch, but then I'll be coming at you with my one once and once I know how to do it, I will do it. Um, so another thing that hallmarks been really successful for, you know, we have the way home going into the second season there cedar Cove Chesapeake shores.
• 33:06
  Goodwitch doing the series. Do you think that is that something where you guys are looking at is creating an actual, like, ongoing, not necessarily a wheel, but more of a series?
• 33:16
  Where it's on every week for, you know, 10 episodes kind of thing? Nor am I ruining it there too.
• 33:24
  Yeah, no, I think yeah, we're definitely thinking about that.
• 33:27
  That's sort of one of the the things we're looking forward to to see like, how can we diversify the type of programming we're doing? And that's definitely one of the things we've talked about and are thinking about. Alright, so I'm not asking you to open up the books or anything like that.
• 33:41
  But I assume the financial commitment of doing like a 10 week, hour long show is significantly more than cranking out one of the two hour movies.
• 33:51
  So it's obviously very big discussion versus ones of millions. So yeah, it's different. Okay, so one of the things we saw recently is Dylan Neil was often in Rome, and he posted this great idea he had of doing basically an unscripted his gourmet detective cruising around, so is the possibility of unscripted like I know we have Lacey her Yes, her unscripted coming we have Lisa and we're, you know, we're definitely developing some more ideas. And I think I'm and our ideas are created around a lot of times around all our hallmark talents that are created by or built around our home our talent. So yeah, we're actually pretty actively looking for fun concepts that are you know, that's actually a fun idea. For me, Detective traveling Europe would be cool. But, yeah, I said that the answer is yes. We're working on that kind of stuff.
• 34:53
  Okay, so what is the like the lazy one, where's that going to air or is that on? Hallmark? Or is the hallmark now or it's gonna be on homework now? Oh Mark now.
• 35:04
  Okay. Are you are you have plans to because right now, one of those details that I'm not supposed to tell you but Megan will tell you that in a follow up. I know we announced it. I don't know if we said where it was gonna be so. But yeah, I think we're definitely there's about 10 episodes of that, and it's going to come later this year.
• 35:28
  You mentioned Tyler a little earlier, we had a great idea for him. And that's a three part little mini series with him, where we called it orca island where he starts out in the first episode, they're all just nice.
• 35:42
  And by the third one, you find out that Tyler is the bad guy.
• 35:45
  And he's the killer even though he's like the cop who's trying to help and doing all that the twists and turns. So there you go. There's my idea. You can use that and make it a little three part many workers involved because that's really what I want to hear about.
• 36:02
  Orca island because it's off off Vancouver. So I was hoping like orcas were part of the plot, but you could you can bring renewed fish again. Yeah, sorry. You'll be like right riding. I'm like Shamu kind of thing there. So yeah, Shamu murder mystery, though. The Amazing. One of the things that's also going on.
• 36:23
  It's just the reality of it is a lot of our favorite Hallmark stars, who we've been liking for years and years and years are getting older. That's just what happens to people. Right? And so maybe the romantic II type story isn't quite the same or, you know, kind of whatever who wants to see him like me at this point. Find love for the first time. But other ones that have been really popular have been you know, the Murder She Wrote, you're talking about Quincy being older. There's a book out of Tuesday murder club, who is some senior citizens doing that?
• 37:03
  I tried to get that book. I love the idea. DreamWorks is doing it. Really? Yeah, like that sort of mystery where there's just really no even hint at romance.
• 37:14
  It's really just focusing on the character. Is that something you think Hallmark would ever do? Or do you always want? I think, you know, I think across the board, we're trying you know, I think our staple obviously is the you know, meet cute have a romance like this, you know, whatever. I think that as we start to diversify the stories we're telling, I think we'll start telling things in different ways. I think it's definitely true that there doesn't always have to be romance we do find that romance is a good anchor for us a lot of times in that there's a lot of interest in that so we don't want to discount the importance of it. But I think you know, in I you know, I think they in in all of them there's a possibility that we could move past that paradigm sometimes.
