Starz Entertainment and Michael Bay Begin Production on BLACK SAILS

Starz Entertainment announced today that production has begun in Cape Town, South Africa on the new original series "Black Sails" from executive producer Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes with Neil Marshall (The Descent, "Game of Thrones") set to direct the first episode. The new STARZ Original series is set to air in 2014. The straight-to-series, eight-episode first season of the gritty pirate adventure centers on the tales of Captain Flint and his men, and takes place twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic "Treasure Island."

Flint, the most brilliant and feared pirate captain of his day, takes on a fast-talking young addition to his crew who goes by the name of John Silver, who has stolen a map to a Spanish Treasure galleon that Flint is after. Threatened with extinction on all sides, they fight against the British Royal Navy for the survival of New Providence Island, the most notorious criminal Haven of its day - a debauched paradise teeming with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers, a place defined by both its enlightened ideals and its stunning brutality.

Luke Arnold ("McLeod's Daughters," "Rush," BroKen Hill) will star as the classic character, "John Silver," in the years before his well-known feats. Toby Stephens will be featured as the rival pirate captain to "Captain Charles Vane," played by Zach McGowan ("Shameless"). Hannah New ("El Tiempo Entre Costuras," Fuga De Cerebros 2, Maleficent) will be stepping into the role of "Eleanor Guthrie," a beautiful and determined young woman who runs the smuggling operation on New Providence. Jessica Parker Kennedy ("Max," "The Secret Circle," 50/50, In Time) has been cast in the role of "Max," a tortured young prostitute who sees the dark side of New Providence.

"Black Sails" will be executive produced by Michael Bay (Transformers, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor) and his Platinum Dunes partners Brad Fuller and Andrew Form (producers on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and Nightmare on Elm Street (2009)). The series is created by showrunner and executive producer Jon Steinberg (creator "Jericho," "Human Target") and co-executive producer Robert Levine ("Touch"). Neil Marshall (The Descent, "Game of Thrones") is on board to direct the first episode.