'Dexter' EP Sells Female-Led Cop Drama 'The Defectives' to ABC (Exclusive)

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Manny Coto

Many Coto is adding the LAPD alongside Miami Metro on his writing roster.

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The Dexter writer/executive producer has sold cop drama The Defectives to ABC, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

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The Sony Pictures Television drama, which received a script commitment from the network, revolves around a female internal affairs investigator who is tasked with rebuilding the LAPD's special detective unit after she spearheads the probe into a corruption scandal that ultimately brings the department to its knees.

Denied financial and internal support, she recruits a team of overlooked detectives, flawed cops and ignored analysts -- all of whom possess unique skills. The talented oddballs must work together to overcome the forces working against them while solving crimes on a weekly basis.

Coto will write and executive produce The Defectives alongside Hot in Cleveland's Lynda Obst, who will serve as an EP via her Lynda Obst Productions banner.

The project comes as Showtime's Dexter inches closer to the potential end of its run with a renewal already in place for an eighth season.

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Coto, whose credits also include 24 and Star Trek: Enterprise, shared in the Kiefer Sutherland drama's 2006 Emmy drama series win and 2011 Dexter nomination. He's repped by WME and Bloom Hergott.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit