Fabel Entertainment options The devil’s business for TV adaptation

Fabel Entertainment has secured the book rights for The Devil’s Business, with Oz creator Tom Fontana set to create and showrun. The period drama is based on Emanuele Midolo’s forthcoming book about Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, the American clergyman known as “The Pope's Bodyguard.”    

Fabel is leading development and will produce alongside Italy-based Picomedia, a Fremantle company. The book is anticipated to be published by Century in June 2028.                             

Fontana, whose credits also include Homicide: Life on the Street and Borgia, will bring Marcinkus’ extraordinary rise to television - from his beginnings as Pope Paul VI’s unofficial bodyguard to his tenure at the helm of the Vatican’s finances.                                  

The Chicago-born archbishop wielded immense power during an era of astonishing scandals involving embezzlement, money laundering, kidnapping, poison and alleged staged suicide. As Marcinkus was known to say: “You can’t run the Church on Hail Marys.”        

Set against the Vatican’s financial and political dealings in the 1980s, the series will explore faith, corruption and unchecked power at the centre of one of the world’s most influential institutions.

Tom Fontana said: 'I’ve wanted to tell this story for decades. I love this world, and Emanuele’s book has given us a new window into Marcinkus. I’m grateful for the chance to finally bring to life a complex man who lives in the grey area between sinner and saint. His is a cautionary tale for our swiftly changing times'.

Henrik Bastin, CEO, Fabel Entertainment, said: “Ten pages into Manu’s book proposal, we knew we wanted to make this series. In a way it’s a very American story - rising from the top from humble beginnings - only this time, the setting is the Vatican and the man is doing the Pope’s dirty work. Tom Fontana was our first and last call. No showrunner knows the politics of Rome and the Vatican better, and we’re thrilled to have his unparalleled wit and fearlessness bringing it to life.”

Roberto Sessa, Founder & CEO, Picomedia, said: “Marcinkus was an American, but his story takes us deep into a chapter of Italian history that still raises difficult questions. It’s a story with international reach and very Italian roots. We’re delighted to be working with Fabel and Tom to bring both to the screen'.

Midolo is an award-winning investigations correspondent with Insight, The Sunday Times’ renowned investigative team in London. His reporting has led to high-profile political resignations in the UK, and he has been nominated for both Scoop of the Year and Investigation of the Year by the UK Society of Editors. He is the co-author of Murder in Cairo: Solving a Cold War Spy Mystery and has written for publications across the UK, France and Italy.             

For Midolo, the adaptation also brings the opportunity to work with the creator of a series he grew up watching.

Emanuele Midolo said: 'I’m beyond thrilled that Fabel Entertainment is going to bring The Devil’s Business to the screen. As a longstanding Oz fan since I was about 10, I’m also over the moon that Tom Fontana will be the series’ showrunner. The archbishop at the heart of this true story, Paul Marcinkus, was a larger-than-life figure who makes the fictional cardinals of Conclave look like innocent schoolboys. I can’t wait to see him in action'.      

Emanuele Midolo is represented by Eugenie Furniss at 42. Raffaella De Angelis, Head of Literary Acquisitions, Global Drama at Fremantle spearheaded the literary acquisition for Fabel Entertainment. Fontana is represented by UTA and Fabel Entertainment is represented by CAA.

 

LC