Italy’s Fandango Set For Series ‘The Impossible She’ On First Female Formula 1 Driver

Rachael Ray is bringing her home renovation adventure to the small screen.

Sky has unveiled a drama series chronicling Benito Mussolini’s rise to power based on Antonio Scurati’s book.

Manori Ravindran International EditorItalian dictator Benito Mussolini’s rise to power will be chronicled in a new Sky drama, Variety can reveal.Based on Antonio Scurati’s Premio Strega-winning and international bestselling novel “M. Son of the Century,” which traces the birth of fascism in Italy and Mussolini’s ascent, the eight-part series will be produced by Sky Studios and Fremantle-backed The Apartment in collaboration with Pathé.The show will cover the period spanning from the founding of Fasci Italiani in 1919 through to Mussolini’s infamous speech in parliament following the murder of socialist MP Giacomo Matteotti in 1925.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorPodcast series “Batman Unburied,” a thriller delving into the dark recesses of Bruce Wayne’s psyche and featuring classic Batman villains, is set to launch on Spotify worldwide this spring.The drama series will premiere May 3 exclusively on Spotify. It’s the first project under the audio platform’s multiyear deal with Warner Bros.

Hwang Dong-hyuk, the creator of the smash hit Netflix series Squid Game, is opening up about his next project!

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorAbacus Media Rights has closed a flurry of sales for the six-part documentary series “Evolve,” which looks at how scientists are learning from evolutionary adaptations found in the natural world. Patrick Aryee, the series’ presenter, will give the keynote address this week at MipDoc, part of the MipTV television market in Cannes.Deals for the show, produced by Beach House Pictures for Curiosity, in association with Blue Ant Media, have been secured with ABC in Australia, Viasat World for Nordic and Central and Eastern Europe, RAI in Italy, Studio Hamburg in Germany, UR in Sweden, NRK in Norway, and VRT in Belgium, with more deals in the pipeline at MipTV.Production took place last year, over the course of around 12 months.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentTV production is growing in Italy, where U.S. streamers are gradually raising their investment levels just as pubcaster RAI, which is still the industry’s main driver, is cutting back.According to local TV producers association APA, the Italian market in 2022 will generate more than €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) worth of scripted content resulting in double-digit growth.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentProducer Lorenzo Mieli, who has brought to the screen top Italian TV series such as “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend,” is launching two new crime shows with innovative elements: “The King” and “Bang Bang Baby.”Both stem from his bent to push boundaries of genre storytelling that is “borne from authenticity,” he says.“The King,” which is Italy’s first prison drama, recently bowed positively in Italy on Comcast-owned Sky’s pay-TV service and also premiered internationally at the Series Mania fest.The dark show stars Luca Zingaretti, best known as the titular character in Italy’s widely exported “Inspector Montalbano” series. He plays Bruno Testori the sometimes psychopathic director of a maximum security penitentiary located on an unspecified Italian border territory that is not subject to Italian law.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentIn a move that will transform Italy’s relationship with Netflix, the Italian government has set a firm three-month time window between a movie’s theatrical release and when it can drop on a streaming platform.The announcement was made by Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini during a Rome confab on the state of the country’s film industry held by the country’s motion picture association ANICA.The minister said he has signed a law that will extend the existing 90-day theatrical window for Italian films that had benefitted from government subsidies to now include all films, regardless of where they are produced or how they are financed.Due to its having a more flexible windowing policy than France, Italy in recent years has been an interesting testing ground for the theatrical releases of Netflix titles, largely because the Venice Film Festival is a frequent launching pad for the platform’s original films.

This Morning chef Gino D'Acampo has revealed he is leaving the ITV daytime show.The 45 year old celebrity chef, who has become a popular fixture on the programme, shared his plans on the latest edition today, Tuesday, March 29. “I was just walking around because I am a little bit sad today because I am going to go to Italy very soon, so this is my last This Morning, until probably autumn or winter," Gino explained. “Thank god for that," presenter Phillip Schofield teased him.

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Amazon in a competitive situation has taken the Jennifer Lopez-produced, Skydance TV series Backwards in Heels off the table.

CNN has promoted Jon Adler to senior vice president of program development for original series.

Shooting any film during the pandemic has been a challenge, but it sounds like “Mission: Impossible 7” has taken the cake. Despite Tom Cruise’s viral outburst chastising crew members, it doesn’t look like the brass were taking COVID-19 safety seriously enough on the shoot.

Manori Ravindran International EditorParamount is the latest studio to plant its flag in the ground at French TV drama festival Series Mania, where international CEO Raffaele Annecchino broke down the company’s international distribution and SVOD strategy.In a keynote moderated by Variety’s Italy and West Asia correspondent Nick Vivarelli, Annecchino detailed plans to focus internationally on premium SVOD service Paramount Plus and FAST offering Pluto TV, which has more than 64 million monthly users. Also in the mix to “compete with our ecosystem,” according to Annecchino, is Paramount’s JV with Comcast, SkyShowtime, which is launching in 20 European markets where Paramount Plus won’t be available.By the end of 2022, both Paramount Plus and SkyShowtime will be in more than 60 markets in Europe.

Paramount International boss Raffaele Annecchino has talked up the streamer for “launching quicker than others” in key European markets, as he unveiled a tied-up with global Lupin and Narcos production house Gaumont and set titles from France, Argentina and Germany.

Five months after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during the production of Rust, the film’s star Alec Baldwin is set to make his screen comeback in a pair of Italian Christmas features.

Alec Baldwin has found his next pair of acting projects on the heels of the shooting on the Albuquerque set of his Western Rust, Deadline has confirmed.

Frank Doelger, who was an executive producer on Game Of Thrones between 2011 and 2019, provided an update on his new company in Germany during a Series Mania panel today.