Since 2019, I created the Gold Sally Awards. What was once a way to recognize the best Hallmark had to offer, it evolved into a series of polls highlighting the films covered or discussed on 18 Cinema Lane. In the beginning, voter turn-out was strong. The polls served their purpose of allowing readers to interact with my blog’s content. But as time went on, voter turn-out dwindled. There were times when I’ve had to select the winners because a particular poll didn’t receive any votes. With all that said, I will continue the Gold Sally Awards. But starting next year, there will no longer be voting polls. Instead, I am going to create separate, individual awards that are more unique/creative/fun. Now that this update is out of the way, it’s time to announce the winners of this year’s Gold Sally Awards!
Similar to last year, I created a collage on PowerPoint of this year’s winners. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
Best Movie: The King and I
Best Story: The Three Musketeers
Best Ensemble: The Karate Kid
Best On-Screen Couple: Marshall Williams and Natalie Hall — Sincerely, Yours, Truly
Best Actress: Janel Parrish – Holly & Ivy
Best Actor: Marshall Williams – Sincerely, Yours, Truly
Best Supporting Actress: Jean Porter – Bathing Beauty
Now that this year’s Gold Sally Awards is coming to a close, it’s finally time to announce the Star of the Year Award! For those who don’t know, this is a recognition award where readers can nominate someone who they think deserves a “standing ovation”. Since I’ve explained the award’s guidelines and past changes, I’ll provide the links below:
Similar to the Gold Sally Awards’ Best Actor Poll, I am extending the Best Actress Poll. This is because the Best Actress Poll did not receive any votes. If you are interested in voting, you have until May 10th to submit your votes. Even though you can only vote once per person, you can vote for more than one nominee. The link to the poll is listed under the poll image.
I’ve been working on a personal creative project that has taken me longer than I expected. But now I’m back to publish another poll for the 3rd Annual Gold Sally Awards! For this poll, you can vote for who is the Best actress from the movies I saw in last year. While you are able to choose more than one nominee, you can only vote once per person. This poll begins today, April 21st, and ends on April 28th.
Image of prom boutonniere created by Cynthia Lutes at freeimages.com. Photo by <a href=”/photographer/cindylutes-60975″>Cynthia Lutes</a> from <a href=”https://freeimages.com/”>FreeImages</a>. Image found at freeimages.com.
After three months of voting, the winners of the 2020 Gold Sally Awards have been determined! This year, the nominees were expanded beyond Hallmark projects. I made this choice to better reflect 18 Cinema Lane. Because of its success, I will not only bring the Gold Sally Awards back in 2021, but I’ll continue nominating films from within Hallmark and outside of Hallmark! Thank you to everyone who liked and voted in the 2nd Annual Gold Sally Awards! You are the reason why I keep this event around! Like last year, I have brought back the scrapbook style page showcasing this year’s winners! 2020’s theme is silver and gold with a dash of sparkle! And now, the winners of the 2020 Gold Sally Awards!
Scrapbook page and screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
Best Movie and Ensemble: Avengers: Endgame
Best Story: Mystery 101: Words Can Kill
Best On-Screen Couple: Ziyi Zhang and Chen Chang – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Best Actress: Haya Harareet – Ben-Hur (1959)
Best Actor: Spencer Tracy – Boys Town
Best Supporting Actress: Kathy Bates – Swept from the Sea
Best Supporting Actor: Ian McKellen – Swept from the Sea
I would just like to remind all of you that April 30th is the last day to submit your nomination for the 2020 Star of the Year! All the details are located at these links:
Last year, I introduced the Hallmark Star of the Year Award. This part of the Gold Sally Awards gave my readers, followers, and visitors the opportunity to nominee someone with the Hallmark community. Out of those nominees, I chose one recipient to receive this honor. This year, I’m bringing this award back with two major changes. The nominees will no longer be limited to people associated with Hallmark. You can also nominate movie critics, movie bloggers, and movie related Youtubers. Other than that, the guidelines are still the same as the previous year. If you would like to learn more about those guidelines, you can visit the link to the previous year’s post here:
For this category, I’ll extend the deadline to Thursday, April 30th. Like last year, you can place your nomination in the comment section of this post.
As I said in last week’s Word on the Street story, no winner was determined in the Best Actress division of the Gold Sally Awards. Because of this, I decided to re-post the Best Actress poll, so people who are interested in voting can have a second chance to choose among the ten nominees. Like the previous polls, you’re allowed to vote for more than one actress. However, you can only vote once per person. This poll starts today, March 20th, and ends on March 26th.
