NBC Steps Up Plans for Stewart Movie

General Electric Co.’s NBC television network is speeding up plans to make a movie about the life of Martha Stewart, the homemaking celebrity whose stock trading is under investigation by Congress.

“We had not intended to do this for the upcoming season, but in light of recent events, [we] decided it might be an opportune time to put it into quick production,” said Jeff Zucker, NBC Entertainment’s president.

A House committee is looking into whether Stewart sold shares of ImClone Systems Inc. based on a tip from Samuel Waksal, the drug maker’s former chief executive and a friend of Stewart’s. Stewart, the CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., has denied wrongdoing. The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday asked for additional records of ImClone trades handled by Merrill Lynch brokers and their assistants at the company’s Roseland, N.J., office.