The Many Enemies of Co-productions in Italy: Moviegoers, Broadcasters, Policymakers and Half-Hearted Producers

Recent reports published by the European Audiovisual Observatory (2017 and 2018) demonstrate that in general international co-productions travel abroad much more than national films, and therefore they are particularly important for promoting the producing countries’ culture and for archiving economic success. Starting from these considerations, the paper investigates the reasons why Italy plays a marginal role in this business. The author identifies four stakeholders that discourage international co-productions: a) moviegoers, that basically prefer 100% national films or US movies; b) broadcasters, who are unwilling to finance-release-schedule risky films; c) policymakers, who are more interested into attracting film shoots and promoting Italian executive producers for foreign films (through local funds & tax incentives) than into favouring co-productions; and d) Italian producers themselves, who are not brave enough to explore new production patterns. Of course, virtuous exceptions exist (in terms of ability to involve foreign producers and making successful films), as the most recent productions of Paolo Sorrentino demonstrate.