CTV has acquired rights for Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning, a prequel from Toronto-based Sullivan Entertainment, and plans to make it a three-hour movie and television event in 2008.

The prodco found its newest Anne Shirley in an open casting call on YouTube (coupled with a cross-Canada audition tour) that ended up attracting almost 1,000 hopefuls. Toronto’s Hannah Endicott-Douglas (The Good Witch, Samantha: An American Girl) was chosen to star alongside Rachel Blanchard (7th Heaven, Clueless) and Academy Award nominee Barbara Hershey (The Portrait of a Lady, Hannah and Her Sisters), who plays Anne as a woman in her fifties reflecting on her past. Endicott-Douglas was introduced on eTalk last night.

The net also picked up about 128 hours of content from Sullivan, including the original three Anne of Green Gables mini-series; the Emmy Award-winning series Road to Avonlea and The Magic Flute Diaries.

Production is underway on the new Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning. Updates will be posted at www.sullivanmovies.com.