Fremantle Rejigs Global Drama Leadership as Sarah Doole Exits, Andrea Scrosati Takes Drama Reins

Fremantle’s London-based director of global drama Sarah Doole, who has raised the super-indie’s game as a premium scripted heavyweight in recent years, is departing the company after six years.

Doole shared her news with staff on Tuesday afternoon, revealing that she’s stepping down to launch her own production incubator, Sow The Seed. The outfit will focus on new talent and champion diverse voices across drama, comedy, entertainment, documentaries and podcasts.

The executive will also stay in the Fremantle orbit, serving as creative consultant to CEO Jen Mullin.

Following her exit, Fremantle’s group chief operating officer Andrea Scrosati will extend his role and take on full responsibility for global drama. Meanwhile, creative director Christian Vesper will take on day-to-day management of the global drama team, reporting into Scrosati.

Doole, who has served as director of global drama since February 2014, was hired by former CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz, who joined YouTube in 2019, with the goal of raising the “Got Talent” distributor’s scripted programming ambitions — a task Doole has delivered with hits such as “Deutschland 83,” “My Brilliant Friend” and “The Young Pope.”

Prior to joining Fremantle, Doole served as director of drama and comedy at BBC Worldwide.

At Fremantle, Scrosati is well positioned to take the reins of drama. Previously executive VP of programming for Sky Italia, Scrosati joined the super-indie in 2018 to serve as group chief operating officer, succeeding Sangeeta Desai.

At Sky Italia, the executive’s impressive track record includes mega-hit “Gomorrah,” “The Young Pope” and “The Miracle” as well as co-commissions for “ZeroZeroZero” and “Catch-22.”