MUMBAI: CSI: NY‘s Peter Lenkov has inked a new two-year overall deal with CBS TV Studios, as series producer. Under the seven-figure pact, Lenkov will continue as an executive producer on the crime drama, which returns for a sixth season in the fall.
Lenkov joined CSI: NY after the first season in 2005 as a co-exec producer, but his association with the “CSI” franchise and CBS TV Studios president David Stapf dates back another five years.
In fall 2000, Lenkov was a writer-producer on a new UPN series, Level 9, which aired in the 9 p.m. Friday slot against another rookie drama, CBS‘ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He said he was so intrigued by the promos for “CSI” that he found himself watching the forensic drama instead of his own series.
On the morning after the CSI premiere, Lenkov went to his daughter‘s soccer game and approached Stapf, then CBS‘ head of current programming, who was coaching the team. “I told David Stapf, ‘You have the best show on television,‘ ” Lenkov recalled. “I was so impressed by ‘CSI‘ and wanted to be in involved in that franchise.”
Lenkov and Stapf crossed paths professionally in 2003 when Lenkov joined the CBS‘ The District as a co-executive producer. There he worked with Pam Veasey, who soon became the drama ‘s showrunner.
After a one-season stint on Fox‘s 24, Lenkov got a call in 2005 from Veasey, then newly minted exec producer-showrunner of CSI: NY, who invited him to join the series.
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