Spike TV Announces New Scripted Event-Series Development Slate Featuring Projects From Hollywood's Most Creative And Dynamic Minds

NEW YORK, April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Spike TV is back in the scripted business in a big way.  As the network continues to target a broader general audience, Spike unveils an ambitious scripted development slate featuring five high-profile projects from some of the industry's most accomplished producers. The projects in development, if greenlit, would each be a special-event series.

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The acclaimed producers attached to the projects include Emmy Award®-winner Tom Fontana ("Homicide: Life on the Street," "Oz," "St. Elsewhere"), WGA Award-winner Chris Collins ("Sons of Anarchy," "The Wire"), Emmy®-nominated Leslie Greif ("Hatfields & McCoys," "Walker Texas Ranger,"), Rock God and multi-hyphenate Gene Simmons (KISS), Academy Award®-winner Bobby Moresco ("Crash"), Emmy Award®-winners Jonathan Koch and Steve Michaels ("The Kennedys"), Emmy Award®-winner Craig Piligian ("Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy," "Abducted: The Carlina White Story"), and BAFTA-winners Dimitri Doganis and Bart Layton ("The Imposter").  

"Our move into scripted special-event series is a major step in the evolution of the brand that now reaches a more balanced audience," said Sharon Levy, Executive Vice President, Original Series, Spike TV. "Each project features our development's mission to thrill, inspire, and entertain the viewer. We also see this as a stepping stone to developing original scripted dramatic series."  

Levy will oversee the scripted projects for the network. Spike's last foray into scripted event series was "The Kill Point," in July 2007.  The event series in development include the following:

HIT MEN 
From Leslie Greif ("Hatfields & McCoys"), Chris Collins ("Sons of Anarchy") and Rock God and multi-hyphenate Gene Simmons (KISS), comes "Hit Men," a thrilling look into the untold story of how the mafia took control of the music industry of the 1970's.  From rising artists to radio stations to record labels, the impact organized crime had on all facets of the music business in this era was all-consuming and changed the music world forever.  The event series will be produced by Thinkfactory Media.

WHITEY BULGER PROJECT 
Written by Academy Award®-winning writer, Bobby Moresco ("Crash") and produced by Jonathan Koch and Steve Michaels of Asylum Entertainment ("The Kennedys"), this movie event chronicles the raw and unfiltered rise and fall of Whitey Bulger, one of America's most notorious criminals.  This four-hour epic delves deep into the life of Boston's most infamous organized crime leader, who ruled New England's criminal underworld with an iron fist for decades.   Bulger's larger-than-life story takes us from his days as a low-level street thug to FBI informant, to mob boss bent on undermining the competition, to the FBI's most wanted list, and fugitive on the lam for sixteen years

THE LAMP  
In the 1970's, the United States military set up some very unorthodox and secretive departments to research a wide range of areas from telekinesis to ambient noise to body language. Among these included the Research and Acquisitions Department, designed to covertly find and acquire all artifacts mentioned in religious and mythological texts to determine if any of them truly claimed magical powers. The search came up empty until they came across the legendary Aladdin's Lamp. The project comes to Spike from the Levinson / Fontana Company with Brant Englestein ("Borgia") as writer.

UNTITLED BENGHAZI PROJECT  
This project lifts the curtain on the untold behind-the-scenes story of the 2012 terrorist attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Based on declassified documents and testimonials from those who were on the ground, this miniseries will shed light on the actual events surrounding the tragic deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, and the heroic actions of CIA operatives that saved dozen of American lives. The untitled Benghazi project comes to Spike from Pilgrim Studios and Emmy Award®-winner Craig Piligian ("Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy," "The Ultimate Fighter") who is executive-producing, along with Pilgrim Studios' Beth Miller.

iHUMAN  
The stories of how technological innovation is transforming the human condition will be at the center of a series of films from Raw TV, the BAFTA-Award winning team behind the critically-acclaimed film, "The Imposter."  As technology becomes such an integral part of our lives and our most personal information becomes captured in a "cloud," how does this affect human interaction?  From the comfort of a laptop, we are now able to do everything from cheating on our spouses, to sending SWAT teams to celebrities' homes, to bringing about revolution or crashing financial markets. The connections in the digital age are actually resulting in a disconnection from humanity and this film series will explore this in a way never before seen on television. Raw TV's credits also include "Gold Rush," "Locked Up Abroad," and "Paranormal Witness."

*All working titles

About Spike  
Spike is available in 98.7 million homes and is a division of Viacom Media Networks.  A unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), Viacom Media Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.  Spike's Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike's press site at http://www.spike.com/press.  Follow us on Twitter @spiketvpr for the latest in breaking news updates, behind-the-scenes information and photos.

SOURCE Spike TV