‘The Young Pope’ Producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli Sign Fremantle Co-Production Deal With New Company
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Well-established Italian producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli — who left their Fremantle-owned banners, Wildside and The Apartment, respectively, earlier this year — are returning to the growing TV and film powerhouse with their new scripted outfit.
The duo — who co-founded “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend” production house Wildside in 2009 before Mieli exited to set up The Apartment, which was behind the recent hit “Priscilla” — are yet to reveal details of their new company. But the pair have now signed a co-production deal with Fremantle that will see them collaborate on several projects.
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Among those in production and post-production from the two producers are Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film, Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov -The Ballad,” “Queer” by Luca Guadagnino starring Daniel Craig, the new film by Gabriele Mainetti, “Maria” by Pablo Larraín starring Angelina Jolie, plus the TV series “M. The Son of the Century” by Joe Wright and “Il Mostro” by Stefano Sollima.
“Working with Fremantle for the last 14 years has been a hugely important, exciting and great adventure,” said Gianani and Miele in a statement. “We put all our energy and passion to contribute to making Fremantle a successful hub of innovative and provocative creativity, and we are grateful for the support, freedom and trust Fremantle has given us.”
The pair added: “This new entrepreneurial adventure fills our desire for new challenges and goals, and we are happy and proud to announce this deal that will allow us to continue producing with Fremantle on extraordinary movies and series as we have done over the years. We want to thank all the hundreds of people we worked with within Fremantle. And a special thanks to Andrea Scrosati, without whom many of our achievements, including this deal, would have never been possible.”
Fremantle, meanwhile, have announced Gianani and Mieli’s successors at The Apartment and Wildside, which will both continue to have editorial autonomy.
Annamaria Morelli, an established film and TV producer who has worked with Rai, Mediaset and TimVision with credits including “My Brilliant Friend” and “Killing Eve,” has been named CEO of The Apartment. Sonia Rovai, who spent many years at Sky working on shows such as “Gomorra,” “The Young Pope,” “Zero Zero Zero” and “Call My Agent,” has been promoted from managing director of Wildside to CEO.
“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 of continental Europe for 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.”
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