STARZ renews 'Crash' for 2nd season

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Starz Entertainment Tuesday said it has renewed "Crash," the Los Angeles-set drama series it co-produced with Lionsgate, for a second season.

The show is to return in the fall with Ira Steven Behr as executive producer/showrunner, James DeMonaco as executive producer and Todd Harthan as supervising producer.

The announcement was made Tuesday by Stephan Shelanski, executive vice president of programming of Starz Entertainment.

Based on the Oscar-winning film of the same name, "Crash" focuses on a multi-ethnic group of people from different socio-economic backgrounds and their lives as they intertwine and connect and their personal dramas unfold. The program's second season will feature 13 new episodes that will delve deeper into the many emotional and complex layers of life in Los Angeles, Starz said.

"As our first major dramatic series on Starz, 'Crash' has been, and will be, an important part of our 'originals' strategy. With Ira, James and Todd on board, we feel it's going to get stronger with each year and keep building on the success we established in the first year," Shelanski said in a statement.

Paul Haggis, executive producer of the series, and co-writer and director of the movie, added: "I enjoyed my interaction with the creative team last season, and I am really excited about Ira's ideas for re-imagining the series in its second season. Lionsgate and Starz have been great partners; I appreciate their support and can't wait to see what happens next."