The film brand’s Senior Vice President, Programming Development, Toni Judkins discusses the film made at the recently-opened Music City landmark
Eighteen months after the brand’s debut, Hallmark Films’ Mahogany brand continues — via Feb. 26 debuted film “A Nashville Legacy” — to honor and celebrate Black culture as the century-plus old greeting card company’s African-American specific brand of the same name has done for the past three decades.
The film — shot in Birmingham, Alabama and locations around Music City in December 2022, including Lower Broadway’s National Museum of African-American Music (NMAAM) — premiered at the previously mentioned NMAAM on Fri., Feb. 24. It is linked to the Hallmark Channel’s “Loveuary” lineup, which features romance movies.
Those in attendance included the film’s co-star Pooch Hall (who played Derwin Davis, the football player on BET sitcom “The Game” from 2006-2015), the film’s musical director, Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Carvin Haggins (Musiq Soulchild, Jill Scott, among many), Toni Judkins, the Senior Vice President, Programming Development for Crown Media Family Networks/Hallmark Mahogany and Nashville’s R&B vocal trio The Shindellas (Tamara Chauniece, Kasi Jones and Stacy Johnson), plus Claude Kelly (half of tandem Louis York and Grammy-nominated co-writer of songs including Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA”) and the film’s consulting producer, Phil Thornton — a Senior Vice President of Capitol Christian Music Group/Capitol Music Group.
The film is less steeped in the traditions highlighted in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s award-winning (and recently resurfaced online) “Night Train To Nashville” exhibition (celebrating North Nashville’s legendary soul legacy) than in a celebration of all things early 60s R&B — with NMAAM serving as the strongest central focus tied to Nashville proper.
“A Nashville Legacy” marks the first Mahogany-branded film to premiere on the three-decade-old Hallmark Channel. Notably, alongside Andrea Lewis (“Degrassi: The Next Generation”), Hall and veteran Black performers Roz Ryan and Stan Shaw, plus cameo appearances by vocalists Curt Chambers and Ruben Studdard, the true star of the film is the three-year-old NMAAM museum itself.
“Expanding the authentic, magical stories of love and romance that the Hallmark Channel is known for into telling stories through an intentional African-American female lens — that also empowers and showcases strong Black men loving and supporting Black women — gives Black women visibility through stories with happy endings written for them and by them,” Judkins stated to The Tennessean.
The film centers on the story of Naima (Lewis), who, inspired by her late, Nashville native grandmother, moves to Nashville to intern at NMAAM while pursuing a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from “Tennessee Central University.” Upon beginning her work, she meets Damian (Hall), a volunteer and music producer with whom she swiftly sparks a romance.
Over the span of work, she meets a restaurant co-owner (Ryan). She also discovers a beautiful vintage dress — both are linked to a mystery surrounding a classic hit that both become the focus of her dissertation and a connection to her grandmother and the restaurant co-owner. Add in a twist regarding Chuck Berry, the song’s appropriation from its original singers and Damian’s relationship with the prominent music producer behind the track — the fanciful yet mysterious twists long associated with Hallmark’s literal thousands of films in its catalog take shape.
Judkins recalls visiting NMAAM with her longtime friend and professional colleague Thornton upon its 2021 opening. The allure of the museum’s curation of 250 years of Black musical history featuring modern technological flourishes (“like no museum I had ever visited before”) inspired her to pair with screenwriter Randall Jahnson (1991’s “The Doors”) to develop a script based around Nashville, soul music and historical legacies.
However, Judkins was at a loss to find an already-established vocal trio to portray the vocalists who sing the film’s central song. Thornton, a veteran music industry executive, connected her with Kelly, then his recently-formed act The Shindellas.
Hallmark’s consistent ranking as a top network among the advertiser-friendly demographics of women 18-49 and women 25-54 allows for an impressive moment to occur in developing the film’s signature song, a ballad emblematic of styles from 1963 entitled “Lonely As A Cloud.”
The ballad features Nashville’s acclaimed Shindellas performIng the Motown-style doo-wop production written, composed and produced by Grammy winner Haggins. Silvia Mathis, the film’s executive producer, describes him as an “incredible talent” whose ability to craft period-friendly soul music adds immeasurably to the film’s connective impact.
Launched in 2021, the Mahogany programming initiative includes a quarterly slate of original movies with plans for podcasts, scripted series, and more in the future. Judkins notes that the brand’s foundational elements — “sisterhood, friendship, connection, and community” — are well highlighted in “A Nashville Legacy.”
Regarding how this partnership and film are emblematic of where Hallmark Mahogany wants to take future productions, Judkins offered a thoughtful, joyous statement.
“These films all begin and end with love and love leads the way in their development, too. A story anchored in and supported by love is a story — regardless of race or background — that Hallmark has for a century and will always tell well.”
