CBS All Access Adapting Serial Killer Podcast ‘Happy Face’ For TV; Robert & Michelle King-EPed Drama Opens Writers Room
Happy Face, the podcast about Dr. Oz contributor Melissa Moore, whose father was a notorious serial killer, is the latest audio series to be adapted for television. CBS All Access is developing the adaptation with Your Honor writer Jennifer Cacicio and The Good Fight creators Robert and Michelle King.
The podcast, produced by iHeart Media, tells the story of Moore, who at age 15 discovered that her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was a serial murderer, known as the Happy Face Killer because he drew smiley faces on his letters to the media and prosecutors.
As an adult, Moore has changed her name, guarded her secret and cut off all ties to her father who is currently serving life in prison. But when he contacts her to take credit for more victims, she is pulled into an extraordinary investigation into her father’s crimes, the impact they had on his victims’ families and ultimately into reckoning with her own identity.
Moore wrote a book, Shattered Silence, about her experiences and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She was a crime correspondent for The Dr. Oz Show and hosted Monster In My Family, a docuseries for LMN that focuses on the relatives of serial killers and their victims.
Cacicio, who also worked on Shooter, will lead the writers room and serve as an exec producer alongside the Kings, who worked with Cacicio on Showtime’s Your Honor. Moore, King Size Productions’ Liz Glotzer, iHeart Media’s Bob Pittman and Conal Byrne also exec produce
CBS Television Studios produces in association with King Size Productions and iHeart Media.
If the development goes to series, it will likely air on Paramount+ as per this week’s news that ViacomCBS was rebranding the streamer.
UTA represents iHeartMedia, Jennifer Cacicio (who is also EPing), Melissa Moore, Michelle & Robert King and their production banner, King Size Production, and brokered the deal on their behalf. Cacicio is also repped by HVE and Tara Kole at Gang Tyre.
More from Deadline
ViacomCBS Confirms Paramount+ As New Streaming Name For CBS All Access
New York Comic Con Sets Panels For 'Star Trek: Discovery', 'Lower Decks' And 'The Stand'
Best of Deadline
U.S. Coronavirus Update: Total Cases Hit 6 Million Milestone
Coronavirus: Movies That Have Halted Or Delayed Production Amid Outbreak
Hong Kong Filmart Postponed Due To Coronavirus Fears; Event Moves Two Weeks Before Toronto
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
