EIGHT WORDS INSPIRE MILLIONS WHEN A MESSAGE OF HOPE SURVIVES TRAGEDY

EMMY� AWARD WINNER GENIE FRANCIS STARS IN 'THE NOTE' A HALLMARK ORIGINAL MOVIE PREMIERING DECEMBER 8

Ted McGinley ("Hope & Faith") and Rick Roberts ("Man of the Year") Join the "General Hospital" Icon in the Inspirational Drama

A small scrap of paper carrying a message of love and forgiveness survives a fiery plane crash, and leads a journalist struggling with her own past to embark on an inspirational journey in "The Note," a Hallmark Original Movie premiering Saturday, December 8 (9pm/8c). Emmy� winner Genie Francis � who helped make 'Luke and Laura' a worldwide phenomenon on "General Hospital" � stars, and is joined by veteran comedic actor Ted McGinley ("Hope & Faith") and Rick Roberts ("Man of the Year").

Francis stars as Peyton MacGruder, a struggling human interest columnist whose editor warns her to bring her numbers up, or else. Dejected, her only moral support is from her longtime colleague, King Danville (McGinley), who she shares a flirtatious-but-professional relationship with. When a horrific plane crash kills all 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. Taking her readers along for the journey while trying to stay one step ahead of a TV tabloid reporter (Roberts), Peyton sets out across the country in her search, and unexpectedly confronts her own personal demons in the process.

"The Note" shows how dramatically life can change in an instant, and how it takes mere moments to make a connection: to reach out to someone you care about, to offer words of reconciliation, to express love or regret or admiration. To exhibit the power a few words can have on the lives of others, Hallmark Channel is launching www.WhatWouldYouWrite.com on Monday, October 8 as an outlet for viewers to submit their own notes and answer the question 'who would you reach out to if you only had a minute?' The network is asking TV writers to become the first contributors to this unique experiment, which is sure to result in a range of emotions and unexpected results.

"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.