Drew Levin, The alternative TV Meister

Drew Levin (D. Levin or Levin, Drew)

GOOD MORNING: While the Supreme Court readies to decide the fate of the Ten Commandments -- at least the constitutionality of displays of same on government land -- I reached out to the birthplace of the Ten Commandments. I caught up (via cell phone) with Bruce Feiler, author of "Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses" on location in the extreme eastern end of Turkey. The author of the bestseller, said he'd had goat for lunch and "Now, I am looking out my window at the base of Mount Ararat. We spent the last two days with a mysterious figure who claims to have found a piece of Noah's ark in a cave." Feiler and the world's leading biblical archaeologist, Avner Goren have started filming (high definition) a three-hour primetime minimini for PBS skedded to air fall 2005 and produced by TMC Entertainment. Drew S. Levin, chairman-CEO of TMC is partnered with Feiler in this and all future books by Feiler on the Bible. The next is "Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths." Levin just returned from a meeting with the World's Council of Churches to ask them "to reach out to the millions of churches" on the world with these programs. Feiler said they will soon be climbing Mt. Sinai -- between Egypt and Israel -- where it is claimed Moses received the Ten Commandments. He promised me he'd come down from the mount "with a stone." The company will film in seven countries, three continents -- and four war zones -- tracing the stories of the Old Testament -- "to take the story of the Bible out of the classrooms, pews and courts and replant it in the ground," Feiler assured me. One of the sites to be filmed, Abraham's birthplace, Ur, is northeast of Basra in Iraq where the film company's equipment will arrive by truck from Kuwait City. The principals will be flown in "to an undisclosed air base to film one full day. It will look like "Indiana Jones" meets the Bible, promises Levin. David Wallace is directing a script by Alex Gregory. Rebecca Dobbs of Maya Vision is producing. KQED will be presenting the miniseries for PBS. A DVD will follow as well as merchandising. In between locations of his next book, Feiler and his wife Linda (Rottenberg) will be welcoming twins in spring, he happily told me... Levin's TMC is also readying other projects, like the U.S. version of Australia's "Yowies" children's hit series, which he's bought for the U.S. and the rest of the world with Jim Coane execexec producing and Cliff Ruby and Alana Lesser scripting. He's also prepping a makeover show -- making over "The Family Store" and a reality show about a sports agent -- move over ,"Jerry Maguire."