When it comes to Christmas movies, the Hallmark Channel runs like a finely oiled machine. The holiday season is the network’s cash cow, with the made-for-TV movies breaking viewership records and raking in serious bank. Naturally, the actors need to be compensated for their work. According to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) pay scale, for a leading role, a Hallmark actor could make between $1,251.00 to $3,575.00 per week.
Of course, for bigger stars, that amount could be more.
Hallmark Celebrities’ Net Worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Hallmark’s go-to gal, Candace Cameron Bure, who has appeared in multiple movies for the network, has an estimated net worth of $14 million. While some of that money does come from her stint as a child star on Full House and in its reboot Fuller House, it’s safe to say a lot of her income comes from holiday movies.
Celebrity Net Worth also estimates Lacey Chabert, of Mean Girls fame, is worth $4 million thanks to her 18 Hallmark movies.
“The fans of the Hallmark movies are incredibly loyal and devoted, and it’s actually enabled me to connect more with them and the people that enjoy the movies,” Lacey told Glamour in December 2020. “They’re so vocal on social media, and I don’t think I’d experienced that to the level I experience now.”
“Hallmark has really become like family,” she added. “I really respect the programming. I feel really blessed to be a part of it. I’m really proud of the content, so it’s become a very close relationship. The values that are represented in their films are very much intrinsically who they are as a company.”
Danica McKellar, who transitioned from a child actress in The Wonder Years to Hallmark royalty, is worth approximately $6 million.
However, it is unknown how much each actor is paid per Hallmark movie.
How Much Money Does Hallmark Make?
In 2021, Hallmark released so many Christmas movies that they were able to have a film premiere every Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting on October 22. The reported budget, in 2018, for the Hallmark movie channel was approximately $2 million, and according to a 2017 Business Insider article, these holiday hits take only three weeks to film. The outlet reports that about $50,000 of that budget goes to fake snow.
S&P Global Market Intelligence predicted that the network would bring in $390 million in ad revenue in 2018. That’s certainly worth the $2 million investment.