Former CBS Entertainment head Glenn Geller has set up another drama project at CBS, Variety has learned.
The potential drama series is currently titled “Innocent” and is based on a soon-to-be-published book by James Patterson. It follows three siblings – an NYPD Detective, an ER resident, and an Assistant District Attorney – try to navigate a new family dynamic when their estranged father is released from prison after serving 18 years for a murder he didn’t commit.
Siobhan Byrne O’Connor, an executive producer and writer on the CBS series “Blue Bloods,” will write and executive produce “Innocent.” Geller will executive produce along with Patterson, Bill Robinson, and Leopoldo Gout. CBS Television Studios will produce. Robinson and Gout are the co-presidents of James Patterson Entertainment, with both serving as executive producers on the CBS’ summer drama “Zoo,” which is also based on a Patterson book. They will also executive produce the upcoming Patterson CBS drama “Instinct.”
Byrne O’Connor is repped by CAA and attorney Darren Tratner. James Patterson Entertainment is repped by CAA.
This is the second drama project Geller has set up at CBS in recent weeks. Previously, he and “Madam Secretary” creator Barbara Hall sold a CIA drama called “Family Business,” which would follow a multi-generational CIA spy family, told through the eyes of its youngest generation.
Geller signed a production deal with CBS after officially stepping down as the president of CBS Entertainment in May. In March, he sent a memo to staff saying that he would take a leave of absence and would return to work at the end of May after suffering a heart attack, but he ultimately decided not to return. Longtime CBS scheduling chief Kelly Kahl stepped into the role of president, with The CW’s Thom Sherman being named senior executive vice president of programming. Geller had been head of current programming before succeeding Nina Tassler as CBS’ president of entertainment in the fall of 2015.
