Retta To Star In ‘Murder By The Book’ Drama From Jenna Bans & Bill Krebs Set At NBC As Put Pilot In ‘Good Girls’ Reunion

Nellie Andreeva
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Good Girls star Retta and the series’ creator/executive producer/co-showrunner Jenna Bans and executive producer/co-showrunner Bill Krebs are re-teaming for Murder By the Book, a new NBC hourlong crime drama, which has received a put pilot commitment by NBC. The project comes from Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, where Bans and Krebs are under overall deals, and also stems from Retta’s talent holding deal with NBCUniversal TV & Streaming.

Written and executive produced by frequent collaborators Bans and Krebs, and executive produced by Retta, Murder By the Book follows a big-city Instafamous book reviewer (Retta) who takes a page out of the murder mystery books she reviews and becomes an unlikely detective to uncover the shocking truths about an eccentric seaside town.

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Casey Kyber, Head of Television for Bans’ Minnesota Logging Company, will also executive produce.

“We learned on Good Girls that Retta can be as heartbreaking as she is funny, so we wanted to create a starring vehicle that would highlight her amazing range,” Bans and Krebs said. “It also doesn’t suck that she’s super smart and fun to hang out with.”

Retta starred as Ruby on NBC/UTV’s popular and critical praised series Good Girls and also appeared in the 2019 hit comedy Good Boys, which opened No. 1 at the box office. She is also known for her role as Donna Meagle on NBC/UTV’s Parks and Recreation, and for playing Barbara on the Bravo hit series Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce. She’s currently the host of HGTV’s Ugliest House in America.

In addition to her film and TV credits, Retta is also the author of a book of essays, So Close to Being the Sh*t Y’all Don’t Even Know, and is the title voice on the Audible Original audiobook Tinaca Jones. She is repped by UTA and Silver Lining Entertainment.

Krebs joined Bans’ Good Girls after the pilot as a co-executive producer. He was upped to executive producer in Season 2 and subsequently named co-showrunner alongside Bans. Additionally, Krebs worked as supervising producer on Bans’ previous series, ABC’s The Family. The two had previously teamed to develop projects for NBC and Peacock.

Before creating/executive producing The Family, Bans served as co-executive producer on ABC’s Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy and also worked on Desperate Housewives and Private Practice. She is repped by UTA and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine.

Krebs’ series credits also include Red Band Society and Franklin & Bash. He is repped by UTA and Management 360

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