Fremantle has appointed new bosses for its Italian production subsidiaries The Apartment and Wildside but will continue to work with outgoing CEOs Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani.
Fremantle on Thursday announced that Annamaria Morelli will be taking over as CEO of The Apartment and Sonia Rovai as CEO of Wildside. Fremantle said both companies will continue to have editorial autonomy while coordinating with Fremantle on an organizational basis, and will continue to work with the same talents, Italian and international, going forward.
“Annamaria Morelli and Sonia Rovai have vision, experience and passion. I am so happy to welcome them to The Apartment and Wildside, two labels that have attracted some of the best talent, both Italian and international,” said Andrea Scrosati, group COO and CEO, continental Europe at Fremantle. “We are and will continue to be the place creatives want to call home. A place where you can express your...
Fremantle on Thursday announced that Annamaria Morelli will be taking over as CEO of The Apartment and Sonia Rovai as CEO of Wildside. Fremantle said both companies will continue to have editorial autonomy while coordinating with Fremantle on an organizational basis, and will continue to work with the same talents, Italian and international, going forward.
“Annamaria Morelli and Sonia Rovai have vision, experience and passion. I am so happy to welcome them to The Apartment and Wildside, two labels that have attracted some of the best talent, both Italian and international,” said Andrea Scrosati, group COO and CEO, continental Europe at Fremantle. “We are and will continue to be the place creatives want to call home. A place where you can express your...
- 2/29/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Prominent Italian producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli are exiting their Fremantle-owned companies — Wildside and The Apartment, respectively — in an industry shakeup expected to lead them to jointly form a new independent scripted content outfit.
Gianani and Mieli co-founded Wildside in 2009 and turned it into the powerhouse behind major global dramas such as Rai/HBO’s “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend,” to name a few. Wildside was aquired by Fremantle in 2015.
Mieli subsequently went his own way and set up The Apartment in 2020 under the Fremantle umbrella. Recent The Apartment titles include Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” and Pablo Larrain’s upcoming Angelina-starrer “Maria” about iconic soprano Maria Callas, amid a rich international slate.
A Fremantle Italy spokesperson confirmed the ongoing exits of the two top producers, adding that the separations are not acrimonious and that Fremantle is discussing “the ways in which we will will continue to work together.
Gianani and Mieli co-founded Wildside in 2009 and turned it into the powerhouse behind major global dramas such as Rai/HBO’s “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend,” to name a few. Wildside was aquired by Fremantle in 2015.
Mieli subsequently went his own way and set up The Apartment in 2020 under the Fremantle umbrella. Recent The Apartment titles include Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” and Pablo Larrain’s upcoming Angelina-starrer “Maria” about iconic soprano Maria Callas, amid a rich international slate.
A Fremantle Italy spokesperson confirmed the ongoing exits of the two top producers, adding that the separations are not acrimonious and that Fremantle is discussing “the ways in which we will will continue to work together.
- 1/19/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Two of Italy’s top producers – The Apartment’s Lorenzo Mieli and Wildside’s Mario Gianani – are leaving their Fremantle-owned companies.
Between them, Mieli and Gianani’s companies have produced many of Italy’s most acclaimed features of recent years.
A Fremantle spokesperson confirmed their departures, describing the moves as amicable, and told Screen: “We are finalising a way to continue to work together in a different structure.”
Gianani’s Wildside is behind 2023 Italian box office smash There’s Still Tomorrow, as well as festival hits The Eight Mountains, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn and Disney+ series The Good Mothers.
Between them, Mieli and Gianani’s companies have produced many of Italy’s most acclaimed features of recent years.
A Fremantle spokesperson confirmed their departures, describing the moves as amicable, and told Screen: “We are finalising a way to continue to work together in a different structure.”
Gianani’s Wildside is behind 2023 Italian box office smash There’s Still Tomorrow, as well as festival hits The Eight Mountains, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn and Disney+ series The Good Mothers.
- 1/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
Two of Italy’s top producers – The Apartment’s Lorenzo Mieli and Wildside’s Mario Gianani – are leaving their Fremantle-backed companies.
Between them, Mieli and Gianani’s companies have produced many of Italy’s most acclaimed features of recent years.
A Fremantle spokesperson confirmed their departures, describing the moves as amicable, and told Screen: “We are finalising a way to continue to work together in a different structure.”
Gianani’s Wildside is behind 2023 Italian box office smash There’s Still Tomorrow, as well as festival hits The Eight Mountains, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn and Disney+ series The Good Mothers.
Between them, Mieli and Gianani’s companies have produced many of Italy’s most acclaimed features of recent years.
A Fremantle spokesperson confirmed their departures, describing the moves as amicable, and told Screen: “We are finalising a way to continue to work together in a different structure.”
Gianani’s Wildside is behind 2023 Italian box office smash There’s Still Tomorrow, as well as festival hits The Eight Mountains, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn and Disney+ series The Good Mothers.
