TODAY’S NEWS: TOMORROW’S TV MOVIE

First, an issue is headline news. Later, it goes into the history books.

Somewhere in between, it usually becomes a TV movie. Television producers and directors say that, since nobody wants to go to a movie theater to see a film with a downbeat ending, TV has become the biggest market for tough, from-the-headlines movies.

“Television is an incredible medium for doing ‘message’ films,” said John Erman, who directed “An Early Frost,” about a young gay man who contracts AIDS, and is director and producer of “When the Time Comes,” which stars Bonnie Bedelia as a 34-year-old woman with cancer who wants to commit suicide rather than die a painful, humiliating death.

“When the Time Comes,” executive-produced by Sherry Lansing and its writer, William Hanley, in association with Republic Pictures, grew out of Lansing’s own experiences with her mother, who died a lingering death of cancer. It airs tonight on ABC (9 p.m., Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42)--sandwiched between Sunday’s “Baby Girl Scott” on CBS, about a couple debating whether to let their premature and severely underdeveloped baby die, and Tuesday’s “Cracked Up” on ABC, about a suburban high school track star experimenting with “crack” cocaine.

Erman, whose directing credits include “Who Will Love My Children?,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “The Two Mrs. Grenvilles,” “Green Eyes” and “Right to Kill,” believes the networks are more open to controversial subject matter than ever before.

“I think that’s the great thing about TV now--the networks are willing to tackle these controversial subjects,” he said.

“Sometimes,” he added, “I wish they would tackle them with more guts--we have to sugar-coat the pill a little too much. But at least we’re getting them done.”

Sometimes they’re even getting them done twice. In the fall, NBC will present a made-for-TV movie on euthanasia: Based on a true story, it stars Raquel Welch as a paralyzed victim of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) who wants to end her own life in “Right to Die.”

“We all read the same newspapers; we all read the same magazines,” said Karen Danaher, producer of “Right to Die.” “It’s not surprising that we’re all concerned with the same issues.”

This is not the first time two networks have gone after the same subject. In September, 1982, ABC presented “Charles and Diana: A Royal Love Story”; three days later, CBS aired “The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana.” During the last season, both NBC and ABC offered versions of the story of a New York socialite who coerced her son into murdering his grandfather, based on two different books examining the same case: “Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder” (NBC) and “At Mother’s Request” (CBS).

In the fall, both ABC and CBS will focus on acquired immune deficiency syndrome in dramatic specials for teen-agers.

Danaher, who was formerly director of motion pictures for television at NBC, said that most movie ideas come from producers, rather than from the networks.

“If there is a big subject in the headlines, you can be sure the production companies around town will blanket us with pitches about that topic,” agreed Ted Harbert, ABC’s vice president of motion pictures.

Danaher believes there is little competition between networks to be first in doing a dramatic treatment of an issue. She said that she urged NBC to air “Right to Die” sooner, but the network was unconcerned about beating ABC to the air.

Harbert also denied that there is a trendy interest in topical material; he said that ABC decided to go with “When the Time Comes” because of its strength as a movie, not as news. “You don’t put on topics, you put on stories,” he said. “ ‘20/20’ and ’60 Minutes’ can do that better. I think networks racing to beat each other to the punch on an issue is a little distasteful.”

But “When the Time Comes” does go on the air before “Right to Die,” which Danaher says went into development first, and “I like it that way,” Harbert admitted. Said Erman: “I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the people doing the show with Raquel Welch right now, because it’s basically the same story.”

Both Harbert and Erman are, frankly, getting a little bit tired of topical TV movies. Erman wants to direct a comedy next time around, and Harbert thinks television of late has grown unnecessarily grim. “It isn’t my goal to send people to bed at 11 o’clock with a dark view of their lives,” Harbert said.

Yet Erman believes his past efforts have been well spent. “I think if you can make people think in any way, it’s great. That’s what’s exciting about doing these movies; when the movie is over, your brain keeps going.”

Just as newspapers never run out of headlines, Hollywood will never run out of material for issue films. Erman and Danaher think the story of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker will inspire movies about TV evangelism, and the Iran- contra affair could provoke screenwriters to examine national ethics.

And, if not, as Erman philosophically puts it: “Well, some new disaster will come along.”