Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:
Question: The Biltmore Christmas movie premiered Sunday night on the Hallmark Channel. During the commercials, our own Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority announced that it had sponsored the production of this movie, which wasn’t even up to Hallmark’s own mediocre standards. So, now the TDA is into financing movies? I hope you won’t let this one pass. How much did this cost? Also, did the Biltmore Estate pay anything for this movie to be shot at the estate?
My answer: I have made it almost 59 years in this world without watching a Hallmark movie, but I almost feel compelled to watch this one. OK, the feeling passed. Whew!
Real answer: Love it or hate it, the movie, “A Biltmore Christmas,” has generated a lot of media attention for Asheville and the estate.
And yes, the TDA does have a marketing deal with Hallmark.
“The $500,000 national promotional partnership spans six months — July through December — and is delivering 36.4 million national TV and digital impressions, including built-in broadcast trivia units and custom website content,” TDA spokesperson Ashley Greenstein said via email.
Greenstein said Explore Asheville, the TDA’s subsidiary, and Hallmark “crafted a first-of-its-kind destination partnership leading up to the premiere of ‘A Biltmore Christmas.’” She also pointed out that Hallmark is the “most-watched entertainment cable network among households and total viewers in the last quarter of the year.”
Hallmark is particularly popular with women, Greenstein noted.
“It might be well known that women serve as the primary decision-makers and planners of travel, but what may surprise many is Hallmark Channel’s extensive audience,” Greenstein said. “It not only ranks highly with women, but also with households and total viewers. The destination promotion included Asheville-focused TV spots leading up to and during the broadcast as well as integrated digital media on hallmarkchannel.com.”
As Asheville Watchdog reported in Selling Asheville, our recent four-part series on the growth of the city’s tourism industry, the TDA has an annual budget approaching $40 million and spends tens of millions of dollars annually promoting the area to potential visitors. By state law, it must spend two-thirds of its revenues on promotion, one-third on capital expenditures that benefit tourists and locals.
Its revenues come from a 6 percent occupancy tax paid by hotels, bed and breakfast inns, and vacation rentals.
Some locals have criticized the TDA’s spending, which last year included a $1.3 million sponsorship of the U.S. Open tennis tournament.
The Biltmore Estate, the 8,000-acre attraction anchored by the 250-room Biltmore House, is Asheville’s top tourist attraction, drawing more than a million visitors annually. The French chateau-style estate, built by George Vanderbilt and opened in 1895, did not pay for the Hallmark movie to be made there.
“We did not pay for this programming,” estate spokesperson LeeAnn Donnelly said via email, noting that Hallmark produced the film. “We were very excited to partner with them. Given that they are known for their holiday programming, and Biltmore celebrates Christmas in such a grand way, it was a great match.”
Hallmark’s spokesperson Maria Fischer said Hallmark does not provide financial information about promotions, “but I can share that Biltmore was involved in the creative process.”
In a news release announcing the movie would be made at the Biltmore Estate, Hallmark said the film, starring Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristoffer Polaha, “marks the first time Biltmore Estate itself serves as the setting.” The estate has been used as a fictional setting in several movies over the years, including “Richie Rich,” “Forrest Gump,” and “The Last of the Mohicans.”
Hallmark gives this description of the plot of “A Biltmore Christmas:”
“Lucy Collins (Lenz) is a screenwriter who lands the job of a lifetime when she’s hired to write the script for a remake of the beloved holiday movie His Merry Bride! First filmed in 1947 at beautiful Biltmore House, it has long been considered a Christmas classic. As Christmas approaches, Lucy travels to Biltmore Estate for research. She joins a guided tour of the grounds where she gets insights into the history of the location and the filming of His Merry Bride!, and once inside the house, she’s drawn to a beautiful hourglass. When Lucy accidentally knocks it over, she finds herself transported back in time to 1946 – the Golden Age of Hollywood – as cast and crew prepare to film His Merry Bride! at Biltmore. Lucy does her best to navigate an unfamiliar place as a woman out of time, charming some and raising suspicions of others. It’s not long before Lucy catches the eye of the film’s dashing lead Jack Huston (Polaha) and although she initially rebuffs his advances, their connection soon becomes undeniable. Lucy’s sudden appearance sets off a chain of events that put the production in jeopardy. Before she can return to the present, she must make things right or threaten to alter the future forever. Lucy has one chance to go home but must say goodbye to the man who might be her soulmate unless some Christmas magic can keep the curtain from closing on their love story.”
