EXCLUSIVE: Pete Earley and Gerald Shur’s nonfiction book WitSec: Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program is being developed for TV at HBO, from Peter Chernin’s Chernin Entertainment. Justin Piasecki (Relay) and David Kob (Foundation) will serve as writers on the project.
TheWitsec series follows a DOJ lawyer and a hardened mob hitman, both fed up with the corrupt institutions around them, who form a precarious alliance to convict criminal titans and save lives in the rogue origins of the Witness Protection Program.
Witsec will be executive produced by Alex Jackson of Chernin Entertainment, Earley and Miriam Shur.
Piasecki is currently writing his as-yet-untitled original thriller feature for Amazon MGM Studios. He also has his feature Stakehorse at Amazon, which has Justin Lin attached to direct and Hidden Pictures attached to produce. His feature Relay was released this fall by Bleecker Street and is directed by David Mackenzie and stars Lily James, Riz Ahmed and Sam Worthington. Piasecki is repped by Paradigm, Range and Hansen Jacobson Teller Hoberman.
Kob recently was elevated from executive producer to co-showrunner on Foundation for Apple TV+ and Skydance, after being with the show since Season 1. The sci-fi series recently was renewed for a fourth season. He is repped by Paradigm and Signature Management.
Founded three years ago, Chernin Entertainment is a global content studio whose projects span scripted, unscripted and documentary content. Its labels include Chernin Entertainment (film, TV and indie), North Road Television, Words + Pictures and Kinetic Content, among others.
Recent projects include the action-comedy Back in Action and Fear Street: Prom Queen, both of which debuted at No. 1 on Netflix’s most-watched list. Its upcoming film slate includes Apex and sci-fi 11817 — both for Netflix — as well as Altar with Kyle MacLachlan and January Jones. On the TV front, they released the Jason Momoa-led Chief of War and Starz’s P-Valley, with The Backrooms (fka Man on Fire) with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve coming soon to Netflix. Earlier this year, Chernin Entertainment signed a multi-year first-look film deal with Apple TV+.