- 1/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
The upcoming film ‘Stolen’, which stars Abhishek Banerjee in the lead, has been chosen under the Feature Film Competition Category at the Zurich Film Festival this year. The film will be screened alongside the likes of notable international features, including Saudi Arabian feature ‘Mandoob’ by Ali Kalthami, US director Chloe Domont’s ‘Fair Play’ and Pietro Castellitto’s ‘Enea’, among others.
The 19th edition of the Zurich Film Festival will be held from September 28 to October 8, 2023, with ‘Stolen’, directed by Karan Tejpal, scheduled to screen on September 29 at the festival.
The film follows the story of a five-month-old baby being abducted from her mother, and this incident draws the attention of brothers Gautam and Raman, leading them to face various challenges that test their relationships and convictions. The film also stars Shubham and Mia Maelzer in key roles.
Sharing his thoughts on ‘Stolen’ being screened at the Zurich Film Festival this year,...
The 19th edition of the Zurich Film Festival will be held from September 28 to October 8, 2023, with ‘Stolen’, directed by Karan Tejpal, scheduled to screen on September 29 at the festival.
The film follows the story of a five-month-old baby being abducted from her mother, and this incident draws the attention of brothers Gautam and Raman, leading them to face various challenges that test their relationships and convictions. The film also stars Shubham and Mia Maelzer in key roles.
Sharing his thoughts on ‘Stolen’ being screened at the Zurich Film Festival this year,...
- 9/21/2023
- by Agency News Desk
The upcoming film ‘Stolen’, which stars Abhishek Banerjee in the lead, has been chosen under the Feature Film Competition Category at the Zurich Film Festival this year. The film will be screened alongside the likes of notable international features, including Saudi Arabian feature ‘Mandoob’ by Ali Kalthami, US director Chloe Domont’s ‘Fair Play’ and Pietro Castellitto’s ‘Enea’, among others.
The 19th edition of the Zurich Film Festival will be held from September 28 to October 8, 2023, with ‘Stolen’, directed by Karan Tejpal, scheduled to screen on September 29 at the festival.
The film follows the story of a five-month-old baby being abducted from her mother, and this incident draws the attention of brothers Gautam and Raman, leading them to face various challenges that test their relationships and convictions. The film also stars Shubham and Mia Maelzer in key roles.
Sharing his thoughts on ‘Stolen’ being screened at the Zurich Film Festival this year,...
The 19th edition of the Zurich Film Festival will be held from September 28 to October 8, 2023, with ‘Stolen’, directed by Karan Tejpal, scheduled to screen on September 29 at the festival.
The film follows the story of a five-month-old baby being abducted from her mother, and this incident draws the attention of brothers Gautam and Raman, leading them to face various challenges that test their relationships and convictions. The film also stars Shubham and Mia Maelzer in key roles.
Sharing his thoughts on ‘Stolen’ being screened at the Zurich Film Festival this year,...
- 9/21/2023
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
The 19th Zurich Film Festival promises to be a star-studded affair with plenty of Hollywood A-list talent attending.
Todd Haynes will be honored with the festival’s A Tribute to… Award and will present his film “May December.” Previous recipients include Paolo Sorrentino, Wim Wenders, Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Oliver Stone, Maïwenn and Luca Guadagnino.
“It’s a real honor to celebrate this master of American cinema. Todd Haynes is renowned for his elegant mise-en-scène and his ability to get the best from his actors and actresses,” said festival director Christian Jungen.
Ethan Hawke will be present with his film “Wildcat.” As previously announced, Jessica Chastain will receive the festival’s Golden Icon Award. Diane Kruger will receive the Golden Eye prize.
The festival’s feature film competition for first, second and third works will see “Ama Gloria,” “Enea,” “Fair Play,” “Femme,” “Hesitation Wound,” “How To Have Sex,...
Todd Haynes will be honored with the festival’s A Tribute to… Award and will present his film “May December.” Previous recipients include Paolo Sorrentino, Wim Wenders, Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Oliver Stone, Maïwenn and Luca Guadagnino.
“It’s a real honor to celebrate this master of American cinema. Todd Haynes is renowned for his elegant mise-en-scène and his ability to get the best from his actors and actresses,” said festival director Christian Jungen.
Ethan Hawke will be present with his film “Wildcat.” As previously announced, Jessica Chastain will receive the festival’s Golden Icon Award. Diane Kruger will receive the Golden Eye prize.
The festival’s feature film competition for first, second and third works will see “Ama Gloria,” “Enea,” “Fair Play,” “Femme,” “Hesitation Wound,” “How To Have Sex,...
- 9/14/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Swiss festival programmes 148 films for this year’s edition.
The Zurich Film Festival (Zff) has unveiled a line-up of 148 films for its 2023 edition which takes place from September 28 to October 8.
The festival’s Focus Competition – which showcases feature films and documentaries from Germany, Austria and Switzerland - has six world premieres. They include Swiss films The Driven One by Piet Baumgartner, a long-term study of students at the elite university Hsg St. Gallen, and road movie Return To Alexandria by Zurich-based Tamer Ruggli, which stars Nadine Labaki and Fanny Ardant.
