Hallmark Movie Based On H-F Maintenance Man's Novel

FLOSSMOOR, IL — A member of the maintenance crew at Homewood-Flossmoor High School wrote a novel that's the inspiration for a Hallmark Christmas movie scheduled to premier next month. Hallmark has confirmed their movie, "Christmas Under the Stars," is based on the unpublished "The Christmas Tree Lot," a book written by H-F employee Rikk Dunlap, according to an NBC-Chicago report.

Dunlap told NBC he was inspired to write a Christmas novel by a holiday tree lot in Park Forest that he'd often see from the train. The new Hallmark movie based on the book will be part of the network's "Countdown to Christmas." It will star Jesse Metcalfe and Autumn Reeser.

"It was overwhelming to think that, 'Oh my gosh my characters are actually going to come to life,' not just off the page but on the TV screen," Dunlap said.

Read more via NBC-Chicago