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Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story,” a Winter-themed movie with a Football twist, will premiere on November 22, 2017. While the Bills prepared for their first home game, the cast attempted to soak in the ambience of Bills Mafia tailgate celebrations. Besides the leading duo Holland Roden and Matthew Daddario, the production boasted a special guest appearance from Andrew Walker, an ardent Bills supporter, and Hallmark fave.
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The BTS of this unusual campaign revealed the unique juxtaposition of the comfy Hallmark storytelling and the fiery Buffalo Bills fury. According to the post, the cast and crew started mingling into the culture-a must if you wanted to get the vibe of Brew City and Buffalo tailgates-wined and dined at major tailgate landmarks: Pizza Pete’s engine-block cookers; Jenny’s Bills Bus for ribs; and Pedro’s Army for vintage filing cabinet grills. They then returned to the filming locations near Highmark Stadium, where they also thanked the locals.
The entire method is to record Buffalo in his most raw hi-fi spirit, which Hallmark hopes will resonate with the typical Hallmark fans alongside the football geeks. Hence, the movie will hype together the usual holiday feel and sports sentiment, which is a proven-favorite formula of theirs for other movies.
After this announcement, a positive ripple emerged that hardly any netizens could secretly hide satisfaction from concerning such an offbeat premise. One input: “I absolutely LOVE that they had a true Bills Mafia tailgate experience—and the best game to see in person!! Can’t wait to watch the movie (and pause the stadium crowd scenes to try and find myself!!).” It says it all; people emotionally connect not only to the team but to the idea of getting their community represented on a larger canvas.
Humor appeared from another user, “Pizza Pete needs his own tailgating reality show! I’m so intrigued!” This speaks to certain aspects of Bills culture that have taken the imagination of the masses beyond the film. Those wacky tailgate traditions appear to be a major draw, adding yet another spike of authentic local flavor to the Hallmark formula.
Commenters, however, weren’t feeling so festive. One relate-worthy take read, “I won’t watch this movie without Chad in it because the Buffalo Bills are his favorite team, and he is a big fan of this team. I wish he were in this movie.” Here you see the level of expectations, emotional investment, and pressure that people place on this expression; one needs to put in or at least see ‘someone’ [whom] they care about before they can even embrace the expression in its awfulness.
Taking a genuine-tailoring-type approach for this promo signals a huge sea change for Hallmark because it is the generation of buzz and notoriety that far overshadows standard press tour fare. The trailer was launched in a live Bills game, and the casting flock was mixed into the tailgate festivities; far more organic an energizer than any slickly produced sizzle reel could even hope to be.
We add slight credibility with a cameo of Andrew Walker, who’s a bona fide fan. This cred bridges Hallmark’s narrative style with the somewhat gritty and passionate domain of NFL fandom. Walker’s casting will draw viewers who have followed him through his previous work and can appreciate the genuine conviction he brings to this project.
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With an early 2024 fall premiere, Hallmark looks set to top it all off with this fresh concoction of magical holidays and sports culture. Early reactions show a vast appetite for productions that pay tribute to local traditions whilst offering the heartwarming tales Hallmark is known for. The original premise and grassroots promotional campaign may allow “Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story” to make a better-than-average impact on Hallmark’s seasonal agenda.