Christmas Love Letter to premiere on Lifetime this year
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Christmas decorations went back up in downtown Helen at the end of April and beginning of May of this year. (Photo/Stephanie Hill_ -
Pictured is a screen image from a movie trailer for Christmas Love Letter, produced by Sunshine Films. This scene was captured outside of Helen’s Cowboys & Angels Restaurant during filming in April and May. -
The courtyard of Cowboys and Angels was decorated in spring of this year to look like a winter scene. The scene shot at the courtyard can be seen in the trailer. (Photo/Stephanie Hill) -
This screen image of downtown Helen can be seen in the trailer. -
Jerry Brown, Alpine Helen/White County Convention & Visitors Bureau Executive Director, and Cinnamon Spurlock, Helen Mayor, watch the trailer during Helen's 50th birthday party on Friday, Sept. 20. (Photo/Stephanie Hill)
A heartwarming holiday tale filmed in White County has an official premiere date – and an economic impact.
Christmas Love Letter, filmed in Helen and the surrounding area earlier this year, will air on Lifetime on Saturday, Dec. 21. A trailer for the film was shown to a crowd attending the Alpine Helen 50th birthday party on Friday, Sept. 20.
During the presentation, Helen Mayor Cinnamon Spurlock explained how another production company contacted the city in February about filming in Helen. That fell through, she said, because “they thought that we were too festive for their movie.”
As it turned out, another company, Sunshine Films, reached out weeks later after the city had removed its Christmas decorations. Spurlock said she had to think about the second opportunity.
“You have to take that leap of faith sometimes,” she said. “So, I had a long discussion with the production company. They said ‘we think we want to film,’ and I said ‘yeah, it’s a Christmas movie, but the leaves are starting to pop out on the trees. But they said ‘we love this town.’”
Company representatives said they saw pictures of Helen decorated for Christmas and, after visiting, fell in love with Helen and the surrounding area, she said. Filming took place in April and May, as patches of fake snow were spotted around town.
“A lot of our locals were included in the movie. Locations throughout the county were included: Unicoi State Park – they did filming there, the Sautee [Nacoochee] Center, our welcome center, and a few of the rental cabins throughout the county. Obviously here in town, it was just a wonderful, wonderful thing to experience.”
Alpine Helen/White County Convention & Visitors Bureau Executive Director Jerry Brown said it was great having the film crew in Helen.
“The director, producers and the crew were great to work with,” he says. “They kept us busy looking for the perfect location for each segment of the film, which was fun, because the county had everything they were looking for.”
Spurlock said that the movie being filmed in the area had a positive financial impact of $542,000 spent in White County during April and May. This included lodging, meals, paying local extras to appear in the film and other production-related items, Brown said.
“Once the movie airs, I believe the economic impact will grow with visitors coming to enjoy Helen during the holidays and throughout the year,” Brown says. “It will help put us in front of people that may have heard of Helen and those who haven’t.”
He says those visitors will likely visit other White County attractions and businesses during their stay.
“We would like to also thank Cowboys and Angels Restaurant, Cimmi’s Cafe, The Sautee Community Center, and Unicoi State Park and Adventure Lodge for allowing the film crew to willingly disrupt your operations during the filming,” Brown says.
Christmas Love Letter will premiere on Lifetime at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21. A trailer for the film can be viewed here.
Brown says they are working with Sunshine Films to have a premiere showing prior to the release, so the community can gather to enjoy the movie where it was filmed.