It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas for Wes Brown fans! The longtime Hallmark star started filming “Newport Christmas” in mid-March, according to multiple media outlets in New York and Rhode Island, alongside Broadway star Ginna Claire Mason, who’s quickly becoming a favorite on Hallmark Channel, too.
The time-travel movie is expected to air as part of Hallmark’s 2025 Countdown to Christmas, but eagle-eyed fans and local reporters have had a blast keeping track of the duo filming in their communities.
‘Newport Christmas’ is a Time Travel Movie About a Woman Transported From 1905 to Present Day
In March 2025, the duo began filming their time travel movie in Buffalo, New York, according to Western New York Public Broadcasting. On April 8, the production moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where Mason was photographed filming outside Bowen’s Wharf.
Directed by popular Hallmark director Dustin Rikert and produced by Synthetic Cinema — the production company behind recent Hallmark hits like “A Biltmore Christmas,” “The Christmas Quest” and “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” — the “Newport Christmas” will be the first Hallmark movie set in Rhode Island since 1999, according to the Newport Daily News.
In February, Moviedelic reported that “Newport Christmas” would be about “a headstrong Newport-based woman from 1905 who is inexplicably pulled into the present day.”
“After the bizarre time travel,” the report continued, “she encounters a devoted historian fascinated by the mystery of her vanishing. As they piece together the events that led to her transportation, she is forced to make a heart-wrenching decision — return to the past she knows or stay in the present, experiencing love transcending time itself.”
Producers held a casting call for the movie in early March, according to Buffalo Rising, as filming was expected to take place around Erie and Niagara County from March 17 to April 3. Among the extras they needed were people to play “Christmas formal guests, ballroom dancers, tuxedoed men, corset- wearing women, gilded age reenactors, tourists, waitstaff, parade spectators, a violin busker, string quartets, and Santa Clauses.”
Wes Brown Spent a Filming Break Hanging With Fellow Hallmark Star Benjamin Ayres
Synthetic Cinema has posted many behind-the-scenes shots of its locations on Instagram — including a “That’s a wrap!” post on April 8 — while trying to hide the identities of Brown and Mason. But fans and local media have captured both stars filming scenes.
Brown has appeared in nearly 20 Hallmark movies since his 2010 debut in “Love Begins,” per IMDb, and hosted his first unscripted series, “Ready, Set, Glow,” on Hallmark+ in 2024. Mason, a longtime theater pro who spent several years starring as Glinda in the Broadway production of “Wicked,” made her Hallmark debut in 2022’s “A Holiday Spectacular.” She also starred in Hallmark Christmas movies in 2023 and 2024, and will co-star with Holly Robinson Peete in “Hats Off to Love” on May 3.
When the production finished filming in Buffalo, Synthetic posted an Instagram thank you note to the community and everyone involved, writing on April 4, “As we wrap up the New York production portion of our Christmas movie here in Buffalo, we’re leaving with full hearts and total awe. To our incredible local crew and our returning superstar regulars – thank you so much! You outdid yourselves in every possible way. Your talent, dedication, and hard work made this shoot not only smooth but unforgettable.”
On March 30, Brown took a break from filming to visit friend and fellow Hallmark star Benjamin Ayres, who lives across the border from Buffalo in nearby Toronto; the two posted photos after attending a Toronto Blue Jays game together.
Synthetic Cinema will be back in Buffalo later this year, as it’s also the production company behind the next “Holiday Touchdown” movie, which will focus on the Buffalo Bills in 2025.