Scroll down for Focus and Feature Film Competition line-up
Other...
The Zurich Film Festival (Zff) has unveiled a line-up of 148 films for its 2023 edition which takes place from September 28 to October 8.
The festival’s Focus Competition – which showcases feature films and documentaries from Germany, Austria and Switzerland - has six world premieres. They include Swiss films The Driven One by Piet Baumgartner, a long-term study of students at the elite university Hsg St. Gallen, and road movie Return To Alexandria by Zurich-based Tamer Ruggli, which stars Nadine Labaki and Fanny Ardant.
Scroll down for Focus and Feature Film Competition line-up
Other...
- 9/14/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Todd Haynes will be honored with the Zurich Film Festival’s A Tribute To… Award at its upcoming 19th edition.
The Swiss festival announced the honor as it unveiled its full line-up on Thursday.
The U.S. director will be presented with the honorary prize ahead of a screening of new film May December on October 3.
“It’s a real honour to celebrate this master of American cinema. Todd Haynes is renowned for his elegant mise-en-scène and his ability to get the best from his actors and actresses,” said Zff Artistic Director Christian Jungen.
“We also have a long-standing working relationship with Todd. The outstanding drama May December featuring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman is the third film he has presented with us in the last ten years.”
Previous recipients of the award include Paolo Sorrentino, Wim Wenders, Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Oliver Stone, Maïwenn and Luca Guadagnino.
The Swiss festival announced the honor as it unveiled its full line-up on Thursday.
The U.S. director will be presented with the honorary prize ahead of a screening of new film May December on October 3.
“It’s a real honour to celebrate this master of American cinema. Todd Haynes is renowned for his elegant mise-en-scène and his ability to get the best from his actors and actresses,” said Zff Artistic Director Christian Jungen.
“We also have a long-standing working relationship with Todd. The outstanding drama May December featuring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman is the third film he has presented with us in the last ten years.”
Previous recipients of the award include Paolo Sorrentino, Wim Wenders, Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Oliver Stone, Maïwenn and Luca Guadagnino.
- 9/14/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The company has also unveiled an Israel-based €150m fund for film and scripted TV projects.
With five films playing in competition, European production and distribution group Fremantle is enjoying a strong presence at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Fremantle’s Ireland-uk label Element Pictures is behind one of the hottest films on the Lido this year, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, while Italian label Wildside produced Saverio Costanzo’s big budget Finally Dawn.
Another Fremantle Italian production label The Apartment, meanwhile, is involved in three films in competition – Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla , Stefano Sollima’s Adagio and Piero Castellito’s Enea.
With five films playing in competition, European production and distribution group Fremantle is enjoying a strong presence at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Fremantle’s Ireland-uk label Element Pictures is behind one of the hottest films on the Lido this year, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, while Italian label Wildside produced Saverio Costanzo’s big budget Finally Dawn.
Another Fremantle Italian production label The Apartment, meanwhile, is involved in three films in competition – Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla , Stefano Sollima’s Adagio and Piero Castellito’s Enea.
- 9/8/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Your staying power with Pietro Castellitto’s genre-adjacent non-thriller Enea will depend on your appetite for well-heeled Romans blathering on tirelessly about the encroaching emptiness inside them. An overlong, windy film that purports to investigate the hypocrisy, shallowness and moral decay of wealthy Italians but feels too embedded in that world to have much bite, this is a soulless bit of self-indulgence that seems far too pleased with itself. It’s full of flashy technique and ostentatious stylistic flourishes but has almost nothing of note to say about the supposed burdens of privilege.
The writer-director-lead actor’s father, Sergio Castellitto, among his many screen credits starred for three seasons in the psychotherapist role on the Italian version of In Treatment. That provides a winking in-joke for domestic audiences in his casting here as another shrink, Celeste, the title character’s despondent father, who generally has his head too deep in books to look at life.
The writer-director-lead actor’s father, Sergio Castellitto, among his many screen credits starred for three seasons in the psychotherapist role on the Italian version of In Treatment. That provides a winking in-joke for domestic audiences in his casting here as another shrink, Celeste, the title character’s despondent father, who generally has his head too deep in books to look at life.
- 9/7/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Italian hotshot Pietro Castellitto is in competition in Venice with his second feature “Enea,” in which he also stars as the titular character, a young Roman sushi restaurant owner and cocaine dealer whose best friend Valentino just got his license as an airplane pilot. There is a lot going on in this fresh and frenzied film lensed by ace cinematographer Radek Ladczuk (“The Babadook”).
“Enea” is produced by Lorenzo Mieli’s the Apartment, which is a Fremantle company, and Luca Guadagnino’s Frenesy. Vision Distribution is handling world sales.
Castellitto spoke to Variety about what drew him to make what he calls a gangster movie without the gangster bits.
This seems like a very personal film. Is it?
I would say it’s basically a movie about the desire to feel alive. What moves Enea is the need to feel life pulsing within him. There is this tragic paradox that...
“Enea” is produced by Lorenzo Mieli’s the Apartment, which is a Fremantle company, and Luca Guadagnino’s Frenesy. Vision Distribution is handling world sales.
