Family sues over Colo. woman’s death in TV project

The survivors of a woman killed during the production of a reality TV show pilot have filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit against Discovery Communications Inc. and Anthropic Productions Corp.

Terry Flanell’s husband and daughter filed the lawsuit last week in federal court in Denver.

It says the companies were producing a pilot focusing on the family’s Colorado Springs business, Dragon Arms Inc. The suit says the opening sequence was to have employees walk through a cloud of smoke, but pyrotechnic devices that were used to create the smoke malfunctioned, and one struck Flanell.

The lawsuit alleges no licensed pyrotechnics operator was on scene last year for filming of the “Brothers In Arms” pilot.

A phone number for Anthropic wasn’t listed. A Discovery spokeswoman did not return a phone.