Spike TV Adapting Stephen Frey's THE CHAIRMAN

Spike TV has joined forces with Ben Silverman's Electus to develop a script for an original series, "The Chairman," based on the best-selling novel by acclaimed author Stephen Frey.

Award-winning producer Ben Silverman ("The Office, "The Tudors," "Ugly Betty," "The Biggest Loser") of Electus, Jeremy Elice of Elice Island, renowned actor Julian McMahon ("Nip/Tuck"), and David Schiff are the Executive Producers for "The Chairman" with Sean Canino of Electus as Co-Executive Producer. Dana Vachon, "Mergers & Acquisitions" author and Vanity Fair contributor, serves as Executive Producer and Writer. Greg Suess from ROAR will serve as Executive Producer as well.

"When Julian McMahon and Greg Suess brought us this great book series, we knew it could be the basis of a stylized, smart, aggressive, character-driven story in the financial world unlike anything that has previously been on television," says Silverman. "We're collectively so thrilled to both be a part of Spike's emerging scripted brand and make talked-about TV with our fantastic writer, Dana Vachon."

"The Chairman" is the story of Christian Gillette, a Gulf War veteran who is charismatic, powerful, cool under fire, and tremendously connected. Gillette takes over a billion dollar private equity fund after its founder's mysterious death. As his new powers open secret doors he realizes that the world of apparently gentrified Manhattan finance is closely tied to the brutal realm of war that still haunts him ' and that some of its most dangerous players are now his inherited enemies.

"The Chairman" is a suspense thriller following Christian's odyssey through worlds of ill-gotten riches in an age of extreme inequality; a tale of money, exile and murder playing out in the blackened heart of the American dream.

Stephen Frey is a New York Times best-selling author. Since 1995, he's had 20 novels published with Penguin, Putnam, Random House, Simon & Schuster and Amazon Publishing. His latest work, "Red Cell 7," the sequel to "Arctic Fire," was published in January. Frey's next novel, "Kodiak Sky," will be published in November 2014 by Amazon Publishing. He is represented by the Cynthia Manson Literary Agency and Steve Fisher at APA.

Julian McMahon is represented by Paradigm and The Schiff Company.

Sharon Levy, Executive Vice President, Original Series, Spike TV and Justin Lacob, Vice President, Original Series, will oversee the project.

Spike TV will premiere its first scripted event series in seven years, "Tut," in 2015. The network recently announced script options for "War At the Shore" based on Richard D. "Skip" Bronson's book and "Basket Case" by prominent author and journalist Carl Hiaasen.

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