Hallmark Channel Is Celebrating Women With Make Her Mark Program In New Movie Shifting Gears. Befitting of March being Women’s History Month, Hallmark Channel is striving to make women thrive. Celebrating strong women is very important to us and seeing this is just one of many reasons that I keep tuning into the Hallmark Channel.
As the first participant in Hallmark’s Make Her Mark Women’s Directing Program, Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe makes her directorial debut in the March 23rd premiere movie, Shifting Gears starring Tyler Hynes and Katherine Barrell.
Related: When Calls The Heart Premieres On Hallmark Channel In April – Preview
“Yan-Kay Crystal’s drive, intelligence, and willingness to always learn more made her the perfect fit to launch Make Her Mark. The beauty of this program is that we have created a training ground for women to learn and then showcase their skills. They really earn their seat in the director’s chair,” said Ashley Williams, founder of Hallmark’s Make Her Mark Women’s Directing Program. Continued Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, “I’m so grateful that Hallmark granted me the opportunity to bring my creative vision to the screen and make my directorial debut with Shifting Gears.”
Hallmark Media’s Make Her Mark Women’s Directing Program is an on-the-job mentorship initiative designed to advance Hallmark’s commitment to inclusive storytelling by supporting and increasing the representation of women behind the camera. The program was conceived and founded by long-time Hallmark Media on- and off-air talent and creative partner, Ashley Williams (“Notes of Autumn”, “Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday”), in collaboration with Hallmark Media executives.
Star of the movie, Tyler Hynes shared on his Instagram all the strong women who worked together to make this movie happen from the director to the AD to producers to the star. Hallmark celebrates women.
Shifting Gears centers around Motor City mechanic Jess Barro (Kat Barrell) and her father Ray (James Burke) run their family-owned automotive garage but money’s getting tight thanks to competition from a big auto repair shop chain in town. Her passion is auto restoration and when Jess gets the chance to compete in an auto restoration show, she reluctantly agrees as the prize money would go a long way toward keeping their shop afloat.
She’s shocked to discover one of the competitors is Luke (Hynes), her ex-boyfriend and the son of her dad’s former business partner who cut him out, leading Jess to break things off with Luke. The show’s participants face off in a series of increasingly difficult challenges to showcase their personal style leading to the final round of repainting a classic car. As the competition revs up, Jess and Luke’s personal rivalry becomes a big hit with the audience and producers alike.
After a few misfires, they work through their former relationship and start to bond again over their shared love of classic cars. As they speed toward the finish line, Luke has a disastrous painting mishap that threatens to ruin Jess’ chances of winning. When she learns his dad plans to buy her family’s garage, she suspects the painting disaster was sabotage rather than an accident. Will their relationship break down again and be beyond repair, or will they be able to restore it and jump-start their romance once again?
Shifting Gears will premiere on March 23, 2024, at 8/7c on the Hallmark Channel. Let’s all celebrate strong women this month and every month.
