Paulist Productions Taps Veteran Exec Mike Sullivan As President

EXCLUSIVE: Paulist Productions, the Catholic production company whose TV movie Every Other Holiday, a co-production with MarVista Entertainment, airs Friday on Lifetime, has named Mike Sullivan its new president. He replaces Chris Donahue, who had been in the role since 2015 and exited earlier this year.

Sullivan, the former Growing Pains executive producer who later became president of entertainment at UPN, has served on the Paulist advisory board for the past 25 years. In his new role, he will continue Paulist’s expansion of its acquisition, development and production slates, developing and producing features, TV series and specials, and digital content that speak to the company’s mission to create content with “Gospel density” in contemporary settings. He also will look for co-financing opportunities by partnering with content creators and influencers in the digital space, as well as traditional gap and P&A financing for TV and film.

“It is an honor to work with Paulist Productions and lead their mission to provide the highest-quality faith- and family-based entertainment in the industry,” said Sullivan, who started his career at Warner Bros Television.

Paulist, which also just appointed Father Tom Gibbons as Director of Development and Production, recently saw its documentary The Dating Project bow on Amazon Prime and YouTube Premium. It also just completed a 4K digital restoration of their 1989 feature film Romero, starring Raul Julia, which screened at the Vatican as part of the canonization of Bishop Oscar Romero.

Paulist was founded in 1968 by Father Ellwood Keiser, who later founded the Humanitas Prize for screenwriting.