Alison Sweeney talks about the Hannah Swensen series and her latest brand film, This Time Each Year

Alison Sweeney is very busy. But that’s more than okay with her.

This holiday season she is playing in her 30th year^Th Hallmark holiday film, This time every year, and the 10^Th film in their regular girls-to-detective series franchise, A Touch of Fraud: A Hannah Swensen MysteryPremiered earlier this month.

In This time every yearSweeney plays Lauren, who has been separated from her husband Kevin for a year and the two are focused on caring for their young son Charlie together. But despite the breakup, Kevin is determined to convince Lauren that they belong together in order to reunite his family.

While the film features many of the Hallmark troupes, this film also stars a couple who face some serious hurdles, which Sweeney describes as a bit “risky” for the brand.

“This film is not just about lightness, but about the very real problems that couples face,” she explains. “We all agreed that it is time to tell stories that show how difficult problems can rear their ugly heads, especially around the holidays, even though it is often supposed to be the ‘most wonderful time of the year.'” This “It’s just not the case because life is complicated, people make mistakes and sometimes you have to deal with reality, and that’s what these characters are striving for.”

She wants to make it clear that while there are difficult parts of Lauren and Kevin’s relationship, “This isn’t particularly dark or anything like that.” It has everything that makes a good film and it was magical for us to take that story to another to tell the story of this couple’s struggle to find each other again. So it’s all still there – the holiday fun, lots of romance and a wonderful Christmas, just told in a very unique way.”

Speaking about her role as EP in this film and many of her other projects, Sweeney explains: “I see myself as a storyteller first and foremost. I spend a lot of time developing stories, and as an executive producer I’m part of a project from the beginning, which means I read a book or listen to a pitch and then work through all the decisions needed to make it into that “We can make the best films.”

Breaking down her duties, she says that unless it’s something she wrote, she’s “very collaborative” with the writer on every draft of the script, and then: “Once we start production, I help look for locations, find the right director, then it’s about casting, working with the set designer and the wardrobe people. It’s a lot, but it’s so much fun to be a part of.”

However, Sweeney says she makes sure to do all of this during the film’s prep period so that she can fully focus on her character when filming begins.

Looking back on her very first Hallmark movie, Sweeney notes, “I just remember being so happy and grateful to be there and just having a great time and playing a different character.” [my Days of Our Lives character] Sammy Brady.”

As for her journey as a writer, Sweeney says it’s been a bit “weird,” as she explains: “You know, as an actress, you live out other people’s stories. And there were times when the story didn’t quite go the way I thought it would. I remember one day when I was on set and I was so frustrated because I knew that wasn’t the way I wanted to tell the story, but that wasn’t my job at the time.”

That night, Sweeney says, she poured her desperation into her laptop. “I started writing as I would have written the scene. I just had to get rid of it. It was really cathartic for me and I found I really enjoyed it. So I kept writing.”

She admits that when she wrote her first script, she didn’t realize how nervous she was about it. “When I hit send and presented my first script to the producers and Hallmark executives, I felt a little sick. I thought, “What if they hate it?” What if it’s terrible? What if they reject it?’ But I was very lucky because everyone responded really well to it, and we worked on refining it from there. It was an incredible experience for me.”

It may seem difficult to go from a baker who solves crimes to a woman who celebrates the holidays every year, but Sweeney says otherwise. “Every film is its own story. It’s not about the genre. What’s more difficult for me is moving from Hannah, a character I’ve known for 10 years now and with whom I feel very comfortable, to a new character. When that happens, I ask myself, “Who is this woman?” How did she get here in her life? What kind of mother is she? Wife? How do I represent this?’”

It may seem like she has enough to do, but Sweeney enthuses, “Yeah, I’m just getting started. I have a lot of things I want to do. I have a project that I’m working on next year that I can’t talk about yet, but I can tell you that it’s really fun and different and a little more out of my comfort zone than the films I’ve done. I can’t wait to share it.”

The amount of projects she’s involved in will never overwhelm her, Sweeney says, because she’s exactly where she wants to be.

“I was standing on set one time, looking around and thinking, ‘This film that I developed from an idea is actually happening.’ I did this from start to finish.’ And later I called my dad and said to him, “Dad, I’ll do it.” I dreamed about this when I was four years old. And I can’t believe I’m actually doing it.’ He was so proud of me and so excited for me. Since then it’s been just great. It never blew my mind that I got to do this. So I’ll just keep going.”

“This Time Every Year” premieres Thursday, October 24th^Th at 8/7c on the Hallmark Mysteries channel and “A Sprinkle of Deceit: A Hannah Swensen Mystery” is now available on the Hallmark+ app.