'Happy Howlidays' May Be Set in Seattle but That’s Not Where It Was Filmed

If there's one network that has the market on Christmas content cornered, it's the Hallmark Channel. Its selection of movies has often been criticized as formulaic, down to marketing choices in poster design. Recently, however, it seems as if Hallmark has been diversifying its Christmas movie portfolio with movies like Three Wise Men and a Baby, which takes a Yuletide spin on the '80s classic.

Hallmark has lately been promoting Happy Howlidays, which marries canine-centric comedic tropes with the feel-good aura of the holiday season.

While the movie's set in Seattle, Washington, where was it actually filmed?

Like much of Hallmark's content, production for Happy Howlidays took place in British Columbia, Canada; predominantly in the Vancouver area.

According to The Cinemaholic, shooting for the flick began in October of 2024 and extended until November.

You may be wondering — why Canada? That's because the country offers a slew of tax incentives for filmmakers. The Vancouver Economic Commission detailed the particulars of these incentives on its website, which are outlined here.

Before we get into the particulars of what kinds of perks filmmakers can enjoy, here's a statistic that may put things in perspective: Vancouver and British Columbia is "the third largest film and TV production hub in North America."

The VEC attributes this largely in part to the way production work is incentivized in the region. Twenty-five percent of all employed labor from "Canadian-controlled production companies" is reimbursed via the incentive.

Furthermore, Production Services can have 28-34 percent of expenditures written off.

Additionally, federal film or video production services also enjoy a 16 percent tax credit, but the real white whale lies in BC's overall film incentive. As the VEC writes: "British Columbia-controlled production companies receive a 35 percent refundable tax credit on eligible labor costs, limited to 60 percent of total production costs. As of February 2018, this incentive has been expanded to include scriptwriting."

Labor assigned to the aforementioned write-off is a whopping 35 percent.

But saving money isn't the only reason why so many Hallmark Christmas films are shot throughout Canada — the setting naturally lends itself to the Yuletide season.

Crisp, snowy backdrops and picturesque neighborhoods, many of which were featured in Happy Howlidays, guarantee virtually default set-dressing opportunities for production. It's no wonder the film's leads, Ezra Moreland and Jessica Lowndes, had glowing recollections of their time on set.

Jessica was quoted by The Cinemaholic as saying: "I love being on set, bringing these characters to life and telling their stories. There’s nothing like the energy, creativity, and pure magic that comes from everyone working together to make something so special. I’m so unbelievably grateful for every moment of this project! Excited for you to meet my latest character Mia."

Ezra remarked: "As much as I got to prepare with the script, nothing could’ve been able to prepare what it felt like to start filming for the first time. It’s hard to express in just one day what the experience was like. It was a beautiful eye-opening experience for me. As I was going through the first couple of days of filming, I’m thinking to myself, ‘This just as challenging, if not more than Rescue Swimmer school in the Navy,’ which guys left and right to me were getting kicked out because the stress and the training was so challenging. I’m like, ‘This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,’ but it was amazing and I can’t wait for everybody to see it."

According to Hallmark's official website, the movie follows Mia who is a "meticulous web page editor for the Seattle Tourism Board."

Fully expecting to spend the holidays alone, she comes across a stray dog who takes a liking to her. Not wanting to abandon the pup, she visits an animal shelter, which is run by Max (Ezra's character.)

The two humans end up forming a bond after their respective canines create one of their own — Mia's stray ends up providing comfort to one of Max's shelter dogs, who is sick.

These mutual connections grow, drawing the two of them closer together during the holiday season.

If this sounds like your cup of egg nog, Happy Howlidays airs on the Hallmark Channel on Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. ET.