for big things

Sullivan Entertainment has announced its ‘largest development slate ever.’ Only the Angels Listened, written by Robbyn Burger and based on a People magazine story of child custody, is a tv movie for abc. Four new feature films are also in the works: B Movie, based on Tom Wood’s play of the same name; Four Arrows, described as ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest meets Bonanza;’ Blair Ferguson’s Dolly and Henrietta; and The Snow Queen, adapted from Hans Christian Andersen by Raymond Storey. The Earth Abideth, adapted by Joe Weisenfeld from George Dell’s Americana novel of the same name, is a miniseries for cbs.

All productions, still in the hands of their writers (a split of about 50:50 American/Canadian), will be shot in Ontario. Trudy Grant, president of Sullivan International, says the goal is to have The Earth Abideth and Only the Angels Listened completed by next spring, at which time The Snow Queen is scheduled to go before the cameras. The other projects are still awaiting production time slots.

The budget for The Earth Abideth is projected at between $8 million and $10 million; Angels is about $6 million; The Snow Queen is around $8 million and Arrows should sit between $4 million and $6 million. Other budgets were not released.

The projects with abc and cbs are in a development agreement phase. Sullivan will hold worldwide rights to the projects and license them to the u.s.

Grant says the company’s 18-month-old Los Angeles arm has a lot to do with the boom, which in turn has meant a staff increase in the company’s development departments – from two to five people.

Sullivan has also announced the promotion of former head of business and legal affairs Aldo Di Felice to coo. Lawyer Steven N. Lewis has joined the company to fill Di Felice’s former post.