Paolo Penza

Mediatrade (Italy)

Degree in Film Editing at Film School “Scuola di Cinema Gaumont”, Rome
Studies of Film History, Film Theory and Theatre History, “La Sapienza”, Rome

Since 1998 he has worked for Mediatrade (Mediaset Group) in different positions.
He is currently responsible for Domestic Theatrical distribution at Mediatrade, Rome, in charge of promotion and marketing for film productions; liaison with in-house distribution branch and/or external distributors
From 2000 to 2002 he worked as Director of Creative Business at the U.S. Representative Office of the company based in Los Angeles. His tasks included: managing Office, Staff and Budget reporting directly to the Head Office in Milan, Italy and liaising with the other branches of the company in Rome
Responsibilities included also selecting and/or developing projects, Scripts and ideas for possibile coproductions or co-financing; establishing a network of relationships with possible partners in the Film and TV industry; providing support and organizational help for all corporate activities in United States; organizing and promoting special events in the United States in collaboration with the External Relations of Mediaset.
From 1998 to 2000 he was in the Executive, Film Acquisition Department in charge of evaluating and Selecting feature films on the International market to be acquired for broadcasting on the three domestic channels (Italia 1, Rete 4, Canale 5); evaluating, selecting and/or developing scripts and projects on the Italian domestic market for TV rights acquisition; establishing a network of relationships with Italian producers and talents (mostly directors and writers).

From 1989 to 1997 he worked at RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana (the Italian State owned Television), Rome, RAIUNO – the main Italian public TV Channel - as responsible for programming of features films and TV movies in the Prime Time. He then worked at Program Scheduling for RAISAT, the first Italian Satellite Channel

From 1987 to 1989 he was Chief Editor for the magazine “VIDEO”, Rome. He was in charge of supervising all sections of the magazine dedicated to Cinema and Homevideo

Among other work-related activities: teaching film acquisitions, film programming, TV scheduling and film history; translation of films, scripts and books from English into Italian; supervision of the Italian version of over 120 episodes of American TV Series (Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Star Trek: Voyager, Babylon 5); collaboration with daily newspapers, specialized in film and TV with over 300 published articles.