Zuiker Nabs Three-Year Production Deal

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Miami creator Anthony Zuiker today scored a three-year, multi-million dollar contract to continue at the helm of the forensic television series.

The pact with CSI co-producers CBS Productions and Alliance Atlantis includes the 2002-2003 television season and is estimated to be worth in the high-seven or low-eight figure range, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Zuiker's new deal also gives him the ability to develop new projects for the CBS network, which could include a third incarnation of CSI. "If there wasn't a Law & Order out there with three shows, I might question [the viability of] it, but if someone knocks on my door to ask for a third one, I have the answers in my head," Zuiker told the trade paper. "I have the characters in my head; I have the tone; I have the story line."

But there's more than crime solving on the mind of the Emmy-nominated writer-producer. Zuiker is currently mulling over a new series "in the reality arena", which he plans to pitch to the network. He will be following in the footsteps of his fellow CSI executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who is one of the minds behind CBS's The Amazing Race, now in its fourth season.

CBS head honcho Les Moonves said he was pleased to have landed the long-term deal with Zuiker. "His first time at the plate, he created the most successful show on TV. That's remarkable," he said.

The CSI mastermind won't be able to rest over his hiatus though, having signed up to pen a rewrite of the newly-resurrected feature film, The Harlem Globetrotters' Story, for Columbia. Zuiker wrote the original script soon after completing 1999's The Runner, but the project was shelved, and he went on to create CSI.

To read the original Hollywood Reporter article, head over to Yahoo! News.

Discuss this news item at Talk CSI!
 Add CSI Files RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a Desperate Housewives fan? Then visit GetDesperate.com!