TV & VIDEO - June 25, 1987

Regardless of the wishes of the principals in the case, ABC has a television “docudrama” on the custody battle over Baby M in the works, a network spokesman said. Vic Ghidalia said that a script, drawn in part from the transcript of the custody trial, had neither been completed nor cast. The film could be ready by early next year, he said. An attorney for surrogate mother Mary Beth Whitehead said that his client had nothing to do with the ABC-TV movie. Neither do the baby girl’s parents, William and Elizabeth Stern, according to their attorney, Gary N. Skoloff. “We’re all disappointed that is happening,” he said. “Our hope is that after the Supreme Court’s decision, some of the interest in her will fade.”