FremantleMedia North America has announced a first-look deal with Bob Cooper’s Landscape Entertainment. Under the pact, Landscape Entertainment will develop and produce scripted projects for the U.S. and international markets.
The first project in development through this new partnership is a scripted drama centered on Michelangelo, written by award-winning South African-British author, Richard Mason.
The series will detail the life of the brilliant and troubled artist, told through a modern lens that delves into the sexuality, relationships, alliances and betrayals in the volatile world of 16th Century Florence. Martha De Laurentiis will executive produce the series along with FremantleMedia’s Dante Di Loreto, and Landscape’s Bob Cooper and Tom Lerner.
“Bob is a gifted producer whose depth of experience and keen eye for developing talent makes he and his team an important asset for us. I’m excited to have him, along with his production company, housed at FremantleMedia,” said FMNA President of Scripted Entertainment, Dante Di Loreto.
“FremantleMedia North America has an incredibly strong scripted portfolio and I am thrilled to be in business with them,” stated Bob Cooper, CEO of Landscape Entertainment. “Dante’s vision for extraordinary programming is absolutely revolutionary and I’m looking forward to our continued collaboration.”
Mason is the award-winning author of The Drowning People (winner of Italy’s Grinzane Cavour pize for Best First Novel), Us, Natural Elements and History of a Pleasure Seeker. His most recent novel, Who Killed Piet Barol, has been named a Book of the Year by The Times, The Observer and The Guardian.