Castellitto spoke to Variety about what drew him to make what he calls a gangster movie without the gangster bits.
This seems like a very personal film. Is it?
I would say it’s basically a movie about the desire to feel alive. What moves Enea is the need to feel life pulsing within him. There is this tragic paradox that...
- 9/7/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Deal or No Deal: Castellitto Distracted by Design in Drug Pusher Drama
Director Pietro Castellitto embarks on a familial affair with sophomore film Enea, in which he stars as the lead alongside his real life father, actor/director Sergio Castellitto as members of a wealthy Italian family who become involved in a drug money feud. Taking slight inspiration from Virgil’s Aeneid, a young man nearing thirty finds his aimlessness interrupted when a novel opportunity lands in his lap to sell twenty kilos of cocaine for a local king pin.
Despite being an inviting screen presence, Castellitto can’t quite decide on a cohesive approach to the material, introducing shards of themes and characters about intergenerational differences and the suffocating ennui of the present all chaotically introduced before the narrative finally starts to take shape.…...
Director Pietro Castellitto embarks on a familial affair with sophomore film Enea, in which he stars as the lead alongside his real life father, actor/director Sergio Castellitto as members of a wealthy Italian family who become involved in a drug money feud. Taking slight inspiration from Virgil’s Aeneid, a young man nearing thirty finds his aimlessness interrupted when a novel opportunity lands in his lap to sell twenty kilos of cocaine for a local king pin.
Despite being an inviting screen presence, Castellitto can’t quite decide on a cohesive approach to the material, introducing shards of themes and characters about intergenerational differences and the suffocating ennui of the present all chaotically introduced before the narrative finally starts to take shape.…...
- 9/5/2023
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
“I feel like there’s a sort of mouth over the city, ready to eat us up,” says Enea, sophisticated young nightclubber, tennis champion and coke dealer; if anyone is trying to swallow the Eternal City whole, it’s Enea himself. The son of intellectuals – his mother hosts a television chat show about literature; his father is a psychoanalyst – the inexhaustible Enea scoots and toots between the city’s most exclusive sports club, the city’s most exclusive parties and, even more thrillingly, rendezvous with the criminal classes, homespun proletarians to a man. “You need to marry Eva, have a child with her, make her happy. If you have no one to kiss, you go crazy,” advises Giordano (Adamo Dionisi), pusher and family man, when he learns that playboy Enea has acquired a girlfriend. Whatever. In his line of work and with the company he keeps, Giordano isn’t going to last that long.
- 9/5/2023
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
About 20 minutes pass in “Enea” before someone asks the young, handsome, splendidly attired title character what he does for a living, during which time audiences are likely to be wondering the same thing. This, to be fair, is not a negligent omission in writer-director-star Pietro Castellitto’s script, which tells us early on that Enea, the elder son of a wealthy Roman family, ostensibly manages a high-end sushi restaurant, atop an assortment of more underhand dealings. What he actually does, however, is a question less easily answered in this slickly mounted but stultifying portrait of privilege and ennui among Italy’s silver-spoon set, which feels more empathy for its pampered, spiraling protagonist than most viewers are likely to muster.
Three years ago, Castellitto premiered his directorial debut “The Predators” in Venice’s Horizons sidebar, winning the section’s screenplay prize. A dark comedy examining social disparity in the Italian capital,...
Three years ago, Castellitto premiered his directorial debut “The Predators” in Venice’s Horizons sidebar, winning the section’s screenplay prize. A dark comedy examining social disparity in the Italian capital,...
- 9/5/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Fremantle kicked off its presence at the Venice Film Festival with a bang this year with the announcement of its new €150M ($162.7M) Scripted Fund forged in partnership with Israel-based Ibi Investment House.
The fund is reserved exclusively for select projects being developed by Fremantle’s stable of scripted drama companies, which include UK’s Dancing Ledge and Element Pictures, Italy’s The Apartment, Wildside and Lux Vide, as well as The Immigrant, specialized in Latin America and Spanish content.
First projects backed by the fund include previously announced feature Maria, the high-profile Maria Callas biopic, starring Angelina Jolie and directed by Pablo Larraín, who is at Venice this year with Augusto Pinochet dark comedy/horror El Conde.
Two newly unveiled series will also benefit: the four-part thriller Generation Loss, written by Bridgerton’s Sarah Dollard, and six-part revenge thriller Shelter, to which Jeremy Webb is attached to direct.
Fremantle is not involved in Larrain’s Netflix-backed El Conde but is present instead with five other Golden Lion contenders, including Yorgos Lanthimos’ buzzed about Poor Things, Stefano Sollima’s well-reviewed Adagio, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Salvatore Costanzo’s 1950s Cinecittà drama Finally Dawn, and Pietro Castellitto’s Enea
In a sign of a growing presence in the film world, the company is basing itself out of a vast beachfront villa just down the road from the festival’s main hub for the first time this year.
Deadline sat down with top Fremantle execs, Group COO and CEO Continental Europe Andrea Scrosati and CEO Global Drama Christian Vesper, in the peace of its lawned garden to discuss the genesis and implications of the new scripted fund.
Deadline: How did Fremantle connect with Ibi Investment House?
Scrosati: It came to us through our CEO in Israel Guy Hameiri, who is also going to be the CEO of the fund. He runs our company there [Abot Hameiri), which we initially invested in and then bought out two years ago.
He came to me around like nine months ago, saying that the leadership in Ibi was interested in finding a way to invest in scripted content. Together, we developed this model that I think is pretty new.
Deadline: What do you mean by new? There are other funds in existence investing in scripted content.
Andrea Scrosati: I think the interesting component here is that it’s a financial institution partnering with a content production company. The projects can only come from Fremantle. So that’s the intriguing component, for us. Then, this fund will fully finance those projects, which is also rare, especially for TV. To have a self-funded studio kind of model on drama is slightly rare. And then Fremantle will go out and sell.
Deadline: What encouraged you to go down this route?
Scrosati: It’s coherent with our strategic positioning. Talent has a lot of opportunity choices… but to super simplify, there are two key potential choices. One, talent signs a deal with a big direct-to-consumer operation. It’s an absolutely a fine choice. But obviously, what happens is that the talent then has to deliver results that are coherent with the platform that needs to sell the subscriptions.
Our approach to talent is different. We say, ‘We’re going to focus on your project, we’re going to support your project, we’re going to potentially finance or risk on your project, and then we’re going to find the right home for your project, because not every project is okay for every place.’ This new device helps us with this strategic positioning.
There is a tactical component because of where the market is today. Big traditional buyers didn’t stop buying but are for sure on a slower kind of pace. We strongly believe that good content has a future. I’m very positive about where the market is going to be in three or four years from today. In every market there’s growth, and then an adjustment.
The problem with where the market is today is that there are great opportunities, sometimes that involve great talent, but they have a time component and you risk not doing those projects if you’re waiting for the green light from Apple, Disney, Netflix, or Amazon.
Deadline: If the commissioning contraction hadn’t happened would you still have gone down this route?
Scrosati: Yes, for the strategic reason I mentioned.
Christian Vesper: Not Maria, because Maria is a film and starts very soon. And that was a different calculation. But for the two TV shows that we discuss in the [press] release, part of the consideration there was we believe in the projects. We know there’s a market for them but the talent attached has a discrete window, and so much of our business model has been based on how we bring in talent. How do we service our talent? Our job is to help them get their shows made and on the air. And this gives us one more powerful tool for doing that.
Deadline: Will the new fund change the way you deal with the broadcasters and streamers ?
Scrosati: The buyers are our partners. These shows will go to a client or a streamer. The fund is simply a way to accelerate the production time schedule. The buyer will be able to access a product when it is actually already in production or is already produced.
Vesper: One of our best clients in the UK is struggling now with some of their bigger shows. Even if they’ve greenlit them, they can’t find the financing for the rest of the budget. This is partly to step into that void. The networks, the linears and the public broadcasters, they’re struggling to fulfill all their programming needs with the resources they have and this provides yet one more avenue to do that.
Deadline: Can the fund be accessed by all the companies producing scripted content under the Fremantle umbrella?
Scrosati: Yes, as you can see with the first three projects. One of them is taking place in Israel, one in in UK, and one is a Chilean-Italian co-production, shot in Hungary. It’s going to be fantastically global.
Deadline: You have set yourselves the target of a €3B turnover by 2025. Do you think that’s realistic? And why have you set yourself this goal?
Scrosati: The goal was set by our shareholders… I’ve worked for a few different shareholders over the course of my career. The thing I’ve found incredibly strong is that Bertelsmann and Rtl have set a goal but have also given us all the support and instruments to reach that goal. It is a very ambitious goal because obviously the company was doing a very different number three years ago, but again they have given us all the support.
One thing, which is really important to say, is that the growth we have done in the last few years has been a been a mix of M&a and organic growth. This growth is not simply because we are acquiring companies, but rather because we are diversifying and creating a business portfolio. An example of this, is that five years ago, we were delivering two movies a year, and last year, we delivered 17, and with the exception of Element, which is an acquisition, all these movies come from companies that were already part of Fremantle.
Vesper: When I joined the company, Wildside was already a crucial part of the company, and I’ve been here six years now and the growth there is all organic and extraordinary.
Scrosati: The M&a we’ve done is all part of strategic plans. It’s been about acquiring companies that were best in class in a sector where we were not present. Element is a fantastic example of that. We did not have an English language, movie production company. Or, best in class in potentially growing regions where we were not present. We invested in Latin American company The Immigrant a few years ago when it was a start-up. It now has three productions on the go and its first movie Adolfo won the Generation 14 Plus prize in Berlin.
Vesper: One of our companies in England, Dancing Ledge, is hitting it out of the park in terms of the number of series they have on BBC and all the platforms. Like The Immigrant, we invested in them when they had done nothing. It’s not like we’re buying revenue. A lot of the M&a is investment in the future.
Deadline: Do you plan to keep up the pace of scripted company acquisitions of the last three years, or is that calming down?
Scrosati: In line with what we were just saying, If there is something that is coherent with our growth, in areas where we’re still not present, or there is a company or creative team that we really think has potential, we will still invest. The other component is the cultural element. We are a big company but we’re very lean. The scripted management team is basically in front of you. The only way it can work is if we see can see an element where it will work intellectually and culturally.
Deadline: Do you have further growth plans for scripted in the U.S.?
Scrosati: It’s our first territory. The company’s core business is still the entertainment and unscripted business and the U.S. is a massive territory for us for that. In addition, Dante di Loreto is leading the scripted team and has a lot going on.
Vesper: We have a show, Fellow Travellers, coming out on Paramount+ at the end of September. It’s a big mini-series with Matt Bomer, Jonathan Bailey and Allison Williams, that was developed with Showtime and that we produced for them. Six-part, gorgeous, about the gay panic in the CIA in the 50s. We also produced two seasons of Mosquito Coast for Apple.
We have a number of big shows that we’re about to announce. What’s interesting is that we have a couple of projects that the U.S. have set up to shoot here (Europe), and vice versa. We’re trying to make sure that our European producers have the resources in the U.S., and the other way round. We’re constantly strategizing about this, it’s important for us to continue to build that business in the U.S..
The fund is reserved exclusively for select projects being developed by Fremantle’s stable of scripted drama companies, which include UK’s Dancing Ledge and Element Pictures, Italy’s The Apartment, Wildside and Lux Vide, as well as The Immigrant, specialized in Latin America and Spanish content.
First projects backed by the fund include previously announced feature Maria, the high-profile Maria Callas biopic, starring Angelina Jolie and directed by Pablo Larraín, who is at Venice this year with Augusto Pinochet dark comedy/horror El Conde.
Two newly unveiled series will also benefit: the four-part thriller Generation Loss, written by Bridgerton’s Sarah Dollard, and six-part revenge thriller Shelter, to which Jeremy Webb is attached to direct.
Fremantle is not involved in Larrain’s Netflix-backed El Conde but is present instead with five other Golden Lion contenders, including Yorgos Lanthimos’ buzzed about Poor Things, Stefano Sollima’s well-reviewed Adagio, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Salvatore Costanzo’s 1950s Cinecittà drama Finally Dawn, and Pietro Castellitto’s Enea
In a sign of a growing presence in the film world, the company is basing itself out of a vast beachfront villa just down the road from the festival’s main hub for the first time this year.
Deadline sat down with top Fremantle execs, Group COO and CEO Continental Europe Andrea Scrosati and CEO Global Drama Christian Vesper, in the peace of its lawned garden to discuss the genesis and implications of the new scripted fund.
Deadline: How did Fremantle connect with Ibi Investment House?
Scrosati: It came to us through our CEO in Israel Guy Hameiri, who is also going to be the CEO of the fund. He runs our company there [Abot Hameiri), which we initially invested in and then bought out two years ago.
He came to me around like nine months ago, saying that the leadership in Ibi was interested in finding a way to invest in scripted content. Together, we developed this model that I think is pretty new.
Deadline: What do you mean by new? There are other funds in existence investing in scripted content.
Andrea Scrosati: I think the interesting component here is that it’s a financial institution partnering with a content production company. The projects can only come from Fremantle. So that’s the intriguing component, for us. Then, this fund will fully finance those projects, which is also rare, especially for TV. To have a self-funded studio kind of model on drama is slightly rare. And then Fremantle will go out and sell.
Deadline: What encouraged you to go down this route?
Scrosati: It’s coherent with our strategic positioning. Talent has a lot of opportunity choices… but to super simplify, there are two key potential choices. One, talent signs a deal with a big direct-to-consumer operation. It’s an absolutely a fine choice. But obviously, what happens is that the talent then has to deliver results that are coherent with the platform that needs to sell the subscriptions.
Our approach to talent is different. We say, ‘We’re going to focus on your project, we’re going to support your project, we’re going to potentially finance or risk on your project, and then we’re going to find the right home for your project, because not every project is okay for every place.’ This new device helps us with this strategic positioning.
There is a tactical component because of where the market is today. Big traditional buyers didn’t stop buying but are for sure on a slower kind of pace. We strongly believe that good content has a future. I’m very positive about where the market is going to be in three or four years from today. In every market there’s growth, and then an adjustment.
The problem with where the market is today is that there are great opportunities, sometimes that involve great talent, but they have a time component and you risk not doing those projects if you’re waiting for the green light from Apple, Disney, Netflix, or Amazon.
Deadline: If the commissioning contraction hadn’t happened would you still have gone down this route?
Scrosati: Yes, for the strategic reason I mentioned.
Christian Vesper: Not Maria, because Maria is a film and starts very soon. And that was a different calculation. But for the two TV shows that we discuss in the [press] release, part of the consideration there was we believe in the projects. We know there’s a market for them but the talent attached has a discrete window, and so much of our business model has been based on how we bring in talent. How do we service our talent? Our job is to help them get their shows made and on the air. And this gives us one more powerful tool for doing that.