The Gold Sally Awards makes an effort to recognize the best actors and actresses of the previous year. Throughout the month of March, the individual acting polls of the Gold Sally Awards will take place. The first of these four polls is to determine the Best Actress! For this poll, you’re allowed to vote for more than one actress. But you can only vote once per person. This poll starts today, March 6th, and ends on March 12th.
On WordPress, I’ve gained a reputation among fellow bloggers as being the “Hallmark expert”. While I personally don’t see myself as an expert in this blogging space, I do appreciate people’s high regard toward my knowledge of Hallmark productions. During my years of watching Hallmark films, I’ve learned that a good number of movies are filmed in Canada. Also, every scripted television show from the network either currently films in Canada or has filmed in Canada before. Production websites like What’s Filming and Creative B.C. continually feature Hallmark titles on their websites, with productions for movies usually taking place within a month’s time. Others have taken notice of this particular creative choice, with publications like Refinery29 bringing it up in one of their Hallmark related articles. But what causes the company to choose Canada as a prime filming destination over other locations? How beneficial is it anyway? This editorial will explore some reasons why Hallmark has chosen Canada as their best friend when it comes to movie and television production. Negative results that could be caused by Hallmark’s choice will also be discussed. Hallmark has filmed their movies in a variety of locations, but Canada seems to be their favorite.
Every movie or television show has a budget that a creative team is required to work within. If there is an opportunity to save money, any creative team is likely to take advantage of it. With the creation of tax incentives, certain states or countries can appear more viable to companies and studios than other locations. Canada first introduced their tax incentives for the television and film industry in 1995, with more tax incentives coming into existence two years later. While it’s unclear when Hallmark started to film their programs in Canada, recent trends would indicate the company first made this decision sometime around 2010. In the past few years, Hallmark has created more than fifty movies a year. These projects, according to Shane Snoke and Kays Alatrakchi from quora.com, can carry a price tag between $300,000 to $2 million. To figure out how much Hallmark would likely pay annually for their films, let’s look at the amount of films the company created for Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries last year. On the first network, Hallmark released 64 films. The second network aired 41 films. Let’s say that each movie cost $1 million to make. In total, Hallmark would end up spending $105,000,000 each year among both channels. With this big of a price tag, it makes sense for the company to look for ways to save any amount of money they can.
Because every province of Canada has their own tax incentives for the film and television industry, it’s difficult to determine the exact amount of money Hallmark saves on each Canadian filmed production. But there is no denying that wherever a movie or television show is created, Hallmark ends up saving a significant amount of money. The company can apply those savings toward other programs. One example of how this money could have been used is for the creation of Hallmark Drama. Coordinating a television channel is a time-consuming and costly endeavor. Because Hallmark’s third channel first aired in late 2017, it’s likely that Hallmark collected these funds over time in order to fund that project. Another time-consuming and costly endeavor are television shows. A deciding factor for a show’s renewal is whether its respective network can afford to keep it going. With three continuing series on Hallmark Channel, Hallmark needs all the money they can get to keep these shows running. All three series have chosen Canada for their filming needs. This makes Hallmark’s financial goals more attainable.
The longest running and one of the most popular television shows in Hallmark history is When Calls the Heart. Ever since the show about the Canadian Frontier first premiered in 2014, it has cultivated a loyal and devoted fanbase famously known as the “Hearties”. The success of the series has inspired fans to create a special event called “Hearties Family Reunion”. Started in 2016, this event gives “hearties” an opportunity to celebrate their favorite show. It has also given them a chance to travel to the show’s Canadian roots. Some of the activities that took place at last year’s event include a Q&A segment with the cast, a tour of the Hope Valley set, and even a special movie night. While “Hallmark isn’t officially involved” with the formation of the “Hearties Family Reunion”, according to Meghan Overdeep from Southern Living, Crown Media was one of the sponsors for the 2019 event.
One of the reasons why When Calls the Heart has lasted as long as it has is because of the community that formed among the fans. The “Hearties Family Reunion” official website acknowledges this by stating, “Hearties are a community”. To recognize this sentiment, regional mini-parties were a part of the schedule at last year’s event. These parties were intended to help fans connect with other fans from their geographical location. One example is a regional party dedicated to the fans who live in the Southern and/or Midwest regions of the United States. Based on the website’s photos and the continuation of the event, it seems like it has been met with positive responses. One testimonial comes from Ruth, who is the creator of the blog, My Devotional Thoughts. She attended the event in 2017 and even wrote an article about her experience. The focus of that blog post was to highlight her interviews during the event. By reading Ruth’s article, you can hear the enthusiasm in her writing. In fact, when recounting her time at the “Hearties Family Reunion”, she says, “I am forever grateful to everyone who worked to make this a weekend I shall never forget”. With responses like Ruth’s, I wouldn’t be surprised if this event returned in 2020!
