CBS Developing ‘Fighting Words’ Crime Drama From Jeffrey Kramer’s Juniper Place Prods.

David Robb

Click here to read the full article.

EXCLUSIVE: Fighting Words, a forensic linguistic procedural crime drama, has been put into development at CBS.

The project, from writer Samantha Corbin-Miller (Absentia, Law & Order: SVU, Conviction), Jeffrey Kramer’s Juniper Place Productions and CBS TV Studios, follows a brilliant but socially awkward female forensic linguistics professor who teams with a charming, roguish male Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent and uses her unique, cutting-edge forensic skills as a human linguistic polygraph to consult on major cases where language and words play a vital component, from social media to the interrogation room.

More from Deadline

Corbin-Miller and Kramer, who has an overall deal at CBS TV Studios, executive produce, with Jenna Nicholson serving as producer.

“I was immediately fascinated by this emerging science and how it’s revolutionizing crime solving,” Kramer said. “Forensic linguistics has been used to catch thousands of the nation’s most wanted, including the Unabomber. The idea that people’s words betray them and leads to the evidence is a dynamic new way to watch a procedural.”

The project has enlisted two of the world’s leading experts as consultants: Mark McClish, who has worked on thousands of cases all over the country as a U.S. Marshal and as a member of the Secret Service; and Dr. Robert Leonard, a professor of linguistics at Hofstra University, who has consulted on a wide range of cases that involved the FBI and law enforcement agencies in the UK and Canada.

Kramer, a Fox TV executive before becoming an independent producer based at CBS TV Studios, began his career as an actor, working on stage, in TV series on such shows as Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, and in the Jaws franchise playing Deputy Lenny Hendricks.

Last season, Juniper Place and Corbin-Miller collaborated on another drama that was in development at CBS, H-Town, based on the Canadian cop drama series 19-2. This season, Juniper Place also has American Fighter, a drama set in the world of MMA fighting from writer Tory Walker, in development at the CW; and an unscripted pilot presentation, The Yes Girls, which follows a group of proposal planners, in contention at Freeform.

Juniper Place and CBS TV Studios recently optioned for series development William Knoedelseder’s bestseller Bitter Brew that chronicles the true story of the Busch brewing family – one of the most colorful family dynasties in the American history.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.