Ex-WME international agent de Angelis joins Fremantle

Former WME international agent and partner in London Raffaella de Angelis has joined Fremantle to lead literary acquisitions based on books for its global drama division.

De Angelis will lend her expertise to Lorenzo Mieli’s The Apartment, a company that is part of Fremantle, and Richard Brown’s Passenger production company, with which Fremantle has an exclusive multi-year deal. She will identify book material, manage rights acquisitions and nurture close relationships with publishers, literary and film agents.

She said: “I’m incredibly thankful to Andrea Scrosati, Christian Vesper and Fremantle for allowing me to connect my two passions; the screen and international storytelling. I am also particularly happy to have joined the Bertelsmann family after many years of close relationships with many Penguin Random House publishers, editors and rights managers that I call dear friends. I can't wait to connect these two worlds of international creative minds through wonderful books and exceptional storytelling.”

At WME, de Angelis championed literary writing, journalism and non-fiction, representing international rights to authors including Alice Munro, Mohsin Hamid, Lauren Groff and Eric Schlosser.

A Rome native, she began her career in New York at ICM. She later joined Maria B. Campbell Associates as a book and film scout, working for several international publishers and Warner Bros before joining the WME as an agent in 2004.

Christian Vesper, e.v.p for global drama at Fremantle, said: “Raffaella’s international literary experience and eye for a fantastic story is unrivalled. She will be an incredible addition to Fremantle’s Global Drama family, working closely with our incredible partners Passenger and The Apartment, to find literary gems that will eventually become outstanding drama series. We look forward to welcoming Raffaella on board.”

Fremantle is part of RTL Group, a division of Bertelsmann, which also includes Penguin Random House.