Trudy Grant

World Screen Weekly, April 10, 2008

President

Sullivan Entertainment International

This year, the Canadian broadcaster CTV is set to air Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning, a prequel to the acclaimed 1985 mini-series based on Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 100-year-old novel. The three-part drama, starring Shirley MacLaine and Barbara Hershey, is the latest in a string of Anne of Green Gables productions from the Canadian outfit Sullivan Entertainment.

For Trudy Grant, who oversees Sullivan’s international operations, Anne of Green Gables and its spin-off Road to Avonlea played a significant role in placing the company on the map in the global TV arena. “We established ourselves early on with really solid, classic period programs that had a brand to them,” she says.

Grant has always been fascinated by the international TV market; she recalls traveling around the world as a recent college graduate and seeing American fare on a host of networks. She was eager to see the same thing happen with Canadian productions and in the early 1980s began working with the writer, director and producer Kevin Sullivan, distributing his productions globally. Grant says of her first outing at MIPTV: “It was the last day and they were tearing the booths down and I was still trying to sell programs!”

Grant is currently leading the sales drive on a mix of the company’s own productions, as well as third-party properties. Titles include the movies Mozart’s Magic Flute, Rhinoceros Eyes and Your Beautiful Cul de Sac Home; factual offerings like Road Scholars and Mozart Decoded; and the kids’ series Gina D’s Kids Club.

Grant also notes the strength of the back catalogue. “When you have a library like ours that still sells 25 years later, then you know you’ve got some classics.” Indeed, Sullivan has been able to parlay its stockpile of family favorites into a strong DVD business. “We have our own online store,” she says.

Looking ahead, Grant hopes to exercise Sullivan’s TV and DVD expertise in other areas, as the company seeks new ways to exploit its successful franchises. “We’re getting into new forms of entertainment, like games. We’re publishing six books this year. We’re expanding into merchandising, especially for this big 100th anniversary” of Anne of Green Gables.

Grant has been with Sullivan Entertainment since its inception, and she credits her strong working relationship with Kevin Sullivan as having been key to the company’s success. “He has the real talent in the creative and I have my abilities in the business. However, the great thing is we come together and we respect each other and we listen to each other. It’s [about] being good friends, being collaborative, having great listening skills and sharing ideas.”

—By Mansha Daswani