Sky Studios Promotes ‘Gomorrah,’ ‘The New Pope’ Producer Nils Hartmann to Germany and Italy Leadership Role – Global Bulletin
APPOINTMENT
Sky Studios has promoted “Gomorrah” and “The New Pope” producer Nils Hartmann to the newly created position of senior VP Sky Studios Deutschland and Italia, reporting into Jane Millichip, chief content officer for Europe.
Hartmann, a native German, will lead the development, commissioning and production of Sky Original dramas and comedies for Sky Deutschland while retaining his current responsibilities for producing scripted Sky Originals for Sky Italia, where he has served since 2003. In the German role, he replaces Marcus Ammon, who is now with Bavaria Fiction.
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In his expanded role, Hartmann will work closely with executive VP programming, Sky Deutschland, Elke Walthelm and executive VP programming, Sky Italia, Antonella d’Errico who maintain overall responsibility for Sky’s content offering in Germany and Italy respectively.
“Nils’ ability to spot, nurture and develop ideas, and his strong and deep relationships with talent are second to none,” said Millichip in an internal note to Sky Studios staff seen by Variety. “Thanks to his creative vision, Sky customers in Italy, and across the group, have benefitted from a string of award-winning and critically acclaimed Italian Sky Originals including ‘Devils,’ ‘ZeroZeroZero’ and ‘Speravo De Morì Prima’ with new projects ‘Django,’ ‘Il Re’ and ‘Blocco 181’ to come in 2022. Over recent years the strength of our original content pipeline has allowed Sky Italia to retain and attract new customers, supporting the overall growth strategy of the group.”
FILMED THEATER
“The Prince of Egypt,” the stage adaptation of the DreamWorks Animation film, has this week been filmed live at London’s Dominion Theatre by Universal Pictures Content Group. Plans for its broadcast will be revealed at a later date. The live capture of Scott Schwartz’s production is directed by Brett Sullivan and produced by Dione Orrom.
Set in ancient Egypt, the play follows two young men, raised together as brothers in a kingdom of privilege, who find themselves suddenly divided by a secret past. One must rule as Pharaoh, the other must rise up and free his true people.
“The Prince of Egypt” has music and lyrics by Grammy and Academy Award-winner Stephen Schwartz (“Wicked”), a book by Philip LaZebnik (“Mulan”) and features 10 new songs written by Schwartz together with five of his hit songs from the DreamWorks film. It is directed by Scott Schwartz with choreography by Sean Cheesman, set designs by Kevin Depinet, and costume designs by Ann Hould-Ward. It is produced by DreamWorks Theatricals (a division of Universal Theatrical Group), Michael McCabe and Neil Laidlaw together with John Gore, Tom Smedes and Peter Stern, Ramin Sabi, The Araca Group, James L. Nederlander and Michael Park.
The cast includes Luke Brady, Liam Tamne, Christine Allado, Alexia Khadime, Joe Dixon and Debbie Kurup.
The epic production will play its final performance on Jan. 8, 2022. Extra shows have been added on 20, 21 and 28 Dec. 2021 at 2.30pm with performances also on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Photo by Matt Crockett ©DWA LLC
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