Showtime to develop TV series from Bill Clinton-James Patterson thriller

In this combination photo, former President Bill Clinton, left, appears at a political event at Upper Moreland High School in Willow Grove, Pa. on  April 12, 2012, and author James Patterson appears at a photo session in New York on Aug. 30, 2016. Clinton and Patterson are collaborating on a thriller, “The President is Missing,” to come out June 2018. The book will be a joint release by Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown and Co. publishers.
In this combination photo, former President Bill Clinton, left, appears at a political event at Upper Moreland High School in Willow Grove, Pa. on April 12, 2012, and author James Patterson appears at a photo session in New York on Aug. 30, 2016. Clinton and Patterson are collaborating on a thriller, “The President is Missing,” to come out June 2018. The book will be a joint release by Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown and Co. publishers.

NEW YORK — Showtime has won a bidding war to develop former President Bill Clinton and powerhouse author James Patterson's coming thriller, The President is Missing, into a television series.

The network announced the deal Friday, months away from the book's publication next June.

In the collaboration with Patterson, Clinton provides an insider's perspective of having been in the White House. It's the first time that Clinton has helped write fiction.

Showtime's affiliation with CBS, and the corporation's boss Leslie Moonves, helped seal the deal. Moonves knows Clinton, and Patterson helps with the production of the CBS series Zoo and Instinct.

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