Reiter Signs Two-Year Deal With CBS Studios

CSI: New York co-executive producer Zachary Reiter signed a deal with CBS Studios for two years. He will take over for exiting executive producer Peter Lenkov (who will now serve as EP on the new CBS series Hawaii Five-0), working under New York showrunner Pam Veasey. Reiter will also develop for the studio.

Reiter worked as a prosecutor in Queens, New York for four years before moving to Los Angeles, California to pursue his dreams of writing. “What I loved so much about being a DA was trying cases because there is a fair amount of writing and storytelling involved in that,” Reiter told Deadline Hollywood. He followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Lukas, who previously traded his job as a prosecutor to be a writer in Hollywood.

Reiter penned a Law & Order spec script, and Lukas helped him get his foot in the door. His first job was on the writing staff of the Fox series Skin, which didn’t last long. The cancelled series was produced by Bruckheimer TV, which was then in the process of creating the Big Apple-based spinoff of the CSI franchise. Reiter joined the New York writing team in the show’s first season, and he’s been there ever since.

Even though both of their sons abandoned legal careers to write for TV, Reiter’s parents are supportive. “They had good 3-4 years of being able to tell friends and family that their sons are lawyers,” Reiter said. “And now they’re equally as proud of us finding a successful path in Hollywood.”