SEATTLE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR ANN COPPEL’S
EVOCATIVE DOCUMENTARY SEGMENT PREMIERES ON HALLMARK CHANNEL

Seattle, Washington, May 20, 2002 – Seattle-area, independent producer and award-winning director Ann Coppel’s half-hour, documentary segment "Joliene's Choice" is scheduled to air on the Hallmark Channel on Sunday, June 2nd from 8:00PM to 9:00PM PST. The "Joliene" story is part of the Hallmark Entertainment series "Adoption." The thirteen-week series presents original, one-hour, non-scripted reality programming portraying real-life experiences of people involved in the adoption process. Produced exclusively for Hallmark Channel U.S., these heart-warming human-interest stories look at various options for adoption as seen through the experiences of families, birth parents and adoptive children.

The "Joliene" story portrays a Seattle-area, pregnant, twenty-two year old woman who struggles with giving her baby up in an open adoption situation. This is the first project that Ann Coppel has produced and directed for the Hallmark Channel. "This was a wonderful opportunity, not just to be able to work on a project that will be broadcast nationally, but to be able to tell such a complex, emotional and ultimately universal story about a courageous young woman, faced with one of life’s most difficult decisions," says Ms. Coppel.

In addition to being shot on location in the Northwest, the series includes stories of international adoptions, shot in Vietnam, Romania, China, Russia and Guatemala.

Lana Corbi, President and CEO for Crown Media United States, which operates Hallmark Channel U.S. said, "The Hallmark Channel is excited about this show because it gives insight into the human spirit and desire to celebrate what makes a family. What we see in "Adoption" is that it’s the love, patience and extraordinary sacrifices human beings are willing to make in order to give and to share their love with a child."

Ms. Corbi says, "This series is very powerful. Not every situation ends in the adoption of a child, and we learn that adoption is much more a journey than a process."

The "Adoption" series’ ninety minute premiere, hosted by Melissa Gilbert, will be broadcast on Saturday, June 1st from 8:00PM to 9:30PM PST. The "Joliene" story will be featured the following night, Sunday June 2nd, in the first hour of regularly scheduled programming for the thirteen week "Adoption" series (Sunday nights from 8:00PM to 9:00PM PST).

About Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel is a 24-hour television network that provides high quality, entertainment programming that is family-friendly to a national audience of nearly 44 million subscribers. The program service is distributed through 1,700 cable systems, DirecTV (Channel 312) and EchoStar (DISH Channel 185) direct-to-home satellite services and C-Band dish owners across the country. Crown Media Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRWN - news) owns and operates the Hallmark Channel which, in addition to the U.S., is distributed worldwide to 100 international countries. The combined channels reach 83 million subscribers globally.

For further information, please contact Pam Slay, +1-818-755-2480, or Elizabeth Hillman, +1-818-755-2643, both of the Hallmark Channel.

About Ann Coppel Productions, LLC
Ann Coppel Productions, LLC is a full service film and video production company, owned and operated by award-winning Writer, Producer, Director, Ann Coppel. Located in Seattle, Washington, Ann Coppel Productions, LLC has been producing programs that inform, motivate and inspire, for over twenty-five years. Ann Coppel’s work includes five documentary profiles of Northwest craftsmen and artists for the Living Treasures video series (1998-present); Soul Queens, a short documentary produced for the Experience Music Project Museum (2000); the independent feature length film, Crocodile Tears (1997, Director); and the PBS documentary Speaking for Ourselves (1994).

For more information about "Joliene" or other programs produced by Ann Coppel Productions, please contact Ann Coppel, at 206-282-7720, or ann@anncoppelproductions.com Visit the Ann Coppel Productions, LLC website at http://www.anncoppelproductions.com
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