Deadline: Will the new fund change the way you deal with the broadcasters and streamers ?
Scrosati: The buyers are our partners. These shows will go to a client or a streamer. The fund is simply a way to accelerate the production time schedule. The buyer will be able to access a product when it is actually already in production or is already produced.
Vesper: One of our best clients in the UK is struggling now with some of their bigger shows. Even if they’ve greenlit them, they can’t find the financing for the rest of the budget. This is partly to step into that void. The networks, the linears and the public broadcasters, they’re struggling to fulfill all their programming needs with the resources they have and this provides yet one more avenue to do that.
Deadline: Can the fund be accessed by all the companies producing scripted content under the Fremantle umbrella?
Scrosati: Yes, as you can see with the first three projects. One of them is taking place in Israel, one in in UK, and one is a Chilean-Italian co-production, shot in Hungary. It’s going to be fantastically global.
Deadline: You have set yourselves the target of a €3B turnover by 2025. Do you think that’s realistic? And why have you set yourself this goal?
Scrosati: The goal was set by our shareholders… I’ve worked for a few different shareholders over the course of my career. The thing I’ve found incredibly strong is that Bertelsmann and Rtl have set a goal but have also given us all the support and instruments to reach that goal. It is a very ambitious goal because obviously the company was doing a very different number three years ago, but again they have given us all the support.
One thing, which is really important to say, is that the growth we have done in the last few years has been a been a mix of M&a and organic growth. This growth is not simply because we are acquiring companies, but rather because we are diversifying and creating a business portfolio. An example of this, is that five years ago, we were delivering two movies a year, and last year, we delivered 17, and with the exception of Element, which is an acquisition, all these movies come from companies that were already part of Fremantle.
Vesper: When I joined the company, Wildside was already a crucial part of the company, and I’ve been here six years now and the growth there is all organic and extraordinary.
Scrosati: The M&a we’ve done is all part of strategic plans. It’s been about acquiring companies that were best in class in a sector where we were not present. Element is a fantastic example of that. We did not have an English language, movie production company. Or, best in class in potentially growing regions where we were not present. We invested in Latin American company The Immigrant a few years ago when it was a start-up. It now has three productions on the go and its first movie Adolfo won the Generation 14 Plus prize in Berlin.
Vesper: One of our companies in England, Dancing Ledge, is hitting it out of the park in terms of the number of series they have on BBC and all the platforms. Like The Immigrant, we invested in them when they had done nothing. It’s not like we’re buying revenue. A lot of the M&a is investment in the future.
Deadline: Do you plan to keep up the pace of scripted company acquisitions of the last three years, or is that calming down?
Scrosati: In line with what we were just saying, If there is something that is coherent with our growth, in areas where we’re still not present, or there is a company or creative team that we really think has potential, we will still invest. The other component is the cultural element. We are a big company but we’re very lean. The scripted management team is basically in front of you. The only way it can work is if we see can see an element where it will work intellectually and culturally.
Deadline: Do you have further growth plans for scripted in the U.S.?
Scrosati: It’s our first territory. The company’s core business is still the entertainment and unscripted business and the U.S. is a massive territory for us for that. In addition, Dante di Loreto is leading the scripted team and has a lot going on.
Vesper: We have a show, Fellow Travellers, coming out on Paramount+ at the end of September. It’s a big mini-series with Matt Bomer, Jonathan Bailey and Allison Williams, that was developed with Showtime and that we produced for them. Six-part, gorgeous, about the gay panic in the CIA in the 50s. We also produced two seasons of Mosquito Coast for Apple.
We have a number of big shows that we’re about to announce. What’s interesting is that we have a couple of projects that the U.S. have set up to shoot here (Europe), and vice versa. We’re trying to make sure that our European producers have the resources in the U.S., and the other way round. We’re constantly strategizing about this, it’s important for us to continue to build that business in the U.S..
- 9/4/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
It might be too early to call it, but The Hollywood Reporter Roma may have given the best party of the 80th Venice Film Festival.
THR Roma, the first European edition of The Hollywood Reporter, threw a starry and glam but also surprisingly chill bash Sunday night at their festival villa, a stone’s throw from The Excelsior Hotel on the Lido. THR Roma had its official launch, in Rome, in April but the Venice bash marked its international coming out, and the group used the occasion to present its first stand-alone print edition (more on that later).
There were shades of Pablo Sorrentino’s famed party sequence in The Great Beauty as a who’s who of the Italian film and fashion industries — among them the cast of Venice festival opener Comandante, including Italian superstar Pierfrancesco Favino and director Edoardo De Angelis, Adagio filmmaker Stefano Sollima, and Valentino’s...
THR Roma, the first European edition of The Hollywood Reporter, threw a starry and glam but also surprisingly chill bash Sunday night at their festival villa, a stone’s throw from The Excelsior Hotel on the Lido. THR Roma had its official launch, in Rome, in April but the Venice bash marked its international coming out, and the group used the occasion to present its first stand-alone print edition (more on that later).
