Josh Berman Inks New Five-Year Overall Deal With Sony Pictures Television

Nellie Andreeva
·2 min read

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EXCLUSIVE: Josh Berman is extending his long tenure at Sony Pictures Television with a fifth consecutive overall deal. The new five-year pact will keep Berman and his Osprey Productions at Sony until 2025.

Under the new deal, Berman is bringing in former Warner Bros. TV executive Jennifer Robinson to co-run Osprey with him. Robinson served as VP Drama Development at WBTV where she worked on developing such series as Manifest (NBC), Prodigal Son (Fox), Riverdale (The CW), The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix) and the Veronica Mars reboot at Hulu. Additionally, junior Osprey executive Alec Durkheimer has been promoted to Director of Development and Production.

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During the past 12 years at Sony, Berman created the hit dramedy, Drop Dead Diva, which aired on Lifetime for six seasons and remains one of Sony’s top-streamed TV titles to date. He also co-created The Mob Doctor for Fox, Notorious for ABC, and Murder House Flip for Quibi, which was just renewed for a second season.

Osprey has several projects in development with Sony, including The Inheritance Games, based at Jennifer Lynne Barnes’ upcoming YA novel set at Amazon, The Gordita Chronicles, a coming-of-age kids and family comedy with Claudia Forestieri and Zoe Saldana at HBO Max, a modern adaptation of Turn of the Screw and skateboard drama Hard Flip at Quibi, among others.

Berman also recently signed a first-look deal with Turner Publishing’s Keylight Books to develop novels for television.

After starting his career as a junior writer on the first season of CBS’ CSI, Berman remained on the long-running procedural for six years, rising to executive producer. He went on to create the Fox drama Vanished and spent four years running the writers room on the network’s veteran procedural Bones before moving to Sony.

Berman was repped in the deal by attorney Ken Richman.

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