Man, I am not tempted to watch this!
As far as the collaboration with Hallmark, Greenstein said Explore Asheville “frequently collaborates with local leaders, makers, and innovators to shine a spotlight on our destination. Another example is the recent episode of the PBS show ‘The Good Road,’ which focused on The French Broad River and the people committed to its health and preservation.”
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/donate.
Perhaps the TDA could help finance a production called ‘Happy Cops!’
Imagine a series about a group of complex but lovable misfit (and often misunderstood/maligned) police officers living in beautiful affordable solar-powered homes on land provided by Biltmore. Organic farmers by day, protectors of an over-burdened city by night. (Copyright, 2023)
I watched the movie and it is a beautiful tribute to Asheville and the Biltmore Estate. Considering the budget the TDA has, this is a brilliant (and strategically enduring) use of the funds. Hallmark reruns these every year.
Must be nice to run a for profit business that gets promoted with tax money with no strings.
Yes, tax money that they play a huge part in generating.
Now I want to rewatch Forrest Gump and look for scenes filmed at the Biltmore.
I just did. My favorite movie!
Maybe TDA could buy back Mission to serve the health needs of tourists, wealthy retirees & hospitality industry folks with some of their funding? Pretty sure that would be an infrastructure invest ment. Could benefit the rest of us as well.
I agree. Why not let Dogwood trust join them and get our hospital back where it should. TDA and Dogwood CEO’s could join in the great exodus of HCA.
C’mon John, lighten up a bit. I greatly respect your reporting and humor, but I see this movie and the ads by the TDA as a big win for the city and greater area. It brought in revenue during production and of the different ways the TDA has spent money (like that ostentatious salary to their CEO), I see this as the best money they have spent – dollar for dollar.
I for one will watch it, just to enjoy seeing the sites of our community and maybe an extra or two we might recognize.
Agree with the suggestion to lighten up, and same goes for the salary paid to the TDA CEO. It’s in line with the salary paid to the local chamber, airport authority, UNCA, Dogwood and community foundation so time to give that a rest.
You are the smart one. We put it on and fell asleep. Boring. Hallmark does have good romance movies……..this was not one of them.
“By state law, it must spend two-thirds of its revenues on promotion, one-third on capital expenditures that benefit tourists and locals” – I always kind of wondered about this situation. Why do the guys in Raleigh care how the money is spent by Buncombe County? Notice I didn’t say “in Buncombe County”. Are other counties under the same restrictions. Sometimes in some states the answers to these kinds of questions are found by: “follow the money”. There’s a lot of money on the table and companies who provide promotions tend to live high on the hog and provide perks to their customers – at least they do in the corporate world.
Sadly, we both thought it was the worst Christmas movie we’ve ever seen.
Did you intend to sneer at those of us who enjoy Hallmark movies? Half a mil for the exposure this movie will bring was a bargain. You have more important transgressions to expose, once you bring your upturned nose down.
Here, here. Where is the Christmas spirit? Gracious.
Facts: The premiere of seven brand new Hallmark Christmas movies last week pushed the channel to be the second most-watched across all of cable in prime time, securing a rare ratings win over Fox News, and six of the holiday films broke into the top 40 cable programs of the week with premiere audiences of at least 1.7 million each.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/11/30/hallmark-channel-beats-fox-news-in-prime-time-as-christmas-movies-drive-up-ratings
Sounds like a smart investment.
I don’t watch Hallmark soapy movies but given that this one featured the Biltmore House and Jonathan “Number One” Frakes, I set aside a couple of hours to watch this one. I really enjoyed “A Biltmore Christmas.” I liked the sets, the actors, and the cute story. I posted my feelings on my Facebook page and several friends said they would watch. A good friend who travels all over the world with her husband said that after watching the movie, they are making plans to come to Asheville! May not be a $500,000 payback but John, the association with Hallmark is not a total loss!
Quality, not Quantity.
