Sleepy Hollow is losing its point person.
Executive producer and showrunner Mark Goffman is exiting Fox's serialized drama and has signed an overall deal with CBS Television Studios, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
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Under the two-year overall deal, Goffman — who joined Sleepy Hollow after the pilot as showrunner — will supervise and develop new projects for the studio.
"We are thrilled to be in business with Mark. He is a highly regarded showrunner and has emerged as a unique voice that crosses worlds and genres," said Julie McNamara, executive vp drama development at CBSTVS. "We look forward to a successful creative collaboration in the coming years."
The news comes after Fox's Sleepy Hollow wrapped its second season in February. A decision on the future of the serialized genre series produced by 20th Century Fox Television has not yet been determined but sources tell THR that the studio is mulling a production move to take advantage of other filming rebates in a bid to bring down costs on the genre series. The search for Goffman's replacement is now underway.
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Speaking to reporters in January, Fox chairman and CEO Dana Walden said the network was taking a wait-and-see approach to the future of the series. "We’re excited about some creative changes on the show and bringing it back to something that feels a little bit more episodic in nature, that has closure, and doesn’t feel quite so serialized," she said at TCA.
"We love Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie. … We feel like it’s a really unique series, and I’m hopeful it will come back as well," she added. "The show got a little overly serialized this past season. … We felt, honestly, just watching the show as passionate viewers, as well as being partners on the show, that it got a little too serialized, and all of the creators and executive producers acknowledge that. … There’s still a lot about it which works extraordinarily well. We are trying to return the fun to it a little bit. It’s an epic battle of good and evil. So that has a tendency to want to get a little bit dark. This is all about calibrating the show, not making dramatic changes."
Goffman, meanwhile, reunites with Sleepy Hollow exec producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci at the studio. The duo inked a three-year pact with CBSTVS in July 2013.
Repped by UTA and Ziffren Brittenham, Goffman'sc redits include White Collar, The West Wing, Studio 60 and Law & Order: SVU.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
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