Shankar Nabs Executive Producer Slot

Naren Shankar has just signed a deal naming him executive producer on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and extending his tenure with the show through May of 2007.

Variety (via Yahoo! News) is reporting that Shankar's deal is in the seven-figure range. Shankar's science background makes him a perfect fit for the show; the writer has a PhD from Cornell University in applied physics.

Executive producer and CSI showrunner Carol Mendelsohn praised Shankar's contributions to the CSI writing team. "[He fits in with] all of us on the show, who are preoccupied with death and murder," she said. "And he brought his own warped sensibility with him to the show."

Shankar has been with CSI since its third season. He has written episodes such as "Random Acts of Violence" (with Danny Cannon) and "Precious Metal" (with Andrew Lipsitz).

Shankar's first job in Hollywood was as a WGA intern. He moved on to become a science consultant on Star Trek: The Next Generation and also has writing credits on episodes of the two subsequent Star Trek spinoffs, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Shankar also penned episodes of Farscape, The Outer Limits and UC: Undercover.

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