Filming is underway on new Sky Original series Impero, a Sky Studios and Èliseo entertainment produced eight-part drama coming to Sky and streaming service NOW

With its confidential negotiations and related millionaire commissions, sensational newspaper headlines and sometimes hidden agendas, it is one of the most exciting moments of the entire football season: the golden and ruthless world of the transfer market. Now, for the first time, it is the subject of new eight-part Sky Original drama series, Impero, created by Tommaso Capolicchio, Giacomo Durzi, Filippo Kalomelidis, Marcello Olivieri and Andrea Cotti, based on the idea byAlessandro Roja in collaboration with Riccardo Grandi.

Covering the most thrilling moments in the world of football - a Sky Studios and Èliseo entertainment series produced by Luca Barbareschi, directed by Fabio Resinaro (Mine, Dolceroma) & Nico Marzano (A Discovery of Witches, Spectre, Inferno,Medici), sees Francesco Montanari (The Hunter - Il cacciatore, Medici) once again starring in a Sky Original production. This follows the widely acclaimed Romanzo Criminale - La serie.

Leading the international cast alongside Francesco Montanari are David di Donatello winner and Oscar nominee Giancarlo Giannini (Casino Royale, Il cuore altrove, Seven Beauties) and Elena Radonicich (1992, La porta rossa, Fabrizio De André – Principe libero).

Impero will explore all aspects of football managers’ work from the economic and political interests behind the signing of football players, to the success of an entire team and the impact on their personal lives.

Antonella d’Errico, Executive Vice President Programming Sky Italia said: “With Impero we get behind the scenes of the world of Italian football. Through a fictional story, that of a man who has unjustly lost everything and will try to rise back to the top, we are going to explore the most hidden and unknown side of this world as well as its dynamics of power. We are glad to announce that the brilliant cast is already at work on set to give life to this project and we are really pleased to work again with Francesco Montanari who, more than 10 years ago, as a very young acting talent starring in Romanzo Criminale - La serie, together with Sky experienced the birth of the successful track record of Sky’s original productions. We are very proud to mark with Impero another step forward in this direction.”

Commenting on the series, Luca Barbareschi, founder & CEO Eliseo Multimedia, declared: “Impero is the story of a man's redemption. Corso Manni is a star manager of the football world. At the peak of his career, he loses everything, his job, his marital happiness, the relationship with his father. Unjustly accused of being involved in an illegal betting business, he is framed and he will have to pay a high price to rehabilitate himself. Impero is also the coming-of-age novel of two young champions, a highly valued and aspirational story. Because when it comes to football, there is a point of view that needs to be told, that of a dream. What makes you imagine that the asphalt can be a turf, that two backpacks on the ground can mark the boundary of the goal and that the suburbs where you were born could be a floodlit stadium. What remains of a game is not so much the result but rather the heroism of the challenge, the sporting gesture and the code of honour of our Empire.”

Principal photography is in Milan and will also take place in Rome and Sardinia. Impero is on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the UK and Ireland, and will be available in all Sky markets. NBCUniversal Global Distribution will handle international sales of the series on behalf of Sky Studios.

ABOUT SKY STUDIOS

Sky Studios brings to screen unique stories from the very best talent in Europe.

We develop, produce and fund original drama, comedy and documentary for Sky’s 24m customers and beyond. Building on the success of critically-acclaimed Sky Originals including Emmy-winning Chernobyl, Bafta-winning Patrick Melrose and international hits Das Boot, Riviera and Britannia, Sky Studios is the new creative home of Sky Originals, such as The Third Day with Jude Law, I Hate Suzie, co-created by Lucy Prebble and Billie Piper and BAFTA-nominated hit comedy, Brassic.

We’re an agile Studio, seeking out the best untold stories from new voices while working in creative partnership with today’s best writers, producers and on-screen talent to bring viewers stories they wouldn’t find anywhere else.

With commissioning talent and production capability across the UK, Germany and Italy, we understand local tastes across Europe better than anyone else and have plans to more than double our investment in original content by 2024, fully supported and backed by Comcast NBC Universal.

We’re also developing a new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which is expected to lead to the creation of over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK creative sector in the first five years alone.

