CBS Lands Bruckheimer's 'Eleventh Hour'

Huge $25M-$30M deal for British scientific thriller beats out ABC
By Max Brallier,  Newser User
Posted Sep 19, 2007 10:24 AM CDT
CBS Lands Bruckheimer's 'Eleventh Hour'
Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, accompanied by his wife, Linda, waves upon arriving at Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, Tuesday, May 22, 2007. Bruckheimer was in Japan to attend the Asia Premiere of his latest film "Pirates of the Caribbean   (Associated Press)

CBS beat out all comers, mainly ABC, for the rights to a Jerry Bruckheimer/Warner Brothers adaptation of the British series Eleventh Hour, a scientific thriller a la X-Files. The deal, pronounced the biggest of this development season, puts CBS on the hook for $25 million to $30 million, Variety reports.

Bruckheimer's success with CBS (CSI, Cold Case, Without a Trace) probably helped the network's bid, but it also agreed to a pay-or-play license fee worth $1.75 million per episode. But insiders say all bets are off if CBS doesn't like the pilot—it can bury the show on the schedule, leaving Warner Brothers holding the bag for production costs. (More CBS stories.)

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