Nellie Andreeva

Shane Brennan’s recently launched CBS TV Studios-based production company has sold its first 2 projects — an adaptation of the King & Maxwell series of novels by bestselling author David Baldacci, which Brennan will write, and a medical drama from writer Jordan Hawley. Both have been set up at CBS. Additionally, NCIS and NCIS: LA executive producer Brennan has tapped CBS TV Studios’ current executive Grant Anderson to run his Shane Brennan Prods. as president.

Tentatively titled King & Maxwell, the first project centers on 2 former Secret Service Agents-turned-private investigators who solve cases deemed too sensitive for normal law enforcement to handle. “David has created a fascinating world with those 2 characters who are involved in the shadowy side of the power and politics from inside the Beltway to Wall Street,” Brennan said. Because a broadcast series calls for 22-24 episodes a season, “we’ll take the characters further than David would do,” Brennan said, “but we will be very true to the mythology of the characters he created.” Baldacci himself had offered to help in bringing his heroes to the screen.

The second project, Cure, centers on a team of highly skilled doctors who travel the country taking on unusual medical cases in the hope of finding the cure for a reclusive billionaire’s terminally ill child. “I don’t think I have ever seen a series so clearly at such an early stage,” Brennan said of Hawley’s pitch.

Brennan approached Anderson to join his company after a four-year working relationship on NCIS and NCIS: LA. Anderson spent the last 6 years at CBS TV Studios, most recently as VP current programming. “I scored a coup landing Grant who has production experience; it’s rare to find a TV executive who has worked in the trenches.” Before joining CBS Studios, Anderson was a producer on several John Wells series, including Third Watch. Brennan and Anderson hit the ground running as they were still arranging the furniture in their offices during their first week as a company when they heard that Baldacci’s King & Maxwell books (Split Second, Hour Game Simple Genius, First Family) were available. “It was baptism by fire,” Brennan said. They immediately contacted Baldacci and his longtime producing partner Karen Spiegel and later spoke with Baldacci, securing the rights to the book series in a competitive situation. Brennan and Baldacci are with Paradigm; Hawley with ICM.

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