Naman Shrestha
With Lucie Guest at the helm, Hallmark’s ‘The Santa Class’ is a holiday-themed film that revolves around the life of Kate North, who is the owner of a once-reputed but currently struggling Santa School. With Christmas fast approaching, she and her new co-worker and instructor, Dan, try to come up with a way to revive the school back to its glory days and get the better of their rival, St. Nicholas School. That’s when they discover the real Santa Claus crashed near the school but lost his memories.
Over the next few days, Kate and Dan join forces and try to help Santa with the amnesia by letting him participate in the intense Santa training program. By helping out Saint Nicholas, the duo hopes to save not just Christmas but also their Santa School. Despite the fantastical nature of the comedy movie, the story is made to appear realistic through the snow-covered roads and the realistic-looking Santa school.
Where Was The Santa Class Filmed?
‘The Santa Class’ was filmed in its entirety in British Columbia, especially in Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast Regional District. According to reports, the principal photography for the Hallmark production got underway in September 2024 and continued for a few weeks before getting wrapped up by the end of the second week of October of the same year. Graeme McComb took to social media to share his experience working on set and express his gratitude for the opportunity to be part of the family film. The actor expressed, “The whole cast and crew of this movie were incredible. I feel so lucky to have been able to work with everyone on this production. So many laughs and good times were had. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!”
Vancouver, British Columbia
Situated in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Vancouver served as the primary production location for ‘The Santa Class.’ The filming unit reportedly took over multiple streets and adorned them with Christmas decorations to turn them into suitable backdrops for the movie. From what we can tell, they set up camp in and around an actual establishment, which doubled as the North Star Santa Academy.
While many pivotal sequences were shot on location, some of the portions were also seemingly lensed on a sound stage of one of the film studios located in and around Vancouver, such as Vancouver Film Studios, Beach Film Studios, Ironwood Studio, Eagle Creek Studios, and Bridge Studios. Besides ‘The Santa Class,’ the city has hosted the production of multiple film and TV projects, including ‘The Age of Adaline,’ ‘Family for Christmas,’ ‘Christmas in Evergreen,’ ‘A Timeless Christmas,’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.’
Sunshine Coast Regional District, British Columbia
For shooting purposes, the production team of ‘The Santa Class’ also traveled to the Sunshine Coast Regional District. To be specific, they taped several important scenes in the coastal community of Gibsons, which is a part of the regional district. During a conversation with TV Goodness, one of the cast members, Benjamin Ayres, stated, “We also got to shoot in [British Columbia] locations that have never been shot at. It just looked really rich. It looked like a much bigger budget than it was. We really had a lot of fun making it. A lot of the improv stayed in, and it’s probably the best supporting cast we’ve ever had. They just brought so much to those roles and when we read it, I thought, ‘This is make or break when it’s an ensemble like this if you just don’t get the right types of actors.'”
The Santa Class Cast
Kimberley Sustad dons the garb of Kate North in the Hallmark production. Starting out as a theater actor, she gradually made her way into the industry and landed roles in several hit TV shows, such as ‘Motive,’ ‘Supernatural,’ ‘Continuum,’ ‘Primeval: A New World,’ and ‘Chesapeake Shores.’ She also features in several Hallmark movies, including ‘Christmas by Starlight,’ ‘The Nine Kittens of Christmas,’ ‘Sense, Sensibility & Snowmen,’ and ‘Lights, Camera, Christmas!.’ Opposite her is Benjamin Ayres, who essays the role of Dan in ‘The Santa Class.’
You might recognize the ‘Saving Hope’ fame from some of his popular works like ‘Unless,’ ‘Detention Adventure,’ ‘jPod,’ ‘Dan for Mayor,’ ‘Less Than Kind,’ and ‘Love by Chance.’ ‘The Santa Class’ features a bunch of other talented actors in supporting roles, including Trevor Lerner as Nick/Santa, Eric Pollins as Richard, Alessandro Miro as Blaise, Ryan Beil as Isaac, Carmel Amit as Megan, Gary Jones as Bruce, and Lindsay Winch as Bailey. Furthermore, Graeme McComb portrays the role of Timothy, while Paul Ferancik appears as Brendan in the movie.
Read More: Where Was Hallmark’s All I Need for Christmas Filmed? Who is in the Cast?
