Chris Morgan Inks Overall Deal With Sony Pictures TV, Lines Up First Projects

Nellie Andreeva

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EXCLUSIVE: Hobbs & Shaw co-writer/producer Chris Morgan has closed a three-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television for his Chris Morgan Prods. to develop series aimed at broadcast, cable and streaming.

Under the pact, CMP is already pitching two series projects to premium/streaming networks: sci-fi drama Half-Life, written by Grant Wheeler & Ben Freiburger, creators of YouTube Red’s sci-fi thriller series Lifeline that was produced by Dwayne Johnson; and twisted dark comedy The Ripleys, penned by Duane Swierczynski, a writer of non-fiction, fiction and comic books.

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Additionally, the company has secured the rights to two novels for series development, Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs and Alison Gaylin’s If I Die Tonight – both in the suspense genre.

The Family Upstairs tells the story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets. If I Die Tonight is about family ties and dark secrets—and the lengths we’ll go to protect ourselves.

Morgan has been one of the key creative forces behind the blockbuster Fast & Furious franchise, which has grossed over $5.8 billion for Universal Pictures. In addition to co-writing and producing the latest installment, spinoff Hobbs & Shaw, he also worked on The Fate of The Furious as writer and producer, Furious 7 as writer and executive producer, Fast & Furious 6 as writer and executive producer, Fast 5 as writer, Fast & Furious (writer), and The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift (writer).

Morgan also was a producer on Netflix’s smash hit movie Bird Box, starring Sandra Bullock, and co-writer on Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. In TV, he was creator and executive producer of the Fox drama series Gang Related.

Morgan launched his company, CMP, in 2011 with a first-look deal with Universal Pictures. Ainsley Davies is Head of Development for the company, which previously had TV deals at Universal Television and 20th Century Fox TV.

Jewell is the bestselling author of over twenty novels, including The Girls In The Garden, The House We Grew Up In, and The Third Wife.

Gaylin is the Edgar award-winning author of 11 books. A former reporter for a supermarket tabloid, she has developed a lifelong fascination with writing about people doing despicable things.

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