HAYLIE DUFF BRIGHTENS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON WITH "HATS OFF TO CHRISTMAS!" A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE PREMIERING HOLIDAY 2013

Film Begins Production Today in Vancouver; Part of Hallmark Channel's 'COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS,'

The #1 Most Treasured Holiday Destination by Television Viewers

Hallmark Channel announces the start of production for the two-hour original movie "Hats Off To Christmas!" a touching holiday story about a young, widowed mother who meets an unexpected visitor while striving to take care of her 9-year-old disabled son. "Hats Off To Christmas!", a Hallmark Channel Original Movie, begins production today in Vancouver and will have its World Premiere Holiday 2013. The holiday family film stars Haylie Duff ("7th Heaven," "Napoleon Dynamite," "Material Girls") and Antonio Cupo ("Bomb Girls," "Elegy," "Love At The Thanksgiving Day Parade"). "Hats Off To Christmas!" is part of Hallmark Channel's annual COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS, the #1 most treasured holiday destination by television viewers.

Mia (Duff), the loyal and hard-working manager of her small town's Christmas hat shop, is blindsided when her boss of over ten years asks her to train his son, Nick (Cupo), for a vacant upper-management position that Mia had been coveting. Although Nick is a handsome, successful New York City business consultant, Mia finds training him frustrating until Nick takes an interest in Mia's son Scotty (Sean Michael Kyer, "Girl in Progress," "The Color of Rain"), helping Scotty with a pumpkin carving contest. However, Mia's faith in Nick quickly diminishes when Nick fails to show up at the contest. To protect her son from further disappointment, Mia tries to keep Nick out of her and Scotty's fragile life, and Nick must decide if staying in the small town of Wilsonville is worth giving up the big-city perks he once had in New York. As Mia struggles to find a way to convince Scotty to return to physical therapy so he can walk again, she soon realizes that Nick may be the Christmas miracle she has been waiting for.

"Hats Off To Christmas!" is a Borderline Distribution/Lighthouse Pictures Production. Executive Producers are Dan Paulson and Shawn Williamson. Terry Ingram will direct from a script written by Deanna Talcott and Deborah Majinska.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming available in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) to a national audience of 86 million subscribers. Hallmark Channel is the nation's leading destination for quality family programming with an ambitious slate of original TV movies and specials, as well as some of television's most beloved sitcoms and series, including The Golden Girls, The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, and Frasier. The channel is also home to a range of lifestyle programming, anchored by Home & Family, a daily two-hour live show shot in a fully functional house located on the Universal Studios lot. Hallmark Channel's sibling network, Hallmark Movie Channel, available in HD and SD, focuses on family-friendly movies with a mix of original films, classic theatrical releases, and presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library.

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