The Birthday Wish

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Peter DeLuise directs. Randal Platt behind the camera. Christopher Nickel scores. Rick Martin cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 184 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 2Released 9 years ago.
• 3Directed by Peter DeLuise, shot by Randal Platt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Christopher Nickel. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Rick Martin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Jessy Schram and Luke Macfarlane and Marcus Rosner carry the top of the cast.
• 7IMDB entry: tt6432062 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Only 72 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Randal Platt

Original score

Christopher Nickel

Editing

Rick Martin

Production design

Jill Scott

Makeup / hair

Shaylean Smith Gillespie

VFX supervisor

Barry Liu

Sound

Ryan Thompson

Stunt coordinator

Brett Armstrong

Runtime

84 min · 1h 24m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

G

IMDB

The Birthday Wish (2017) ↗

Also by

Peter DeLuise

• 
  When Calls the Heart: A Call from the Past

  2019 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Hope Island

  1999 · ★ 10.0
• 
  When Calls the Heart

  2014 · ★ 8.3
• 
  Stargate SG-1

  1997 · ★ 8.3
• 
  Higher Ground

  2000 · ★ 8.2
• 
  R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour

  2010 · ★ 8.2

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Reno2017-02-26
  ★ 7/10

  For some people, the DELAY steers them to the right path. This is the first Hallmark film I'm watching after the end of the winter. When it is the Christmas season, I always go for the Hallmark films, but I got interested on this after learning about the plot. If you are very familiar with Hallmark films, you will know what to expect and how to enjoy them. I totally got entertained. This story is obviously not fresh, but refreshed with the great characters. Gwen is who just tuned 30, was expecting the marriage proposal from her boyfriend, but nothing happened. She's an ad filmmaker, as her focus slipping away from the duty for not getting married, then she meets a new workmate, whose their initial impression does not go well. But later they start to have feelings for each other. If that's true how they are going make it real was revealed in the rest of the film. Some of the lines were very nice. Well executed utilising fine cast and locations. Jessy Schram was simply amazing and also the plus point of the film. The rest of them were not bad either. Since it is a television film, it did not go past the 90 minute mark. That means well paced narration with the well developed storyline. I think it will work better for family audiences. But I suggest it for everyone, if they watch it with low expectation. Surely worth a try, particularly in a date night. 7/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Hallmark Media

  US

Key crew

• "A" Camera OperatorSean Cox
• First Assistant "A" CameraJenna Fuoco
• Second Assistant "A" CameraLuke Hylands
• "B" Camera OperatorDavid Tenniswood
• Steadicam OperatorDavid Tenniswood
• First Assistant "B" CameraIzaiah Kane
• Second Assistant "B" CameraSteven Singh
• Production Sound MixerTad Nazar
• Boom OperatorEric Weisner
• GafferGeoff Dane
• Best Boy ElectricKnesha Yu
• Key GripCorey Tremblay
• Best Boy GripKeith Granger
• Dolly GripPaul Heman
• Dolly GripSteve Mieszkalski
• Production CoordinatorYale Kussin
• Assistant Production CoordinatorLaura Obenaus
• Assistant Production CoordinatorSam Marshall
• Assistant Production CoordinatorChase Brettoner
• Production ControllerMarnie Termuende
• Production AccountantSvatia Sakarova
• Assistant AccountantSusan Messent
• Payroll AccountantHeather Trimble
• Location ManagerNancy Larman

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• wish
• hallmark

Release history · US

When it landed

• TV2017-01-21G· Hallmark