Paramount+ Orders ‘Happy Face’ From Robert & Michelle King to Series
Robert and Michelle King (The Good Fight, Evil) are going to have another show on Paramount+.
The streaming service has ordered Happy Face to series. This new drama is inspired by the podcast of the same name by iHeartMedia and Melissa Jesperson-Moore, the book Shattered Silence written by Jesperson-Moore with M. Bridget Cook, and Jesperson-Moore’s true-life story. It will be produced by CBS Studios, in association with King Size Productions and iHeartMedia. Robert and Michelle King will executive produce alongside writer Jennifer Cacicio.
When Melissa was 15, she discovered her father, Keith Jesperson, was the prolific serial killer known as “Happy Face.” As an adult, she changed her name, guarded her secret, and cut off all ties to her father. He is currently serving life in prison after killing eight women. The series jumps off from her true-life story.
In Happy Face, “her father contacts her to take credit for another victim, and Melissa gets pulled into an extraordinary investigation of her father and his crimes,” the logline reads. “The series follows her as she discovers the impact her father’s crimes had on the families of his victims, which ultimately leads to a reckoning of her own identity.”
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“We’re obsessed with true-crime podcasts, and Happy Face is the best we’ve heard,” Robert and Michelle King said in a statement. “Melissa’s story screams out to be dramatized, and Jen is exactly the showrunner to do it.”
“Melissa’s unique, deeply personal and utterly shocking story has captivated listeners around the world. We couldn’t be more excited to have Jennifer at the helm of this project for Paramount+ alongside the incomparable Robert and Michelle King,” added Nicole Clemens, President, Paramount+ Original Scripted Series. “The Good Fight and more recently Evil are two of the most successful series on our service, and we look forward to bringing our subscribers yet another series for fans to love.”
“It’s been an incredible journey that I couldn’t have ever foreseen — how I’ve transcended being raised by a serial killer and now am helping survivors tell their stories,” Jesperson-Moore, who serves as an executive producer, said. “Happy Face gives me the chance to share the intense internal conflict, fear and peril felt by those affected by true crime. It also inspires me to share the strength that has allowed me to step up in front of the camera so that other survivors will not feel alone in their experience.”
King Size Productions’ Liz Glotzer and iHeartMedia’s Bob Pittman and Conal Byrne also serve as executive producers.
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