There were shades of Pablo Sorrentino’s famed party sequence in The Great Beauty as a who’s who of the Italian film and fashion industries — among them the cast of Venice festival opener Comandante, including Italian superstar Pierfrancesco Favino and director Edoardo De Angelis, Adagio filmmaker Stefano Sollima, and Valentino’s...
- 9/4/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Production in Italy has boomed in recent years, and so too have budgets and international investment.
Cast an eye over the titles vying for a Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival and one thing stands out – the number of Italian films in the main competition.
Six of the 23 films in the main competition are Italian, an increase from the usual three Italian titles that are programmed in the section. While the step change could be a result of the writers and actors’ strikes leading to fewer US productions making the trip to Venice, each of the selected...
Cast an eye over the titles vying for a Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival and one thing stands out – the number of Italian films in the main competition.
Six of the 23 films in the main competition are Italian, an increase from the usual three Italian titles that are programmed in the section. While the step change could be a result of the writers and actors’ strikes leading to fewer US productions making the trip to Venice, each of the selected...
- 9/1/2023
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
Even without major stars or Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” to buoy it, the opening night of the Venice Film Festival’s 80th edition was high on nostalgia for cinema’s past and excitement for the eight days of movies ahead.
A black-tie crowd gathered in the Palazzo del Cinema’s Sala Grande on the Lido for the presentation of Edoardo De Angelis’ World War II Battle of the Atlantic epic “Comandante,” the opener that replaced Guadagnino’s “Challengers” after that film was moved by MGM/Amazon to April due to the strikes.
First, though, elegant minimalist and icon Charlotte Rampling presented the festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Liliana Cavani, the Italian director of psychosexual Holocaust drama “The Night Porter,” starring Rampling and from 1974. (Wong Kar Wai muse Tony Leung Chiu-wai will also receive a Lifetime Achievement anointment later in the fest.) Rampling played a concentration camp survivor who finds her ex,...
A black-tie crowd gathered in the Palazzo del Cinema’s Sala Grande on the Lido for the presentation of Edoardo De Angelis’ World War II Battle of the Atlantic epic “Comandante,” the opener that replaced Guadagnino’s “Challengers” after that film was moved by MGM/Amazon to April due to the strikes.
First, though, elegant minimalist and icon Charlotte Rampling presented the festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Liliana Cavani, the Italian director of psychosexual Holocaust drama “The Night Porter,” starring Rampling and from 1974. (Wong Kar Wai muse Tony Leung Chiu-wai will also receive a Lifetime Achievement anointment later in the fest.) Rampling played a concentration camp survivor who finds her ex,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Venice Film Festival sails on in Italy — even with much of Hollywood at a standstill.
The annual cinema celebration hosted by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera runs from August 30 through September 9. Despite already having lost Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” from its opening night slot due to its SAG-AFTRA talent including star Zendaya being unable to accompany the world premiere due to strike work stoppage orders, Venice has plenty of movie goodness in store for its 80th edition.
Competition highlights include Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” David Fincher’s “The Killer,” Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” Michel Franco’s “Memory,” Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde,” and many more. Out of competition, Venice will screen new films from Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, and William Friedkin.
The annual cinema celebration hosted by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera runs from August 30 through September 9. Despite already having lost Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” from its opening night slot due to its SAG-AFTRA talent including star Zendaya being unable to accompany the world premiere due to strike work stoppage orders, Venice has plenty of movie goodness in store for its 80th edition.
Competition highlights include Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” David Fincher’s “The Killer,” Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” Michel Franco’s “Memory,” Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde,” and many more. Out of competition, Venice will screen new films from Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, and William Friedkin.
- 7/25/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
New films by top U.S. directors including David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Michael Mann, Bradley Cooper and Wes Anderson will be launching from the Venice Film Festival alongside a robust roster of European, Latin American and Asian auteurs, in a clear sign that disruption caused by two ongoing labor strikes in Hollywood is less than some expected.
Though Venice was forced a few days ago to pull its originally planned opener, Zendaya-starrer “Challengers,” due to promotional complications from the SAG-AFTRA strike, the fest’s complete lineup, announced on Tuesday, has certainly not suffered a mass exodus of Hollywood titles. On the contrary, the Lido’s firepower as an awards season pistol seems to have outgunned the probable scarcity of stars that will be on the red carpet for U.S. films, though even this aspect remains to be seen.
“This past week has been a bit turbulent...
Though Venice was forced a few days ago to pull its originally planned opener, Zendaya-starrer “Challengers,” due to promotional complications from the SAG-AFTRA strike, the fest’s complete lineup, announced on Tuesday, has certainly not suffered a mass exodus of Hollywood titles. On the contrary, the Lido’s firepower as an awards season pistol seems to have outgunned the probable scarcity of stars that will be on the red carpet for U.S. films, though even this aspect remains to be seen.
“This past week has been a bit turbulent...
- 7/25/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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