Pioneering Ways

Creator Beth Sullivan has found a successful formula
in her, no-nonsense management style.
BY WOLF SCHNEIDER

A history buff and fifth generation Angelino whose descendants came West in 1843 in a wagon train, Beth Sullivan is something of a pioneer herself. She is the first woman to single handedly create and executive-produce a successful prime-time network drama. As it turns out, she broke into the television business through the movie business.

After graduating from UCLA Film School, Sullivan worked as a script supervisor for Jonathan Demme, penned some movie scripts, then became a development/production executive in the television division of Twentieth Century Fox.

"I headed straight for television because I felt that the kinds of movies I was interested in had shifted more to being on the small screen than the large screen. Issue movies were being seen more in the movie-of-the-week area," she says. The '80s found Sullivan writing (or rewriting) such telefilms as "Baja Oklahoma.- "First Comes Love." "Wicked Designs," "Confessions of a Private Secretary." "Faceless Father" and "A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story.' along with the series "The Insiders" and "Home Again."

It was with the female-lead series. "The Trials of Rosie O'Neill,- ( 1990-1991) on which she served as co-creator, co-writer and executive-story supervisor, that Sullivan really hit her stride. After that, she had access to the power corridors. Then-CBS head Jeff Sagansky sought her out to write the bible, or creative template, for a Possible "Sarah, Plain and "Tall" series which she would co-executive produce (it's still on the shelf').

This led to her pitching Sagansky on "Dr. Quinn. Medicine Woman," which he greenlit, and which she created and has been executive producing since 1992.

Her attraction to true-life drama finally had an outlet. "It was broad enough that I was able to do some terrific exploring and thinking on my own," says Sullivan of the show's premise about a woman doctor who moves to the American frontier in 1867.

"I was always fascinated by what was happening with women, post-Civil War. Women had taken a back seat all through the Civil War. Tthey were told, 'Wait your turn. everything will be fine, and by the way you're going to get the vote, too. And you're fighting for enfranchisement including your own.' Then they were, to their minds, sold out at the last moment." says Sullivan. " I thought It was a really good era. And it turned out, the more research I did, I found it was a very interesting time period, in terms of the Indians and everything else that was going on in the country,"

Alone at the computer. Sullivan created Michaela and Sully and all the other denizens who live in the mining town of Colorado Springs, requiring a cast and crew of roughly 300 to take it through prep, production and post. All the while, nobody was sure how to deal with the good-looking blonde at the top.

"Is it hard to be a woman boss, in essence? '' Yeah, I think so. But very early on (you can) establish that you are strong and (are able to) do what it takes to protect the production. [to] protect everyone's job." says Sullivan, who retains final edit on every episode. "If you're consistent, very quickly they'II get the drift that you mean business."

For instance, when the pilot was running late on its shooting schedule. Sullivan recalls, 'People had to wait and see. 'Was I really going to pull the plug? Was I really going to come down and pull the plug so the director had to make his days, or was I going to let him fudge and put us in overtime. (and) put us in the hole?' No, I carne down and pulled the plug, which caused him to get crazy. I had to establish a policy, or else he would have gone over every day. When they see you come down and pull the plug, they know you've got what it takes because you're willing, to take his fury and stand up to it."

These days, such confrontations are rare on the easygoing set. Sullivan usually sports a baseball cap and a nurturing, communicative posture at the office, where dogs roam free and there's a homey' atmosphere - bagels by the coffee machine and ire-cream bars in the fridge. Now 46, Sullivan married actor Jim Knobeloch (who plays Jake the barber) a couple of years back and this year - like star Jane Seymour - she found herself pregnant with twins and working into her final month. (Little Jack and Tess were born on March 12).

Sullivan describes her management style as "(no nonsense" and has no intentions of slowing down with motherhood. She's already produced a spinoff drama from "Medicine Woman" entitled "California," in which bartender Hank heads farther West (it is currently waiting for an airdate); has a (detective series, "Willa" in development; and is writing a Hallmark Hall of Fame project. "1 hope to,in the very near future, do another series. That's my goal," she says.

(The Hollywood Reporter Salute to Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman May 17, 1996)