The long-awaited movie “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” is available on the Hallmark Channel through the Christmas season. It premieres Saturday, Nov 30.
The movie was filmed in July in various locations around Kansas City, including on the historic Independence Square and at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, both of which were decorated to look like Christmas, the “Kansas City Star” reported.
Kansas Citians will recognize places and faces. Chiefs coach Andy Reid, guard Trey Smith, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, defensive end George Karlaftis and wide receiver Mecole Hardman all have cameos in the movie. Donna Kelce, the mother of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, has a tiny speaking role as the manager of a barbecue joint.
All of this came about because of a move the Chiefs made earlier this year that caught Hallmark’s attention. Ahead of the playoffs in January, the Chiefs teamed up with “Funny or Die” director Parker Seaman and “SNL” Digital Shorts editor Ryan Spears to create a trailer for a fictional movie called “Falling for Football.” It looked just like a Hallmark Christmas movie promo, featuring a winter theme and actual Hallmark actors.
That fun social-media post led to the movie, according to Lara Krug, chief marketing officer for the Chiefs.
“Last playoff season, we had this idea of celebrating the best holiday of the year for Chiefs fans: It’s the playoff season,” Krug said on “CBS Mornings.” “So we created a brand campaign, and what better way to celebrate holidays than creating a little bit of a movie trailer and an ode to Hallmark films that are so notorious for that? And we put together a two-minute trailer called ‘Falling for Football.’ We worked with Hallmark actors and actresses. We launched it on our social channels, and it kind of rolled very quickly from there.”
The movie revolves around the romance of a Chiefs employee who is a fan liaison. That’s a real job in the Chiefs organization and served as a jumping-off point for the script.
“We actually have a VP of fan engagement, Jane Martin, who works on our team, who works with all of our fans in Chiefs Kingdom, and works on our fan of the year program, which is a real program within the NFL,” Krug said. “So it was a little bit of a mirror, I think, to real life but with the Hollywood magic that Hallmark brings.”
–Alan Goforth