Deal Gives Boost to Shelley Duvall’s Projects : Children: Television shows, books, software and records are being considered with the help of English company.

Actress Shelley Duvall, whose quirky and clever “Faerie Tale Theatre” helped launch cable television and her own career as a producer of quality fare for children of all ages, has an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time.

A chance meeting at a party while Duvall was still in junior college led director Robert Altman to put her in the movies.

Now, she has found a partner who wants to help her expand into network TV--just when commercial broadcasters are under new pressure to improve their shows for kids or face tougher government regulation.

In a stock-purchase deal announced recently, Duvall sold half of her five-year-old Studio City-based Think Entertainment Inc. to Enchante Ltd., a small British entertainment concern with a similar focus on kids and families.

Enchante, which has produced only two movies and five books in its four-year history, hopes to capitalize on Duvall’s well-known name in children’s entertainment.

Duvall, who remains Think’s chairman and chief executive, gets much-needed cash for new projects, such as “Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle” for Showtime cable. Slated to premier next year, it is based on author Betty MacDonald’s books about a woman who lives in an upside-down house.

Think also plans to produce films, books, records and computer software aimed at the still-burgeoning market of baby-boomer parents and their kids.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Duvall said of the new partnership in an interview at Think’s modest offices over a sandwich shop in a Ventura Boulevard mini-mall. Here and there is a touch of whimsy: A Mother Goose lamp sits on her desk.

“Was it hard to sell half of Think to Enchante? No, not really because they are providing much more than just financing for the company. They’re coming in and providing management services--business acumen--that is better than my own.”

If Duvall goes into network TV, the challenge will be to maintain her reputation for good children’s television, said Kathryn Montgomery, co-director of the Center for Media Education in Washington, D.C. “Once advertisers get involved they have only one interest in mind, selling products to kids,” Montgomery said.

Children’s TV advertising is a $471-million-a-year business that is still growing at a double-digit annualized rate, according to industry trade publications, despite the recession. Duvall, 44, , favors polka-dot hair bows, ruffled anklets and platform shoes that make her seem taller than her 5’7”.

She realizes the effect. “I may look ditzy, but I’m not.”

Indeed, other entertainment industry executives say Duvall is a shrewd--not just lucky--survivor.

“Any time any production company can partner with another production company to stay alive and find other avenues to get product out it’s a good, strategic business decision,” said Dennis Johnson, a Showtime senior vice president, and longtime friend.

Duvall formed Think in 1988 with the aid of a $15 million investment by three of the biggest cable-TV companies: Telecommunications Inc., United Artists Entertainment and New House Broadcasting. Think grew over the next two years as it produced some of the first original programming for cable, beginning with “Faerie Tale Theatre.”

Popular with adults as well as children because of its knowing wit (and not a few double entendres), the series debuted on Showtime in 1982, starring Duvall and featuring many of her own friends--from Robin Williams to Jean Stapleton to Mick Jagger. It starts a new two-year run on the Disney Channel next year.

In 1990, Duvall bought out her cable partners when their ground-breaking deal expired. Think has had a hard time financially since then. On her own, Duvall faced a harsher climate for independent producers because of the recession, tight credit and mounting production costs that have forced many small entertainment firms out of business.

To keep the company afloat, Duvall had to shrink it to nine employees from 22 and make a deal giving MCA Inc. a first look at new projects.

“It was very hard,” Duvall said. “Network license fees were lower than ever before. It was difficult to just keep it alive and not disappear off the map.” But, she added with obvious satisfaction, “I did it. And that’s all I care about.” She declined to discuss the company’s revenues and profits.

Enchante, whose two co-founders are both divorced fathers in their late 30s, is virtually unknown in the United States. The company is moving its headquarters to Santa Rosa, from London. The money behind Enchante comes primarily from Aymam Sawaf, scion of a wealthy Syrian-Lebanese family involved in oil and banking. Sawaf formed Enchante with Christian Eddleman, a former stockbroker who once ran a hot-air balloon company near San Francisco.

Enchante launched its book series earlier this spring at the American Assn. of Booksellers convention. The books feature “Mrs. Murgatroyd,” who helps children get over emotional issues--feeling sad, jealous or angry, for example--with her magic paints.

Duvall also signed a separate book deal with Enchante, marking her first venture into publishing. The agreement calls for her to write and also perhaps illustrate children’s books. Think also plans to market anthologies bearing her name.