Hallmark Channel always sticks to its tried and true formula: Good, fun, family-friendly comedies, some are tacky rom coms and some are seasonal clichéd films. In the case of Kevin Fair’s “Checkin’ It Twice”, we’re going to step away from what Hallmark does and focus instead on where did Fair take the cast and crew to make this film happen.
The 2023 movie, written by Steve Beauregard stars Kim Matula (from “The Bold and The Beautiful), Kevin McGarry (from Hallmark’s-own “The Wedding Veil”), and Brittany Mitchell (from Netflix’s “Altered Carbon”).
It tells the story of a real estate agent —a strong female lead— who falls for an aspiring hockey player after they have a mishap with some credit cards the moment the real estate agent visits her folks away from the metropolis where she works.
Checkin’ It Twice Filming Locations
As with all Hallmark Channel movies, things aren’t exactly big budget, and that’s precisely the case for this film, which was shot in one month on a tight schedule on March 2023 in British Columbia, Canada. If we can learn one thing from Hallmark, is that you don’t need billions of dollars to make a fun movie. They have a formula and they stick to it.
As a Christmas love story, the movie is easy to watch, running for one hour and twenty minutes, and of course, you can find it on the Hallmark Channel.
Now, let’s check out some of these locations in Canada where Kevin Fair chose to shoot this romantic comedy.
The government of British Columbia is very friendly with filmmakers, the region has multiple cities, and locations and has film and theater schools, as well as studios, facilities, and tax incentives for filmmakers to take their business there, on the condition that they work with local film industry talent, which includes producers, editors, cinematographers, prop creators, etc.
Kelowna
Kelowna is a city located in the southern portion of British Columbia, its settlers date all the way back to 1859, it is a beautiful city with many amenities for tourists looking for all sorts of adventures. And “Checkin’ It Twice” is a movie about a strong female lead going home to visit her folks on a vacation. The bulk of the movie is filmed in this city.
As such, Kelowna offers many filming locations that we see across the film.
Also, since this is a Christmas-themed movie, Kelowna during the winter is a skier’s paradise wishing to slide different slopes like the ones from Whistler near Vancouver, for example. This city has it all, lake views, big, dense mountains full of beautiful forests, and it is also a very popular place for wine enthusiasts, as we see in the movie.
In the film, we see many outdoor shots that we can identify, such as Lawrence Ave, a big street in that city. Moreover, there are indoor scenes that take place in the Laurel Packing House for a scene that depicts a big Christmas celebration.
Moreover, as the two main characters fall in love during Christmas time, they go out on dates and we can see them outdoors and indoors in famous places around that city like the Okanagan Wine and Orchard Museum.
Other productions like “Fido”, “Devil In The Dark”, Love’s Second Chance”, “The Sinners”, “A Daughter’s Nightmare”, “Puppy Love”, and “A Score To Settle” were filmed in Kelowna.
Vernon
To complement other outdoor takes and scenes, the cast and crew shot many indoor and outdoor takes in Vernon, another community located in the Okanagan Valley. That scene where we see the hockey game took place at Kal Tire Place, which in the movie is the home arena for the “Idaho Falls Flying Trouts”.
Vernon is just another of the many spots that the vast British Columbia territories in Canada have to offer for all sorts of adventurers: From kayaking in lakes to wine orchards and spirit distilleries to mountain regions and bike trails, there’s always something fun to do there.
Vernon is no stranger to film crews setting up shop there, as movies like “Recon”, “Blackway”, “No Tell Motel”, and “Endless” also had scenes filmed there in their time.
