Hallmark’s “Spring Breakthrough” Was Filmed At Historic Alabama Resort

The new flick was filmed in and around Fairhope, Alabama, as well as at Point Clear’s Grand Hotel.

Hallmark movies are filmed in many different locations. While it’s true that many of their productions are filmed in Canada, the juggernaut of feel-good TV magic has been taking to the road more and more in recent years. We’ve seen Lacey Chabert star in Christmas at Castle Hart filmed on location in a castle in Ireland, A Nashville Legacy was actually filmed in not one, but two Southern cities, and we absolutely cannot wait to see A Biltmore Christmas which was filmed in and around Biltmore Estate.

Now, there is a brand new Hallmark Mahogany feature that was filmed in our neck of the woods. Spring Breakthrough was filmed in and around Fairhope, Alabama, with a bulk of the filming taking place on the grounds of Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa in Point Clear, Alabama.

Keesha Sharpe, who stars in Spring Breakthrough, recently spoke to Southern Living about filming on location down South. “Oh, I LOVED it,” she practically sang into the phone. “I’d never been to Alabama first of all. So going to Alabama was new. And going to the Grand Hotel was beautiful. I really mean that. It was the best location to shoot on. I mean we were on the water. Beautiful weather. The scenery was gorgeous. The food, can we talk about the food in the South?” Sharpe gushed over one of Grand Hotel’s signature breakfast items, the lump crab scramble. “I went back the next day to have the same thing. It was so good.”

Sharpe also said that although the work schedule was jam-packed, she did manage to explore Fairhope as well. “Most of the things in Fairhope were family run…What I loved about it was it felt like it was [a sense of] community, which you don’t get a lot in cities. It felt like they cared about their town.” She also noted that she enjoyed The Hope Farm restaurant so much, she went three times.

Sharpe and the entire cast stayed on site at the Grand Hotel during filming. We spoke with Kevin Hellmich, director of sales and marketing for the hotel, and he said, “It was a fun group to have in house…When the hotel was approached to host a Hallmark movie at the Grand, we were flattered and it was definitely exciting.”

Scenes for the movie were filmed in a variety of locations throughout the property including the salon, the golf course, the cabanas by the pool, the beach, and outside of Bucky’s Lounge, to name a few.

Aside from the signature Southern location, Spring Breakthrough tells a different twist on the classic love story. Monica, played by Sharp, is a single mother who in the same week loses her job of twenty years and finds out her college-aged daughter is engaged. Monica and her best friend travel to the Gulf Coast to join Monica’s daughter Vivian and meet her soon to be son-in-law and his family. She’s dealing with two transitions at the same time, her daughter is growing up and leaving the nest, and for the first time, she has no idea what she’ll do next. And well, because it’s Hallmark, of course she meets a handsome stranger along the way and sparks fly. As she focuses on accepting her daughter’s drastic news, she begins to see the sudden changes in her life as opportunities and not challenges. “I just want people to see this movie and be moved for their breakthrough. We all deserve our breakthrough in life and I think this character shows that maybe we don’t think we’re ready for it or we think we’re past a certain age and our breakthroughs are over.”

Spring Breakthrough premieres on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on April 30. Sharpe will also soon be seen in Heist 88 alongside Courtney B. Vance, and the independent film, Dark My Light.

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