Drama scribe Ed Zuckerman ("JAG," "Law & Order") has sealed a multiyear, low-seven-figure development deal at Studios USA.
The pact is among the first by Studios USA Programming prexy Sarah Timberman, the longtime Columbia TriStar TV exec who officially moved into her new job last week.
Under Timberman, Studios USA is ramping up deals in a bid to increase the production company's presence.
Zuckerman will create dramas under the arrangement, as well as co-exec produce the fall frosh drama "The Agency," which Studios USA co-produces with CBS Prods.
Prodigal's return
It's a homecoming of sorts for Zuckerman, who once had an overall deal at Universal Television, the precursor to Studios USA.
Zuckerman won an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award in 1997 for his role as a co-executive producer on Studios USA's "Law & Order."
"We've all admired Ed's talent for years, back to his outstanding work on 'Law & Order,' where he contributed enormously to the show's success," Timberman said. "We expect him to play a similarly integral role in the studio's success in the coming years, in terms of both his work on 'The Agency' and his own development."
Zuckerman, who's repped by CAA, most recently spent two seasons as co-executive producer on "JAG." Before that, he spent four years on "Law & Order," starting out as story editor.
Zuckerman also served as executive producer on the actioner "Players," which Universal TV co-produced with NBC Studios. Other credits include stints as story editor on "Reasonable Doubts" and "H.E.L.P." Zuckerman, who started out writing a script for "Miami Vice," also wrote HBO's World Trade Center bombing docudrama "Path to Paradise."
Outside of TV, Zuckerman wrote the nonfiction books "The Day After World War III" and "Small Fortunes: Two Guys in Pursuit of the American Dream." He's also written for publications including Rolling Stone, the New Yorker, Esquire and the New York Times Magazine. |
