Ex-Alliance Atlantis boss invests in Norton firm

Former Alliance Atlantis entertainment CEO Peter Sussman (left) has joined the board of London-based Awesome Media & Entertainment after investing in the business and becoming an equity partner.

Awesome, which Canadian born screenwriter Jeff Norton (below, right) founded, is moving into primetime drama to go with its existing kids and family projects.

These include Woodland, which is about the search for the missing grandson of a J.R.R. Tolkien-like literary icon; Cortex, a high-tech police procedural about human memory hacking; and Blue Birds, which is based on the upcoming novel by Sidonie A. Kingsmill.

Sussman was a co-controlling voting shareholder at Alliance Atlantis and CEO of its entertainment business before it was sold to Goldman Sachs and Canwest in 2007. He is credited for putting together its TV business and overseeing the CSI franchise, which is now controlled by CBS Corp. and Content Partners.

He then became the founder and executive chairman of Aver Media and made various investments in entertainment companies. The Bank of Montreal bought Aver in 2013.

He will work with Norton, who has written and produced various TV shows and worked at now-defunct kids TV firm Chorion as senior VP.