LAWSUIT FAILS TO SLOW CBS MINISERIES

Henry Winkler’s federal-court lawsuit to stop CBS from airing a competing project about a steamy Kansas love-murder scandal has not slowed its production “at all,” according to one of its producers.

Zev Braun, who is producing the four-hour miniseries in association with Interscope Communications, said that “Broken Commandments” (formerly “Kansas Gothic”) will complete filming in Emporia, Kan., by Christmas. CBS, which would not comment on the lawsuit, has not set an air date.

Winkler/Rich Productions and the Rev. Tom Bird jointly filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles last week.

The CBS miniseries is based on investigations of the 1983 murders of Bird’s wife, Sandra, and Martin Anderson, husband of Lorna Anderson Eldridge, who was Bird’s church secretary and purported mistress. Bird has been convicted of first-degree murder in his wife’s death and of soliciting the murder of Anderson; Eldridge, who remarried, pleaded guilty to solicitation in her first husband’s death. No one has been charged with his murder, but Eldridge implicated herself and Bird in a jail-house confession published in The Times last March.

Winkler, who owns the dramatic rights to their life stories, has a deal with ABC to produce a two-hour movie based on the case. (Dick Clark, who is not involved in the suit, has been developing a similar two-hour film for NBC.)

“I find it ironic,” Braun said, “that we’re being sued by a convicted murderer and the guy who wants to film his life story.”

Andrew Sugerman, producer of Winkler’s ABC project explained Bird’s portion of the lawsuit seeks to protect his right to privacy.

“Our interest in the lawsuit is to stop CBS from infringing on the literary rights that we own, and is not at all involved with the criminal or privacy aspect,” Sugerman said.

“We believe our rights are being violated and we decided to stand up for them,” Winkler added. “Otherwise, why would anyone bother to acquire (such) rights? Anyone could just tell another person’s story willy-nilly (without compensation).”

The lawsuit charges that the script for Braun and Interscope by writer-director Mike Robe inaccurately portrays Bird’s involvement in the two murders, including portraying incidents that never occurred.

“Everything in the script is based on public record or what happened in legal proceedings,” Braun said. Answering a charge by Bird’s Topeka attorney, Robert Hecht, that the script showed Bird murdering his wife on a country bridge, Braun said, “At no time in the scene do we see the actual culprit. In good taste, we don’t even see the actual violence.” He said the scene is shot in “dreamy” fashion, with the character of State Trooper John Rule, who investigated the death scene in real life, “speculating” in voice-over to a reporter about Tom Bird’s possible involvement.

Braun and Interscope own the dramatic rights to portray Rule, who is portrayed in the miniseries by Keith Carradine. JoBeth Williams is cast as Eldridge, and Terry Kinney has the role of Bird.

The lawsuit also claims that the script fabricates a love affair between Bird and Eldridge. “It was concluded by the court that they were lovers,” Braun said. Love letters are part of the public record, he added.

The CBS project got the jump on its competition when it began shooting Nov. 6.

“We are taking our time developing the best script we can,” Winkler said. “We’re taking a risk that another network will air theirs first, but that’s a gamble we’re willing to take to develop a quality project.”

However, a source close to the Winkler project said an appeal by Bird and a continuing investigation into Martin Anderson’s death may have placed the project in limbo.