Sky Studios restructures in Italy as production chief Sonia Rovai departs for Wildside

Romanzo Criminale

Sky Studios has restructured it operations in Italy, after its senior director of scripted production, Sonia Rovai, joined Fremantle-owned Wildside.

Sky Studios new-look structure in Italy will see commissioning, in-house productions, content coordination & development, and promotion & talent management departments all reporting directly to Nils Hartmann, EVP of Sky Studios Italia.

The following execs will head up each division:

• Erica Negri is in charge of commissioning, handling all creative partnerships with outside studios and production companies. She joined Sky Studios Italia in 2016 and has executive produced shows such as Devils, Django and Petra
• Chiara Cucci leads in-house productions, having worked on shows including all seasons of Gomorrah and now working on developing and executive producing the second season of Blocco 181 and Dostoievskij
• Emanuele Marchesi oversees content coordination & development, handling new projects as well as creative and editorial management. He has previously worked on Gomorrah ands ZeroZeroZero, among others
• Martina Ceramicola heads up promotion and talent management, handling relationships with talent, internal communication of Sky originals and the company’s participation in festivals

Rounding out the Sky Studios Italia team are Ivana Kastratovic, head of production management, and Loredana Di Domenico, head of business affairs, who will also report directly to Hartmann.

Hartmann, who was handed a remit across German originals in 2021, said the reorg would “further strengthen our production capabilities in order to bring fans even more ambitious, unmissable TV.”

Sky Studios’ Italian output includes M. Son of the Century, directed by Joe Wright, plus a second season of Call My Agent Italia. It is also in development on two prequel series to Gomorrah and Romanzo Criminale.

Wildside’s hire

Rovai, meanwhile, is joining My Brilliant Friend producer Wildside as its new COO, TBI understands.

The exec will work across operations at the Fremantle-owned production firm, whose output includes Disney+ drama The Good Mothers and HBO’s We Are Who We Are.

It has also been behind the 1992, 1993 and 1994 dramas, as well as aforementioned My Brilliant Friend for HBO and Sky.

Updated with news of Sonia Rovai’s appointment at Wildside.