Fremantle hires COO from Sky Italia

Newly rebranded production giant Fremantle has appointed the executive VP of programming at Sky Italia as its new group chief operating officer.

Andrea Scrosati

The firm, formerly known as FremantleMedia prior to last week’s rebrand, has brought in Andrea Scrosati to replace Sangeeta Desai, who decided earlier this year to stand down as COO and CEO of emerging markets after more than five years in the roles.

Scrosati will report to group CEO Jennifer Mullin and will be responsible for strategy, mergers and acquisitions and legal and business affairs, as well as the company’s operations across Southern Europe (Italy, Spain, France and Portugal), Brazil, Mexico and Israel, plus its UK scripted label Euston Films.

He will be a member of the company’s global operating board and its investment committee and will also chair Fremantle-owned prodcos Wildside (Italy), Miso Film (Scandinavia) and Abot Hameiri (Israel). He will also sit on the board of both Kwai and Fontaram in France.

Scrosati will take business and operational responsibility for Fremantle’s global scripted plan, working with Sarah Doole, Fremantle’s director of global drama, and Jens Richter, CEO of international, throughout development, financing and pre-production.

During over a decade at Sky Italia, he was appointed executive VP of programming in 2010, commissioning shows including Gomorrah and The Young Pope.

Before joining Sky Italia, Andrea co-founded and led his own company, MN, which quickly established itself as one of Italy’s leading entertainment public relations and communications firms. Fluent in English and Italian, Andrea worked as a consultant for several international corporations and began his career as a political press secretary.

He joins Fremantle in November and will be based in the company’s global headquarters in London. He will remain chair of Vision Distribution, the JV movie distribution company set up in 2016 between Sky Italia and five independent Italian production companies, including Wildside.

Scrosati said: “After more than a decade at Sky Italia, I can look back at many ground-breaking achievements, an amazing team, a fantastic company and only great memories – and now I look forward to starting this exciting new adventure working with Jennifer and the very best talent in the industry.”