After watching this film, I decided to return to Biltmore to see its beauty again. That means at least $750 to the Asheville economy from just my small family. For those of us who enjoy Hallmark movies and marveled at the period costumes, vehicles, makeup in A Biltmore Christmas, go find something else to malign. The world needs happy endings occasionally, especially at Christmas. The world does not need more snobby critics who claim to be superior intellects and judges of what is good and happy in life.
I, like John, have never watched a Hallmark film and will not start with this one. I have no clue as to who these actors are. If I want to see the Biltmore in a film with some real chops and actors, I’ll stick with an all-time favorite, “Being There”.
I was forced to watch with my wife….sadly after 15 minutes I was bored so I spent time reading old Watchdog articles about the HCA Mission debacle, it was more entertaining. The movie hopefully bored others and will discourage them from visiting and not move here. …we are full people.
Great, now more people will declare, “Gee, Asheville looks swell! Let’s sell our (multi)million dollar home in [insert state — CA, FL, TX, OH, etc.] and move there! And when we get there, let’s try to change it so that it’s like the place we just left–characterless, crowded, flaky, and expensive with a good helping of haughtiness (because we’re smarter than the local people and know what’s best for AVL). Maybe we can find one of those ugly (but not affordable) new houses they’ve built where there used to be farmland or trees or natural beauty and make an all-cash offer.”
Sorry, I know this attitude is not helpful, but it helps to vent.
Oh wait, one more thing they would say: “Let’s drive on the BRP and honk our horns and be aggressive at anyone who drives the speed limit. And then we can stop, take selfies, and cuddle with bears.” ……Ok, now I feel better.
You’re right except for one thing: this place is totally affordable to those folks the TDA targets most with their ads. That is a major contributor to the housing situation. Asheville was undervalued for decades. It is now possibly accurately priced.
The BITMORE CHRISTMAS movie was SPECTACULAR!!
Bethany Joy Lenz & Christopher Polaha were AMAZING!!!
The story kept you intrigued to see what would happen next. The broken Hourglass segment kept you wondering….how will she get back. The Ending was a total Surprise…..but, perfect 🥰
For those of you who said negative things about the movie….I wonder …..are you ever happy about anything? Or, do you live in a negative thought pattern. Get joyful….it’s better for your health and everyone around you!!!
This is a GREAT MOVIE, HALLMARK!!!!
Movie was just okay. I basically watched for Polaha.
We are usually not fans of the low-budget Hallmark Christmas movies with even lower film quality. This movie, however, was a welcome, creative, well-acted departure and it showed off the one-of-a-kind Biltmore Estate in all its glory…
Interesting article about Xmas and Hallmark films
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/29/us-lacks-culture-christmas-films/
I watched it just to see the estate. I am told it is stunning at Christmas and to see those 3 huge fireplaces burning…wow. I visited in the fall. The Biltmore is an amazing place. The movie was not one of Hallmark’s best but I did not care. I want to visit the Biltmore at Christmas time. It looked magnificent!
John, I love your comment after the plot summary!
The TDA and HCA are spoiling some of the nicest things about Asheville, and the Biltmore guy giving land to merchants of death is right up there with them.
This was a bust. Got boring quickly and I changed channels after the first 45 minutes. I have more quality photos of Biltmore than the first 45 minutes. They wanted the glory without giving it all away in the “movie “.
Wow, it was a slow start but if you gave it a chance it ended up with a twist and plot that was interesting and I loved the ending. It was a good movie but you wouldn’t know if you didn’t watch it . I did want to see more of Biltmore and surrounding area.
Or how about a Hallmark movie touting the educational benefits of moving to North Carolina to experience living under an actual dictatorship
I watched the movie and thought it was fun, though as a rule I spend more time laughing at Hallmark movies than willingly suspending my disbelief. It will attract a lot of business to Biltmore and to Asheville, in my opinion. I was amused that they used the hotel as the scene of actions that were supposed to have taken place 80 years ago, 60 or 70 years before the hotel was built, but movie viewers won’t know that bit of anachronism.
As one of the most expensive recreational sites in the world, watching BILTMORE AT CHRISTMAS is as close as I’ll get to seeing it, at Christmas or any other time.