April 15, 2024
Hallmark Media welcomes two new participants into its burgeoning Make Her Mark Women’s Directing Program to round out its inaugural pilot year: Kay Metchie and Eva Tavares.
Metchie recently shadowed director Mike Rohl on set of Hallmark Mystery’s The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death is Listening (premiering in 2024), while Tavares will shadow director Peter Benson on an untitled 2024 Countdown to Christmas movie heading into production this month, marking the program’s first collaboration with Hallmark Channel’s iconic holiday fare.
Kay Shioma Metchie is a director, writer, and actor. Metchie recently worked in the writer’s room for a Bell/CW series and the development room for season 2 of a CBC/CW series. She has directed and produced several shorts.
Eva Tavares is an award-winning director and actor, most recently portraying Christine in the Broadway Tour of Phantom of the Opera. Tavares is a graduate of the Women In The Director’s Chair Career Advancement Module for Female Directors, the Banff/Citadel Training Program, UBC Opera, and the LAMDA Short Course.
Hallmark Media is currently accepting applications for the next class of Make Her Mark. To learn more about the program requirements and apply, please visit https://corporate.hallmarkmedia.com/makehermark. Submissions will close on May 6.
February 28, 2024
"Shifting Gears" marks the Directorial Debut of Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, the Inaugural Participant in Hallmark’s Make Her Mark Women’s Directing Program.
Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe (“Signed, Sealed, Delivered”) makes her directorial debut as the first participant in Hallmark’s Make Her Mark Women’s Directing Program.
“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.”
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 on 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. And 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?
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 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.