Nicola Maccanico, the ex-CEO of iconic Italian studio CinecittĂ , is heading to Fremantle to run its Italian division.
Maccanico resigned over the summer from the studio that hosted work from the likes of Roland Emmerich, Joe Wright, Edward Berger, Angelina Jolie and Luca Guadagnino during his tenure. He left after his three-year term at the government-owned facilities had ended. Past roles include EVP Programming at Sky Italia, CEO at Vision Distribution and Managing Director of Theatrical at Warner Brothers Italy.
At Fremantle he will oversee a portfolio that includes Wildside, The Apartment Pictures, Lux Vide and Fremantle Italy, with their CEO's Sonia Rovai, Annamaria Morelli, Luca Bernabei, and Marco Tombolini respectively reporting into Maccanico.
The role is newly created. At the same time, France boss Bruno Fallot has been promoted to oversee Fremantle's production biz in France, Spain, Portugal and Israel. Both will join Fremantle's global senior leader team. Fallot's promotion comes around six months after Southern Europe CEO Jaime Ondarza exited the RTL-owned business after falling victim to a $1M fake M&A scam.
Andrea Scrosati, Group COO and CEO Continental Europe, Fremantle, said: "I am excited to work with Nicola and Bruno to drive the business in Southern Europe forward as we continue to invest and grow our portfolio of Fremantle business and labels." He added that he has "known and worked with Nicola for many years and always admired his business acumen and leadership," while he is "delighted to work more closely with Bruno in his expanded role."
Maccanico said: "I am proud to be joining the Fremantle family and I feel the great responsibilities that come with it. Fremantle has become a leading company in the global content and entertainment market through courageous choices and investments that have always centered creativity and talent. Italy has played a key part in this journey and my commitment will be to the further growth of our group in the Italian market and to highlighting the Italian talent to the global market."
The news comes at a time of change for Fremantle. Yesterday, it said it would be combining its U.S. and European scripted operations under Christian Vesper, with Dante Di Loreto shifting to a producer deal. Last week, we revealed that Fremantle was laying off all staff at Nightsleeper producer Euston Films and Mandy Chang's Undeniable, with the likes of Chang and Kate Harwood exiting.