‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ Star to Join Ranks of Hallmark Channel Directors
Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe has a new role at Hallmark Channel. The Signed, Sealed, Delivered star will direct her first movie for the network as part of its new program to increase the number of women working behind the camera.
Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe of ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ is part of Hallmark Channel’s new initiative to mentor female directors
Lowe will soon be joining the ranks of Hallmark movie directors. But first, she’ll learn what it takes to make one of the channel’s signature rom-coms by shadowing another filmmaker as the inaugural participant in the “Make Her Mark Women’s Directing Program.” The new initiative is an on-the-job mentorship where aspiring female filmmakers shadow established directors throughout the entire production of a Hallmark movie. Each candidate then goes on to direct her own Hallmark movie, with her mentor assuming the role of shadow and executive producer.
For the first pairing, Lowe will team up with Jessica Harmon, the director of Hallmark movies such as A Paris Proposal and Rip in Time, on the set of Dream Moms. The new original movie is currently in production and is slated to air on Mother’s Day weekend.
“I am so grateful to Ashley Williams and Hallmark for selecting me as the program’s first participant and for their vision and leadership,” Lowe said in a statement. She added that she was “thrilled” to be shadowing Harmon, whom she called “one of the most gifted and generous directors I’ve worked with.”
“I look forward to paying everything I learn from her forward,” Lowe, who plays Rita in Hallmark’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered movies, added. “Filmmaking is often a long and lonely journey and can feel impossible at times, so receiving this news is a reminder that with hard work and perseverance, anything is possible.”
Ashley Williams created the program to increase representation of women behind the camera at Hallmark
The Make Her Mark program is the brainchild of Ashley Williams, who has starred in Hallmark movies such as Two Tickets to Paradise and Sister Swap: Christmas In the City. She also recently directed the Paramount Network movie A Nashville Country Christmas.
“As a female filmmaker, I know all too well the feeling of being told, ‘no,’ and I am absolutely thrilled to partner with Hallmark on Make Her Mark, a program that says, ‘yes,’ by empowering, training, and supporting women directors and giving them much-deserved opportunities to bring their creative vision to the screen,” Williams said in a statement. “Crystal blows me away with her intelligence, experience, and willingness to roll up her sleeves and jump right into the business of learning and making movies. I look forward to that moment when she is a mentor herself and joins me in paying it forward and opening the door for the many women who will come after her.”
“Crystal has worked with us for years in front of the camera,” said Hallmark Media EVP of Programming Lisa Hamilton Daly. “Her professionalism, creative instincts, and enthusiastic interest in the filmmaking process made it clear that she was the ideal candidate to help us inaugurate the program.”
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