It is produced by Reel World Management in association with CTV with Fremantle as global distributor.
Its fromRoma Rothand Christopher E. Perry, the team behind NetflixsVirgin River.
He added the show wasnt any less expensive than licensing a new series from a third-party studio.
‘Sullivan’s Crossing’, Roma RothCW/Courtesy/Ladder and Lake
I dont differentiate homegrown from acquired.
Weve picked shows we think have a chance to do well.
Watch on Deadline
The shows launch Oct. 4 averaged 494,000 total viewers in L+SD.
DEADLINE:How you felt when you first heard that CW was picking up the show?
ROMA ROTH:Fremantle, our wonderful partner who was handling the sales, let us know about that.
Its a dream come true.
And Im just very excited that its happening.
They are wonderful partners who actually believed so heavily in me and in what I had created.
They had actually put up an advance against the foreign marketplace, and in the U.S.
I mean, I felt very confident.
Im not exactly sure about the number, but I think it was close to 27 or 37 million.
Once we developedVirgin River,we saw the numbers there and how it resonated with the streaming audience.
I knew thatSullivans Crossingwould resonate with the same people.
DEADLINE:Robyns books have been around for a while.
Why do you think it took so long to develop them into TV shows?
ROTH:Way back beforeVirgin River, I was doing a lot of Lifetime a television movies.
Thats where I cut my teeth.
I kind of felt that people were lost, emotionally lost.
They were desensitized to what was going on in the world, emotionally distant.
Is that a fair description ofSullivans Crossing?
ROTH:I dont think our show is cheap, obviously.
I dont think its Canadian programming.
I dont think it matters anymore where a show is produced.
I think what matters is what is the show and how does that show connect with an audience?
But otherwise all the boxes that you would tick to make it a hit show are still there.
The show itself is not a cheap show to make.
Its still a show, but it just has money thats coming in from different funding areas.
DEADLINE:A show likeSullivans Crossingisnt necessarily reinventing the wheel.
Shows like it orVirgin Riverare not what any TV critic today would call a cool show.
ROTH:I disagree actually.
So what makes a television series seem like its a lesser show if its about romance?
Just because we dont have serial killers?
Some executive, I dont know who it was, decided that nobody wanted to watch romance.
And yet love is what everybody wants in their lives.
Every person wants to be loved, wants to love somebody.
Even a serial killer show has somebody loving somebody in it.
The romance genre has the same dedicated and loyal audience as the Marvel universe.
DEADLINE: Can you talk about casting Chad Michael Murray?
Chad Michael Murray is one of the nicest human beings you will ever meet.
He shows up every day at work with a smile on his face and is supportive of everybody.
And so I did a lot of research.
Chad has a history in television of being a quote, heart throb, right?
He also came from a generation that I was looking again to reignite.
I spoke to my then 13-year-old daughter about who resonates with her as well as me.
He crossed a generation between the shows that I used to watch as well as my daughter.
That obviously can equate to eyeballs for the show.
DEADLINE:And Scott Patterson?
I contacted his manager Leigh Brillstein and the rest is history.
