Wiip Teams With ‘The Great Beauty’ Producer Nicola Giuliano on Global Con Artists TV Series (EXCLUSIVE)

Nick Vivarelli
·2 min read
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Independent U.S. studio wiip has teamed up with Oscar-winning Italian producer Nicola Giuliano (“The Great Beauty”) on a TV series inspired by real-life con artists around the world and their exploits.

Aptly titled “The Artists,” the multilingual show is being penned by Italian screenwriter Federica Pontremoli, who has co-written several films by Nanni Moretti, including the prominent auteur’s upcoming drama “Three Floors,” widely expected to launch from Cannes.

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“The Artists” is being executive produced by Giuliano and wiip’s Paul Lee (“Dickinson”) and David Flynn, with Flynn overseeing the project for the studio. Adriano di Petrillo, who germinated the idea, and Pontremoli are also executive producing the catchy skein, which will feature stories about the art of the con that crisscross the globe, with the first season focusing on Italy and the United States.

“The first season is a brilliant story that takes place between a small town in the south of Italy and cosmopolitan New York,” said Giuliano (pictured). “It involves greed, power, love, celebrities, the Vatican and the highest echelons of U.S. politics.”

Pontremoli noted that the basic concept of “The Artists” involves “exploring the nature of the relationships between grifters and their targets, and how they manage to establish trust, even when cultures and backgrounds differ.”

Flynn underlined that “as with all of our international projects at wiip, we search for local stories carrying global appeal, authored by brilliant local writers such as Federica Pontremoli.”

Pontremoli is repped by Twelve Entertainment. Di Petrillo is repped by Studio Scotti.

Wiip’s projects include Peabody winner “Dickinson” for Apple TV Plus; “The Uninhabitable Earth” for HBO Max; and “Queen America” for Facebook Watch. Wiip also serves as the co-studio alongside HBO on limited series “Mare of Easttown” and “The White House Plumbers.”

Giuliano’s Rome-based Indigo Films shingle recently produced the chiller “The Binding” for Netflix, while on the TV side they’ve adapted ITV and Sundance TV’s he-said-she-said thriller “Liar” for Italy’s Mediaset.

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