'Heroes' Kring inks new pact with NBC

Heroes creator and executive producer Tim Kring has signed a new deal with NBC Universal Television Studio.

The two-year deal covers Kring's involvement as executive producer on Heroes and the Heroes: Origins spinoff. It is also understood that Kring will develop new projects during the term of the pact.

Kring told The Hollywood Reporter that he has gone "from showrunner who oversees writing and production on a show to a person managing a brand and everything involved in that," adding that he "relies heavily" on his team to manage the Heroes entity.

Katherine Pope, who only days ago was named president of NBCU Television Studio, is a long-time friend of Kring.

"He is a brilliant writer, and he also runs one of the tightest ships in town," Pope told the Reporter, explaining: "The reason this deal is so important to us is because of Tim's absolutely extraordinary ability to write all types of characters with such authenticity. He can find the humanity in the characters and everything he writes."