Alison Sweeney Reveals Why Her New Christmas Movie Shakes Up Hallmark Norms

Hallmark/Heavy Alison Sweeney

Alison Sweeney and Niall Matter’s new Hallmark movie, “This Time Each Year,” isn’t your typical Hallmark Christmas film. In fact, this new movie breaks the mold in a number of significant ways. And that was a big part of Hallmark’s plan, she revealed in several interviews.

In “This Time Each Year,” Kevin (Matter) and Lauren (Sweeney) are a married couple who are still in love, but have been separated for nearly a year while co-parenting their son. Kevin wants reconciliation, and is celebrating nearly one year of sobriety. Lauren’s mother is visiting for the holidays, and Lauren admits she hasn’t told her mother that they’re separated yet. So they decide to pretend they’re still together, which could spark a renewed romance.

The Movie Falls Outside Hallmark’s ‘Traditional Wheelhouse,’ Sweeney Said

Sweeney told TV Insider that she’s been working on the script for this movie for more than three years. The idea resonated with Hallmark, since the network has been wanting to lean into different styles of plotlines.

“We’ve been talking about wanting to do something that is outside their traditional wheelhouse, to widen their reach to include other stories,” she told TV Insider. “And that’s the thing that everyone said to me when we were making this movie: ‘I feel like this is my story.’ … Hallmark was very enthusiastic, and it was all about how to navigate the telling of the story within what we see as the trust that Hallmark has built with their audience… We wanted to tell a deeper story but still honor what people want from a Christmas movie, which is fun and romance and Christmas.”

But in an interview with Forbes, she assured fans that this movie isn’t dark.

“We all agreed that it was time to start telling stories that show how, especially during the holidays, difficult issues can rear their ugly heads,” she said. “…Sometimes you have to come to terms with what your reality is, and that’s what these characters are striving for… This is not super dark or anything like that. It’s got everything that a good movie has, and it was magical for us to tell this story in a different way.”

In an interview with Soaps She Knows, Sweeney admitted that while the movie is shaking up Hallmark tropes, it’s still staying true to the audience.

“We are not trying to break the rules about Christmas, but we wanted to enhance it, bring a little depth to it, make it a little deeper,” she said. “…I hope that we handled it delicately and honestly, and hopefully, still gave the audience a wonderful Christmas.”

Sweeney told People that the sobriety angle is something she believes many will relate to. And, she added, Hallmark is eager to tell more stories that push deeper into real life struggles.

“We’ve been told by everyone at Hallmark that they want to find opportunities, not in every movie, but in some, to sort of really push the story, push the characters deeper, create more elements to it that are going to be relatable,” she told People.

“To have Kevin coming up on celebrating his one-year sober anniversary was a really important way for us to tell that story because it does create tension and obstacles at the holidays,” she continued, speaking with People. “As much as we love Christmas, Christmas can be a tension-filled thing for families. That’s when people say that’s the hardest time of year [to stay sober]… I think a lot of people are going to relate to that.”

This Marks Sweeney’s 30th Hallmark Movie

This is Sweeney’s 30th Hallmark movie, and it kicks off Hallmark Mystery’s Miracles of Christmas programming.

Sweeney told Forbes that she first got interested in scriptwriting after feeling like one story didn’t go the way she preferred.

“There were times when the story didn’t go quite the way I thought it should,” she said. “I remember this one day I was on set, and I was so frustrated, because I just knew it wasn’t how I would have wanted to tell the story, but at the time that wasn’t my job… I started writing how I would have written the scene. I just needed to get it off my chest. It was really cathartic for me, and I found that I really enjoyed it. So, I kept writing.”