Sky Studios invests in the cultural economy and global production sector with equity stakes in several production companies in the UK and the US, including Great British Bake-Off creator Love Productions, and the premier reality crime producer in the US, Jupiter Entertainment, creator of long-running hit Snapped. Sky Studios has invested in high quality factual specialists Blast Films and True North Productions; entertainment and format expert Znak & Co (US & UK); natural history producer True to Nature; drama producers The Lighthouse and Longboat Pictures; and growth businesses Sugar Films, Chrysalis Vision, and Talos Films (US).

Sky Studios launched in June 2019. The senior leadership team is Chief Executive Officer Gary Davey, Chief Content Officer Jane Millichip, Chief Operating Officer Caroline Cooper, Director of Drama UK Cameron Roach, Director of Comedy UK Jon Mountague, Director Original Production Sky Italia Nils Hartmann, and Director Original Productions Sky Deutschland Marcus Ammon.

ABOUT ELISEO ENTERTAINMENT

Èliseo entertainment is the final outcome of a several year experienced company leader in cinema, television and theatre. An adventure began in 1992 with the proposal of popular products become famous and that in 2019 reached its peak with Roman Polanski’s masterpiece J’accuse, a tribute to the cinema of one of the greatest living masters played by the Oscar winning Jean Dujardin, winner of the Silver Lion at the Venice Festival, and the most popular Tv movie Chiara Lubich rating audience record on generalist television Rai1.

Our brand originates from the vision of Luca Barbareschi, actor, director, producer and artistic director of the Teatro Eliseo. The contents of our brand represent the perfect combination of arts and skills. An excellent company based on the search of authors, screenwriters, directors, interpreters and workers processing new concepts starting from the scripts up to the final product and giving birth to high-quality competitive products.

The cinema section produced many films, from L'amico arabo by Carmine Fornari, to Qualcuno con cui correre directed by Oded Davidoff taken from David Grossman’s book, to Something good, up to the most recent Brutti e cattivi by Cosimo Gomez starring Claudio Santamaria, Marco D’Amore and Sara Serraiocco, to DolceRoma directed by Fabio Resinaro, starring Luca Barbareschi and Claudia Gerini.

Èliseo entertainment has gained the esteem and confidence of the most important channels thanks to the results achieved during these years as Fog and Crimes and On the way Home. At the moment a new film is coming out the film Appunti di un venditore di donne from Giorgio Faletti’ best seller and directed by Fabio Resinaro. New projects are coming soon Ero in guerra ma non lo sapevo starring Francesco Montanari e Laura Chiatti and Bla Bla Baby, the new film by Fausto Brizzi.

The television section has produced in these last few years La strada di casa, I misteri di Laura, Io sono Mia, Rocco Chinnici, Pietro Mennea, Adriano Olivetti, Walter Chiari, Edda Ciano and Fino all’ultimo battito, great stories for the small screen. The editorial team selects stories of characters that have left mark in our time. Èliseo entertainment connects cinema, publishing and theatre, in order to enhance fertile partnerships. A rare experience in the national territory, a great opportunity for our country’s culture, to make social and intellectual life of the community start again.

The theatre section had a new life when, in 2015, Luca Barbareschi, art director, takes Teatro Eliseo back to life and returns to the public one of the most relevant cultural engine. Providing back energies and synergies Teatro Eliseo continues the story of creativity based on prestigious historical figure such as Totò, Anna Magnani, Eduardo De Filippo, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio Gassman, Ugo Tognazzi, Monica Vitti, Mariangela Melato, Nino Manfredi, Franca Valeri. Last years it presented to its audience notable names as Silvio Orlando, Michele Riondino, Anna Foglietta, Stefano Bollani, Nicola Piovani, Glauco Mauri, Umberto Orsini, Gabriele Lavia, Ambra Angiolini, Sergio Rubini, Gianmarco Tognazzi, Francesco Montanari, Marco D’Amore, Asia Argento, Lello Arena, Alessandro Preziosi, Lucrezia Lante della Rovere.

Sky PR Contact:

Amy Whittow – Amy.whittow@premiercomms.com