Behind the Movie with Kira Archer

Watching Truly, Madly, Sweetly Come To Life

Kira Archer

When I first got the email, I thought it had to be spam. Like one of those from the vanity publishers saying they want your book and all you have to do is sign over your first born. The email simply stated that Crown Media (the company that owns Hallmark) wanted to option my book to be made into a movie for Hallmark and would I be interested? My gut reaction – no way this is real. Second reaction – if it is, then YES PLEASE!

I googled the name on the email and it looked legit. So I emailed some peeps at Entangled and said something along the lines of, “not sure if this is real or not but if it is then I’m totally interested!”

They assured me it was real and then I’m pretty sure we all had a good freak out. Within days we had a verbal agreement. It took five months to hash out the actual contract. And then we heard nothing. For more than a year. But they renewed the option, so that was a good sign. And then I saw online (because of course I had google alerts set for anything Truly, Madly, Sweetly movie related) that filming was set to begin. And the freak outs began again.

Throughout the course of stalking/looking for any info I could, I came across the twitter account of the lead actor, Dylan Neal. Dylan also happened to be the scriptwriter and an executive producer on the film. He kindly offered to answer any questions I had and I immediately responded. Though I did refrain from completely overloading him…barely LOL

Filming took three weeks, during which I again scoured the internet for postings of set shots (did you know there are whole groups of people who regularly post pics and videos on set shoots they see around various cities? I know them all pretty well, I think, by this time LOL). The first time I saw a picture of that pink cupcake truck, I may have teared up a bit. It was a thing of beauty. I can’t WAIT to see it in the movie! Dylan was also kind enough to send me pictures and keep me posted on where they were in the process.

By the time post production wrapped up, I was anxiously awaiting the trailer which would give me my first real taste of what the movie may look like. Dylan had given me the heads up that some major changes had been made due to network requirements. Some I knew would happen ahead of time (love scenes aren’t exactly Hallmark material so I knew those would be out), but there were some I couldn’t have begun to imagine. Such as Dylan’s character now being a single father where in the book, the hero is just beginning to get out from under the thumb of his family.

Still, I figured if the only things I recognized were the title and that glorious cupcake truck, it would still be pretty cool. And then the trailer dropped and I got to see Dylan and the gorgeous and talented Nikki Deloach (our leading lady) as Eric and Natalie. I recognized just about everything in the trailer. They’d put their own spin on everything. The meet-cute was slightly different, the way they find out about their inheritance is slightly different, etc. But the story that was playing out…I recognized that. And the feeling is really something that is hard to describe. It’s amazing and surreal and thrilling and emotional and just really freaking cool all at once.

I know there are going to be some big, major changes. I know there will be huge chunks of the movie that have no connection to the book at all. I know that what IS mine has been tweaked and changed and played out from different perspectives. It’s an adaptation, not a page by page reproduction, after all. But at the end of the day, it’s a movie about a woman who owns a cupcake truck and a man who is searching for his place in life and how they fall in love in the backdrop of a historic bakery. It’s my story…with a Hallmark spin. And I can’t wait to see how it all comes together :-)

Check out Truly, Madly, Sweetly starring Dylan Neal & Nikki DeLoach on the Hallmark Channel!

Be sure to pick up the book that started it all!

Sugar and spice and love that’s oh-so nice…

An inherited parking spot. That’s all it took to make Natalie Moran’s food truck dreams come true. But her dream space is attached to a bakery inherited by someone else—drop dead gorgeous Eric Schneider, a financial consultant who wouldn’t know a cupcake from a cannoli. And he wants to buy Nat out, no matter what she has to say about it.

Eric’s determined to build his own business, but he needs the super cute klutz with the cupcake truck to help. If Nat will teach him the basics of running a bakery, he’ll give her free kitchen time. Except…neither expects the heat burning between them or the possibility that their arrangement might become permanent.

When it all blows up, Nat is convinced his actions mean betrayal. It’s up to Eric to regain her trust and show her he’s a man who is truly, madly in love with her, before she disappears from his life forever.

USA Today bestselling author Kira Archer resides in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kiddos, and far too many animals in the house. She tends to laugh at inappropriate moments and break all the rules she gives her kids (but only when they aren’t looking), and would rather be reading a book than doing almost anything else. Most of her non-writing hours are spent hanging with her family and running her kids around because they are busy and she’s the taxi driver. She loves her romances a little playful, a lot sexy, and always with a happily ever after. She also writes historical romances as Michelle McLean.

In case you missed premiere night, check out the GIVEAWAYS Kira has to celebrate the movie:

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