EMMY� AWARD WINNER GENIE FRANCIS AND TED MCGINLEY STAR IN "THE NOTE," AN ORIGINAL MOVIE NOW IN PRODUCTION IN TORONTO FOR AIR ON HALLMARK CHANNEL

Holiday Movie To Premiere Saturday, December 8

Emmy� Award winner Genie Francis ("General Hospital") and Ted McGinley ("Married With Children") have been cast to star in "The Note," a holiday movie about a columnist under pressure to gain readers who finds a note recovered from a plane crash that is destined to change many lives -- including her own. The original movie has begun production in Toronto, Canada to premiere on Hallmark Channel Saturday, December 8 (9-11 p.m., ET/PT).

Francis stars as Peyton MacGruder, a struggling human interest columnist being forced to increase her readership, or else. When a plane crash kills everyone aboard in the waters near her office, Peyton suddenly finds herself in possession of a scrap of paper containing a hastily written but heartfelt message from one of the passengers to his child. Inspired by the power of the words, Peyton pledges to discover the note's intended recipient and deliver it by Christmas, keeping her readers up-to-speed in her column. Along the way, she realizes that the note has the power to affect many more lives than just the person it was written for, including her own.

Francis is known to fans worldwide as Laura Spencer, one half of "Luke and Laura," daytime's most famous couple on "General Hospital" and a role which has spanned almost 30 years.

McGinley plays her co-worker and confidante, King.

"The Note" is a co-production of Hallmark Channel and Lightworks Pictures in association with WildRice Productions. Joel S. Rice ("Shredderman Rules") and William Spencer Riley are executive producers. Maura Dunbar is the executive in charge of production for Lightworks Pictures. Doug Barr ("To Be Fat Like Me") is the director. Paul W. Cooper wrote the screenplay based on the novel by Angela Hunt.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 85 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,300 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the top 10 ad-supported cable networks in Prime Time and Total Day household ratings and is the nation's leading network in providing quality family programming. Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear channel, Hallmark Movie Channel.