'Criminal Minds' Producers, Mark Gordon Sell Twisted Murder Procedural to CBS

Courtesy of CBS

Erica Messer & Janine Sherman Barrois

CBS is doing more business with the producers of Criminal Minds.

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The network has made a script deal for their latest drama effort, Darkness Falls, a character procedural set to explore the complex dynamic of an FBI psychologist and a homicide specialist as they journey into small communities around the country to solve the darkest, most twisted single murders.

The hourlong effort from The Mark Gordon Co. is another co-production between ABC Studios and CBS Studios, with Criminal Minds' Erica Messer and Janine Sherman Barrois on board to write and executive produce. Joining the pair as EPs are Mark Gordon (Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy) and Nicolas Pepper. 

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If the project gets ordered to series, Barrois will serve as the Darkness' showrunner. Messer, who has run Criminal Minds for the past two seasons, will remain as showrunner of that long-running procedural.

The sale comes during another aggressive development season for The Mark Gordon Co., which has sold six additional projects in recent months: Sex Diaries, Dirty Girls, Pros & Cons, Gothica, Vain and an untitled family drama co-written by Bob Daily and Pierce Gardner.

Gordon is repped by ICM Partners; Messer, who counts The O.C., Charmed and Alias among her credits, is repped by UTA; Barrois, whose other credits include ER, Third Watch and The Jamie Foxx Show, is repped by WME and Felker Toczek.

Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com; Twitter: @LaceyVRose