Alison Sweeney Talks ‘Hannah Swensen’ Series, And Her Latest Hallmark Movie ‘This Time Each Year’
by Anne Easton · ForbesAlison Sweeney is extremely busy. But that’s more than fine with her.
This holiday season she’s starring in her 30th Hallmark holiday film, This Time Each Year, and the 10th movie in her regular-gal-turned-detective series franchise, A Sprinkle of Deceit: A Hannah Swensen Mystery, premiered early this month.
In This Time Each Year, Sweeney plays Lauren who’s been separated from her husband Kevin for a year with the two focusing on co-parenting their young son Charlie. But, despite the split, Kevin, with the goal of reuniting his family, is determined to convince Lauren that they belong together.
While the film does have many of the Hallmark troupes, this movie also includes a couple who are face some serious some roadblocks, ones that Sweeney describes as a bit ‘risky’ for the brand.
“This movie isn’t all lightness, it’s about the very real struggles that couples face,” she explains. “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, So even though it’s supposed to be ‘the most wonderful time of the year,’ a lot of times it just isn’t, because life is complicated, and people make mistakes, and sometimes you have to come to terms with what your reality is, and that's what these characters are striving for.”
She wants to be clear that even though there are difficult parts of Lauren and Kevin’s relationship, “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, with this couple struggling to find their way back to each other. So, it’s still all there — the holiday fun, a lot of romance, and a beautiful Christmas, just told in a very unique way.”
Talking about her role as an EP on this movie, and many of her other projects, Sweeney explains, “Above all, I view myself as a storyteller. I spend a lot of time developing stories and as an executive producer I’m part of a project from the very beginning, which means reading a book or hearing a pitch and then working through all the decisions that are needed to make it into the best film we can.”
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Breaking down her duties, she says that if it’s not something she’s written, she’s ‘very collaborative’ with the writer, through every draft of the script, and then, “once we start to get into production, I’m helping find locations, securing the right director, then there’s casting, working with the set designer and the wardrobe people. It's a lot, but it’s so fun to be a part of all of it.”
However, Sweeney makes sure, as she says, to get all of this completed during prep time on the film so that when shooting starts she can stay completely focused on her character.
Looking back to her very first Hallmark movie, Sweeney remarks, “I just remember feeling so lucky and grateful to be there and just having a great time and doing a different character from [my Days of Our Lives character] Sammy Brady.”
As for her journey as a writer, Sweeney feels that it was a bit ‘weird, as she explains, “You know, as an actor, you're living out other people's stories. And there were times when the story didn't go quite the way I thought it should. 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.”
That night, Sweeney says she poured her exasperation into her laptop. “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.”
She admits that when she wrote her first movie script, she hadn't realized how nervous she was about doing it. “When I hit send and submitted my first script to the producers and the Hallmark execs, I felt a little sick. I thought, ‘what if they hate it? What if it's terrible? What if they reject it?’ But, I was so lucky because everyone responded really well to it, and from there we worked to just refine it. It was an amazing experience for me.”
It might seem difficult to switch from being a baker who solves murder mysteries to a woman who’s celebrating the holidays every year, but Sweeney says otherwise. “Each film is its own story. It’s not about the genre. What’s harder for me is going from Hannah, who's a character I've now known for 10 years and am really comfortable with, to taking on a new character. When that happens, I ask myself, ‘Who is this woman? How did she get here in her life? What kind of mom is she? Wife? How do I how do I portray that?’”
It might seem like she has enough going on, but Sweeney gushes, “Yeah, I'm just getting started. I have a lot of stuff I want to do. I have a project I'm working on next year that I can't talk about yet, but I'll tell you that it's really fun and different and a bit more outside my comfort zone then the movies I've made. I can’t wait to share it.”
The amount of projects she’s involved in will never overwhelm her, says Sweeney, because she’s right where she wants to be.
“I was standing on set one time, and I looked around, and thought, ‘this movie that I developed from an idea, is actually happening. I did this from start to finish.’ And later I called my dad, and I said to him, ‘Papa, I'm doing it. This is what I dreamed of when I was four years old. And I can't believe I'm actually doing it.’ He was so proud of me, and so excited for me. It’s just been amazing ever since. I never am not blown away that I get to do this. So, I’m going to just keep doing it.”
‘This Time Each Year’ premieres Thursday, October 24th at 8/7c on the Hallmark Mysteries channel and ‘A Sprinkle of Deceit: A Hannah Swensen Mystery’ is available now on the Hallmark+ app.