• 37:59
  And in cases of mystery lane, Paul and Amy they start out married though so you're not even as New IQ was so you're in the middle of their marriage with them which you think is different for us? I mean, you know a lot very few things we start out and people are already married couple of them in the rose like a heart to heart right. One of the classic missed are little Yeah, I think I think it's just I think it's really important to like we are thinking about love in different ways you know, friendly sisterly familiar like familial all kinds of like, you know, so I think that as we start to like, move through these mysteries a little more, I think we might get more stories like that. That'd be absolutely fantastic. But we are going to go backwards just a little bit. We have a couple and I don't know if you can share anything but cut color murder which was left on a cliffhanger, Nikki and Nora which has Hunter King and run on a fish who everyone loved that one.
• 38:57
  Francesca Quinn, do you have any update you can share with us?
• 39:02
  Should we be hoarding and given a lot of not to be too thematic but a lot of clues about the fact that we really are thinking about all of these as we'll so you take that to mean whatever you want. Again, it is a matter it's a matter of sometimes if availability and time and scheduling there's a lot of reasons why things appear or don't appear.
• 39:26
  I will I will be optimistic then so you did not say you did not say no. Did not say no you can live in hope. As is when Dumb and Dumber. You know, one in a million you're saying there's a chance Perfect. All right. All right. So one of the things hallmarks obviously known for and a lot of people who only watch Hallmark will watch it in November December for the holidays. Can we expect a holiday mystery perhaps?
• 39:55
  Well, we just did one which is a real mystery though. Missed Well mystery and mistletoe Lane it was a mystery It was sort of like you know they had a dead person you want a dead person well probably not going to have a fully dead person at Christmas but I you know never say never maybe Santa Claus dies I don't know you'll get on and you'll get some press for that one I think I think at Christmas it'll continue to be very late mystery I don't think it'll be murder but you know again never seen ever but um yeah, I there there are things in the pipeline. So I did enjoy that one in the head Santa Stakeout, which kind of had a little bit of a guy was fun. Catching Mr.
• 40:35
  Claus was not even on was finding the star whatever it was. The name of it this year was on HC. But yeah, we had some like little grainy. Little more mysterious ones. By the way, that was another one catching, catching by my going brain dead. We're both having the moment. That was also Yes, absolutely. A fantastic movie.
• 40:57
  Yeah. So well written. And Luke MacFarlane anyone who all this all the people who are the haters who say, Oh, he can generate passion with a woman, just watch. Watch the kiss in that movie. And that is put to bed because that was the hottest kiss in Hallmark history in that movie.
• 41:23
  Yeah, I think they let that one go a little longer than normal.
• 41:26
  But there was a reason because it lets you know, so.
• 41:30
  Fantastic. Great movie, but there's so well written two.
• 41:33
  Yeah, that's really proud of that one.
• 41:35
  All right. So final question is, and we talked about a lot, and you've given us a lot of the little hints, but just in a real nutshell. What because with Hallmark mysteries, one of the things that's a little different than the the rom com audience as they get their movie, it's finished, it's goes on with the mysteries, they just developed such a higher level of passion for those characters. And, you know, we've talked about some cancelled ones where people refuse to move forward from that, or, you know, they just really, really are in it. And now they're very skeptical, and they feel like, oh, hallmarks just gonna crush our heart again. So what can you tell us, that's gonna get us all the slippers out there and to say, and now I think launching the station, you know, the channel just inherently says a lot. But what can you just tell us to say, Nope, Luthers we got? Yeah, I mean, we really are focused on bringing mystery content to them. And to the extent that we can continue wheels to the extent that we can lean into what's working, we're doing it again, some of the stuff not in our control, but where we can.
• 42:48
  And when we find something that works, we are like dog with a bone, we'll keep making them. So I think that's the thing is, like, you know, they if they watch them, we'll make them so you know, if so, let so turn on your TV, watch them, and then we'll be like, they like it. So we'll make more. But like, I think we're really excited for the upcoming year and for some of the new mysteries and for some of the returning ones that are fun, you know, just just put some other some some fan favorites through the pipeline the other day, so just standby because stuffs coming your way.
• 43:21
  And we have a mystery 101 marathon coming up, I think this weekend, if I'm not mistaken, so you can still get your, you know, your share of AMI and Travis there. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you very much for taking some time talking with us. I think you really gave us Luthers a lot of hope. And I'm really excited for the upcoming year because I'm reading between a lot of lines with tons of optimism. Excellent.
• 43:52
  Thankfully, so glad you're a fan. Really appreciate it.
• 43:54
  Thanks.