Actors and actresses come from various locations of the world. When a state or country has tax incentives that benefit the film and television industry, performers from those locations can sometimes find success with the companies that film there. Hallmark’s decision to film in Canada has helped several actors and actresses grow their careers through their involvement in Hallmark’s productions. Andrew Francis is an actor from Vancouver, British Columbia. He made his Hallmark debut in the 2011 movie, Trading Christmas. In that nine-year time frame, Andrew starred in twelve Hallmark movies, had a recurring role on Cedar Cove, and is a regular cast member on Chesapeake Shores. Another British Columbia native, Pascale Hutton, has also achieved success through Hallmark. After her first Hallmark movie, A Family Thanksgiving from 2010, she has gone on to star in a total of twelve Hallmark films. Similar to Andrew, Pascale became a regular cast member on the aforementioned show, When Calls the Heart. She also made a guest appearance on Hallmark’s first spin-off, When Hope Calls.
Canadian actors are not the only talents that have developed on-going careers through Hallmark. Crew members who work behind the camera have also benefited from Hallmark’s partnership with Canada. Michael Robison is a director from Toronto, Ontario. According to his filmography on IMDB, he has been directing since the late ‘80s. Despite working with Hallmark for only three years, Michael has directed thirteen movies, including the upcoming Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film, Mystery 101: An Education in Murder. These opportunities have allowed him to grow his career as a director. Another Ontario talent whose career has excelled with Hallmark is Ivan Hayden, who is from the London area. A multi-talented individual, Ivan currently has twenty-six producing credits on IMDB. Fifteen of these credits are for Hallmark films, including the 2020 “Spring Fever” film, Just My Type. Like Michael Robison, Ivan has been working on Hallmark projects since 2017. Also, like Michael, Ivan accomplished so much in such a short amount of time.
Missed Opportunities for Other States and Countries
As I have been mentioning in this editorial, states and countries besides Canada may have tax incentives. This factor can encourage companies and studios to work in those locations. By Hallmark continually choosing to work with Canada, it means that other states and countries with tax incentives miss out on beautiful business partnerships. Michigan is just one example. On Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s official website, an entire division of the state’s economy is shown to be dedicated to the film industry. Hallmark rarely creates their programs in the Great Lakes state. Because of this, the state isn’t able to work with a well-known client like Hallmark. Hallmark’s decision also denies the company the chance to take advantage of Michigan’s tax incentives. This situation causes both parties to lose out on great business opportunities.
Even though Hallmark films a lot of their programs in Canada, there are few opportunities for Canadians to see these programs. That’s because all three of Hallmark’s channels are shown exclusively in the United States. Despite Canadian fans asking Hallmark’s business leaders on social media for access to their networks, nothing has been done about this specific situation as of March 2020. There have been some solutions made to alleviate this problem. Released in 2007, the Super Channel is a Canadian network that has given its viewers an opportunity to watch some of Hallmark’s programs. This is made possible through one of their divisions; Super Channel Heart & Home. Another current solution has been the invention of the streaming service, Hallmark Movies Now. This service can be accessed on various devices and through different media outlets.
As I just mentioned, Hallmark’s channels are shown exclusively in the United States. This means that businesses based in the United States have an advantage when it comes to product placement and sponsorships. One of Hallmark’s sponsors has been the coffee company, Folgers. Even though this particular product is available in both the United States and Canada, the company is headquartered in Ohio and was founded in California. This makes Folgers a United States based business. It also provides more opportunities for Folgers to advertise with Hallmark. Canadian stores like Chapters/Indigo and services like Pizza Pizza haven’t had commercials featured on any of Hallmark’s channels or their products showcased in any of Hallmark’s programs, as of March 2020. Hallmark’s partnership with Canada seems to have overlooked Canadian businesses.
There is no such thing as a perfect business. The decisions that any business makes are not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Even when a business does make a good choice, it can sometimes lead to undesirable results. This is the case with Hallmark and their partnership with Canada. There have been positives that have come from this choice where both parties have benefited. Canada’s tax incentives have the power to fund the country’s economy and help Hallmark save money. But, after evaluating the pros and cons of Hallmark’s business decision, it appears somewhat one sided. So many of Hallmark’s programs are filmed in a variety of Canadian locations. Yet, Canadians are not able to watch most of the programs that are created in their home country. As I mentioned in this editorial, there are ways for Canadians to watch Hallmark’s movies and shows. However, they aren’t able to watch the newer productions from Hallmark, especially the mystery films from Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. Hopefully, as time goes on, Hallmark will recognize Canada as more than just a pretty filming location.
![20200508_223339[1]](https://18cinemalane.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/20200508_2233391-e1588993112837.jpg)
18 Cinema Lane 