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Speaker 1: Hello, and good morning. How are you doing today? Good?

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Speaker 2: I'm great, how are you?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely fantastic and very excited to celebrate with you. And

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I'm telling you, this is coming out out at a

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time where we need celebration. And look who's here. Hallmark

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always showing up like a true true hero.

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Speaker 2: Don't they.

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Speaker 3: I mean, Hallmark is just the network that really cares,

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you know, they really do.

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Speaker 2: They do a great job of finding joy.

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Speaker 3: And happiness and love and hope and all the things

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that are the bedrock of the network. They do a

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great job of keeping their messaging on brand, so that

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way when these shows come out, like Christmas at Sea,

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they're right on brand, right there to scoop people up

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and make them feel good.

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Speaker 1: I got to tell you, I did some research on

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the subject of Christmas in July and found out that

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it was actually created here in North Carolina, Brovard, North Carolina,

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in nineteen thirty three. And look how Hallmark has really

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brought it forward with that celebration they were looking for

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in thirty three.

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Speaker 3: I'm I'm telling you, And do you know who invented

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wrapping paper?

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Speaker 1: No? Who's it? Are you kidding?

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Speaker 3: Don I might get my facts wrong, but I don't

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think I am, because I listened very carefully.

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Speaker 2: When I was on the tour of Hallmark Channel.

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Speaker 3: Don hall went was in France and got the like

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paper that's on the inner side of envelopes, you know,

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like the fancy like Parisian paper that when you open

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up an envelope there's like a really.

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Speaker 2: Nice floral design. Yeah, inside the envelope.

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Speaker 3: He had the idea, what if we took that paper

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and wrapped gifts that we wanted to give people to

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make them extra special, And hence wrapping paper was born.

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Speaker 1: Wow, And all of a sudden that starts affectings.

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Speaker 2: Wrapping paper we know today. Yeah, the wrapping paper that

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we know of today.

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Speaker 1: Wow. And then you take that wrapping paper and you

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create the emotional stories that Hallmark shares with us each

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and every You know, I would watch it twenty four

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to seven to have these Christmas movies on all the time.

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I really would.

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Speaker 3: Well you should, because we would love your ratings and

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we would love you to watch our movies, so turn

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it on.

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Speaker 1: I was, in all honesty, I was really shocked to

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see the number of people that are a part of this,

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this celebration on the cruise it's like, Wow, this isn't

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just a small little click. Everybody is having a ton

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a great time together.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a really surreal experience.

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Speaker 3: They put one crew one of Basically, there's a cruise

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called the Hallmark Christmas Cruise and it's a fan experience

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that's immersive where thousands of fans go on a cruise

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ship to the Bahamas that's completely chartered for just Hallmark

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and all the Hallmark stars go on the cruise with

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them and they have this amazing interactive experience where they

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get to hang.

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Speaker 2: Out with the stars. The stars get to meet the fans,

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they get to play.

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Speaker 3: Games together, there's contests, like it's just this really crazy, cool,

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immersive experience. And so they decided to document that into

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a docu series called Christmas at Seat And so we're

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following five of the biggest Hallmark super fans that come

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from all different walks of life. We're following their journey

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as they go on this Hallmark Cruise experience.

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Speaker 1: But you know what's really cool about this is that

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it's authentic conversations when they're talking to them. It's not

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like you know, groupy kind of thing. I mean, they

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really are They love love, love everything about Hallmark and

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Christmas in July.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because Hallmark is hope.

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Speaker 3: Right, That's what the network does so well is there's

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a reason all of our movies end the same way, Right,

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There's a reason, Like we're not gonna sit and deny

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it and act like it's not true. We know that

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at the end of the movie, everything's going to be okay.

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And that's why people tune in because they no matter

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what you're dealing with, they need to be given stories

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and be able to watch stories where in the end

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everything's okay because we're all dealing with stuff in our

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life and that's the one place you can turn to

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where you know that, hey, it's all gonna be okay

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in the end. And I think that's a lot of

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hope that people need.

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Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Jonathan Bennett coming

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up next. Hey, thanks for coming back to my conversation

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with actor Jonathan Bennett. She give us the opportunity to

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want to get dressed up, because they sure do on

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this cruise. Oh my god, Oh.

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Speaker 2: My gosh, the outfits.

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Speaker 3: There were ugly Christmas sweater parties, there were pajama parties there.

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I mean the fans. We have the best fans in

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the world. Like, they're absolutely the best, most loyal fans

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out there. And you know, when they get to go

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on these cruises, they get to really just let it

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all fly and just show up in.

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Speaker 2: All their glory, of all their Christmas glory, and it's

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hilarious and so fun to watch.

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Speaker 1: What is it like for you to be a part

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of a Christmas legacy? Because I mean this, really, this

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is something that's going to be you know, last well

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beyond where we are on this planet.

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Speaker 2: You know, I never thought that I would be part of.

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Speaker 3: A Christmas legacy, but here we are, and I'm so

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glad to be a part of it.

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Speaker 2: Like it is, it's.

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Speaker 3: Not something that I expected, but it's something that I'm

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so happy to be a part of. Just getting to

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tell stories at Christmas time to people that need to

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see them is It's a very rewarding club to be in.

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Speaker 2: It's very rewarding.

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Speaker 1: So do you find yourself wanting to get into the

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director's shoes or even into the writing, or even or

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just get deeper into the process.

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Speaker 3: No, I storywright for some of the movies that I've created,

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Meaning I come up with a story and then a

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writer writes them.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I definitely want to direct.

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Speaker 3: My next goal is to direct some of these movies

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if the network will let me. So let's say fingers crossed,

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the network will let me direct one of.

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Speaker 2: These Christmas movies.

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Speaker 3: I would love to direct an LGBTQ Christmas movie for homework, So.

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Speaker 2: That's kind of my next I think. I think no

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one knows.

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Speaker 3: No one knows as much about it as I do,

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and so I think i'd be a great director in

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that sense.

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Speaker 1: Would you add music to turned it into a musical?

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Speaker 2: I cannot comment on that, Okay.

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Speaker 1: Okay, okay, only only because I love music in my

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love stories. I really do. I find you it just

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brings everything in.

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Speaker 2: I hope that happens. Let's just say that, Wow, I

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didn't say it.

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Speaker 1: You did. You're absolutely right. Where can people go to

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find out about the next cruise? Because I'm sure you

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have to book this thing a year in advance, or

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even two years in advance.

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Speaker 2: It's so funny. The next cruise is actually already sold

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out for this year.

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Speaker 3: So if you go to Hallmark dot com, if you

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go to Hallmark's website, I'm sure there's information on how

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to book, get on a mailing list so you can

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be like perched and ready, because as soon as these

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cruises go on sale, you have to book it within

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like the first like three minutes or it'll be sold out.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 3: So so I'm sure head over to Hallmark and or

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their social media.

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Speaker 2: They'll give you information Hallmark Christmas Cruise dot Com.

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Speaker 3: You can go there Hallmark Christmas Cruise dot Com to

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get more information.

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Speaker 1: Well, congratulations on another season of Christmas, because I love Christmas.

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You'd be brilliant.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, awesome, thank you so much.

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Speaker 3: I hope everyone enjoys Christmas at Sea Monday night's at

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eight o'clock on Hallmark, streaming the next day on Hallmark

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for LUs