Godspeed, Chuck Sellier

We lost a great man this past week, the veteran filmmaker, author and television producer, Charles 'Chuck' Sellier. Chuck's production company, Grizzly Adams Productions, has been a prolific and loyal production partner for Janson Media, delivering hundreds of terrific family-friendly programs to us in a relationship spanning the last decade. Chuck was truly a giant in the industry. We at Janson Media are proud to distribute his films and television programs, and we are proud to have called him a friend.

Following is the official announcement of his passing from Grizzly Adams Productions.

Charles E. Sellier--Family Movie-TV Filmmaker &'¨Passes Away At His Idaho Home

Coeur d' Alene, ID -- Longtime filmmaker and television producer, Charles E. Sellier, Jr. passed away unexpectedly on January 31st at his North Idaho home, according to longtime business associate David Balsiger. Sellier was 67. At the time of his death, Sellier was the President/CEO of Grizzly Adams® Productions. The company produces and markets family-oriented and faith-based feature films, television series, and documentaries worldwide. Best known for creating the iconic long running NBC television series, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams in the late 1970s, Sellier personally wrote and produced more than 30 feature films and 230 television shows during his show business career spanning four decades. Eleven of his theatrical films are among the top 100 all-time independent grossing films, (non-studio releases), with six of those releases ranked in the top 25. For over 25 years, Martin Leuenberger of Baker City, Oregon, has maintained a close friendship with Sellier and served as corporate counsel for Grizzly Adams® Productions, Inc. He stated that 'I have never had the pleasure or privilege of any other legal relationship where hard work and ethical and moral objectives were the guiding principles. These were the result of Chuck's uncompromising belief in and loyalty to God, family and country. In today's world, that sounds like a cliché, but Chuck lived it and it illuminated his voluminous legacy. He can't be replaced with anything remotely alike.' Sellier recently entered into a multi-million dollar agreement with PassmoreLab in San Diego, to convert 500 back library shows to 3D for 3D TV broadcasting and Blu-ray 3D DVD distribution. The first two 3D shows- Friends for Life, a family feature film with wolves, and Fabric of Time, an Easter documentary taking a scientific look at Christ's resurrection, are scheduled to be released as Blu-ray 3Ds in stores this Easter. 'Chuck was a truly gifted individual,' notes Balsiger, vice president of marketing, and senior producer with the company. 'Both an artist and a computer geek, he could write an original screenplay, produce the movie, and then market the show generating amazing audience enthusiasm. Chuck was an industry pioneer in pre-testing film projects using sophisticated research techniques--opinion polling, generational science and neuromarketing.' In the early 1980s, according to the Washington Post, 'Sellier put together one of the longest strings of multi-million dollar money-making movies in the business.' At that time Associated Press said, 'He used the most sophisticated computer technology ever applied to show business.' Actor Orson Welles said, Sellier was 'light years ahead of the rest of the industry.' Paul Klein, a former head of programming at NBC called Sellier, 'A brilliant and amazing innovator.' 'His approach to the business of filmmaking will undoubtedly be studied by generations of filmmakers at film schools around the world,' says Darryl Howard, long-time friend, director of research and 3D sales for Grizzly Adams. According to Howard, Sellier was developing a new feature film installment of the Grizzly Adams franchise during the months leading up to his death. 'Chuck believed that there were valuable lessons in the Grizzly Adams character, especially in today's troubled times,' explains Howard. 'Like Grizzly Adams, Chuck was a good man, one of honor and principle. He worked arduously, never straying from his core values. He made films for families, without sex or violence. He was a gentle man who celebrated the human spirit, respected everyone and everything that shared this globe--including deer and wild turkeys that he cared for in the Idaho back country.' Along with his impressive record in the television and motion picture industry, Sellier was also a bestselling co-author of several books, including million-copy best-sellers The Lincoln Conspiracy, In Search of Noah's Ark, and The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, among others. Sellier was a thirty year member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, a member of the Writer's Guild of America, a member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), and a member of the National Religious Broadcasters Association. In 1980, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on the children's program, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The family requests that Sellier's life be remembered through donations to his passion, the ABC Foodbank. Contributions can be mailed in care of Grizzly Adams Productions P.O. Box 298, Baker City, OR 97814. Further information is available through the Grizzly Adams website.