‘Genes’ Medical Soap Based On Michael Crichton Script Set At CBS As Put Pilot

Two decades after an unproduced emergency room-set screenplay by Michael Crichton became the biggest show on television, NBC’s ER, another unproduced medical drama screenplay by the bestselling author and Harvard-educated MD is headed to television. CBS has given a put pilot commitment to Genes, from ER producer Warner Bros. TV.

Written by Rick Eid based on a screenplay by the late Crichton, Genes, from WBTV and CrichtonSun LLC, is described as a high-

concept medical soap about a brilliant doctor who saves his dying patient’s life using a miraculous gene therapy — infused with his own DNA — only to realize the side effects have turned her into a dangerous sociopath. Making things more complicated, the doctor begins to fall madly in love with her. Eid will executive produce with Crichton’s widow Sherri Crichton, and Laurent Bouzereau.

In 1994, Crichton became the only artist in history to have works simultaneously chart at No. 1 in U.S. television, film and book sales with ER, Jurassic Park andDisclosure, respectively. His movie Westworld is being remade by HBO as a TV series. CrichtonSun, repped by ICM Partners and Michael S. Sherman of Reed Smith, recently closed a deal with DreamWorks for the film rights to the Michael Crichton novel, Micro.

For Eid, who served as executive producer/showrunner on the CBS/WBTV series Hostages, the project falls under his overall deal at Warner Bros. TV. He is repped by WME.

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