Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: TNT has given a pilot order to Scent of the Missing, a drama project co-written and executive produced by CSI: Crime Scene Investigation executive producer/showrunner Carol Mendelsohn and executive produced by Barry Josephson. Based on the book by Susannah Charleson, the project, produced by CBS TV Studios, centers on an adrenaline junkie leader of a canine search-and-rescue team assists various law enforcement agencies with her best friend and partner, a golden retriever. Mendelsohn co-wrote the script with CSI writers/co-executive producers Melissa Byer and Treena Hancock. The three are executive producing with Josephson, who had optioned the book and taken it to Mendelsohn, and Mendelsohn’s development executive Julie Weitz. Diane Nabatoff and Shelly Glasser will serve as co-executive producers. The project was originally announced in May as part of TNT’s development slate. Scent of the Missing joins Western Gateway, which was given a cast-contingent pilot order by TNT last month.

WME-repped Mendelsohn, who continues to steer veteran CBS crime drama CSI as it enters its 12th year, is having a busy development season at her CBS Studios-based company, which brought in Weitz as president a year ago. She is executive producing two drama projects set up at CBS, with a couple of pitches still in play. The CBS projects are Two Badges, a female-centered procedural written by Ted Humphrey based on Mona Ruiz’s memoir about a female former gang member who becomes a police detective; and an untitled project penned by David Hubbard about a decorated detective who has lost three partners in the line of duty and serves as the male figure in the lives of his fallen partners’ families. This marks the second pilot order for CBS Studios’ cable division to come after the recent departure of former head Bela Bajaria, who left to run Universal Media Studios, along with Showtime’s pickup of comedy Gurland on Gurland.

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