Fremantle Names New Wildside, Apartment CEOs, Inks Co-Pro Deal With ‘New Pope’ Producers

Scott Roxborough
·2 min read

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.

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“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 creativity by experimenting and innovating with freedom and independence, but also with the fundamental support of a global group such as Fremantle. A formula that I am sure will guarantee Morelli and Rovai the conditions to create new great successes.”

Fremantle also announced they have signed a co-production agreement with Gianani and Mieli to continue to collaborate with the two veteran producers, who at the beginning of this year announced they would be leaving The Apartment and Wildside to set up their own company.

“I am really happy to continue collaborating with Lorenzo and Mario with this new formula, which guarantees to continue to work together on projects that were born in The Apartment and Wildside under their leadership and vision,” said Scrosati. “After having created dozens of extraordinary projects together over the years, this agreement is the basis for continuing to create many more in the future.”

Gianani’s Wildside makes features such as the Italian box office hit There’s Still Tomorrow and Finally Dawn and TV shows including Disney+’s The Good Mothers. Mieli’s The Apartment is behind Sofia Coppola’s Elvis-era drama Priscilla, the upcoming Netflix series Supersex, and such Italian films as Enea and Adagio. Together, the two producers worked on HBO’s The New Pope and My Brilliant Friend and We Are Who We Are. Both previously worked at Wildside, which Fremantle acquired in 2015. Mieli left the company to launch The Apartment, with Fremantle’s backing, in 2020.

Among Mieli and Gianani’s upcoming productions include the new film from Oscar-winner Paolo Sorrentino, Limonov – The Ballad by Kirill Serebrennikov, Queer by Luca Guadagnino starring Daniel Craig, and Maria by Pablo Larraín starring Angelina Jolie, as well as the TV series M. The Son of the Century by Joe Wright.

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