Gomorrah was just the beginning
Italian production company Cattleya gained great international recognition with its mafia-themed series Gomorrah. The show became Italy’s best selling TV production in recent years and was also named Best International TV Drama Series at the 2015 Monte-Carlo TV Festival. Subsequently, Cattleya attracted the interest of giants like Sky, Vivendi and Netflix and is currently shooting their future hits. Maria Chiara Duranti met with CEO Giovanni Stabilini in Rome to find out more about the company’s new projects and plans for the future.
Giovanni, your crime hit Gomorrah has been been sold to more than 80 countries, putting Italy back on the international TV map for high quality drama. How do you explain this huge success?
The success of Gomorrah is simply due to the high quality of the series. We depicted the Camorra as it really is, without unnecessary sentimentality and embellishments. Stefano Sollima has done an incredible job, shooting the whole series on location, in the neighborhoods controlled by the mob. Saviano has been a valuable advisor, to keep the story of the characters as close as possible to reality. Gina Gardini has been obsessive in monitoring and supervising day by day the writing and the filming.
In your opinion what it is the general trend in the international markets?
Series, Series, Series. It is not a bubble: there might be adjustments, some players might go out of business or change their approach, but demand for high-end series is going to be strong for many years.
What is the core business of your company: film or television?
We started 18 years ago as a film production company, today TV production is roughly 70% of our business.
What projects do you have in the pipeline?
With Sky we are developing Gomorrah 3, Diabolik (in English, based on a very popular Italian comic character), Django (in English, coproduced wth Atlantique). For Rai we are shooting Tutto Può Succedere 2 (Italian adaptation of Parenthood) and developing two more series.
Next month we will start shooting Suburra – The Series for Netflix, their first Italian original production. With Canal+ we are working on ZeroZeroZero (in English, based on the book by Roberto Saviano). Principal photography will start in June 2017.
Do you put the emphasis on adapting scripted formats like NBC’s Parenthood or Spanish drama Gran Hotel which were very successful on Rai, or do you prefer to develop original ideas from Italy?
We are more concentrated on original concepts, it is one of our strengths, but always looking for a good opportunity from other countries.
How do you come up with ideas for new shows? Do you organize pitching events?
My partners Riccardo Tozzi and Marco Chimenz are constantly in search for new ideas, in Italy and abroad. Moreover, we have 16 talented young people working in scouting and development.
Sky Italia announced a distribution deal with the 5 top production companies including Cattleya for cinema in Italy. Do you think that will shake the market in a positive way?
Yes, we are involved as other Italian produces and the movement is supposed to promote Italian cinema through an innovative and collaborative model creating new business opportunities.
Recently Cattleya appointed Cristina Giubbetti to drive the growth of international investments in Italy. Has there been interest from international players?
Very much! We are already producing our first film, a fantasy with a famous rockstar (we are not allowed to disclose the title) and various series are in preproduction. The 25% tax credit on local spending is attracting more and more producers. Word of mouth is positive, and the trend is promising.
You also produced the first Italian remake of a French movie title…
Before Benvenuti al Sud (remake of Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis) no remake had ever been a hit. The success of the movie was quite a surprise for us and even more for Medusa. They had doubts about investing in a remake and, moreover, did not believe in the couple of actors Bisio- Siani. It was tough to get their greenlight on the project. The enormous success sparked a race to find comedies with remake potential. But none has been as successful as Benvenuti al Sud. Since then Cattleya and Alessandro Siani have developed a very strong relationship: we have produced all of his movies (all big hits in Italy).
Is the international vocation of the company due to its shareholding structure? Currently it’s 20% is owned by Universal, and 7.96% by De Agostini Communications…
No, I would say that our international vocation is due to our ambition to grow out of the constrains of the Italian market. If you want to grow, both in terms of quality and size, you have to look for new partners. Having strong partners has helped a lot, but it was our commitment to quality that enabled Cattleya to outgrow most of our competitors.
How would you comment the rumours about a possible acquisition by Vivendi? They are also your partner for the TV series ZeroZeroZero.
We had reached an agreement with Vivendi, but when they announced the acquisition of Mediaset Premium, our deal was cancelled by mutual agreement. With Vivendi becoming an Italian broadcaster, Cattleya would have lost the status of independent producer and all the related benefits: tax credits, government subsidies and, moreover, our productions would not have been eligible for the broadcasters as Italian investment quotas in TV and theatrical production.
How do you see the future of Cattleya?
We’ll concentrate our efforts on further expansion in areas where we have proven to be successful: international TV series, high-end advertising and branded content and domestic comedies for theatrical distribution in Italy.
The success of Gomorrah is simply due to the high quality of the series. We depicted the Camorra as it really is, without unnecessary sentimentality and embellishments. Stefano Sollima has done an incredible job, shooting the whole series on location, in the neighborhoods controlled by the mob. Saviano has been a valuable advisor, to keep the story of the characters as close as possible to reality. Gina Gardini has been obsessive in monitoring and supervising day by day the writing and the filming.
In your opinion what it is the general trend in the international markets?
Series, Series, Series. It is not a bubble: there might be adjustments, some players might go out of business or change their approach, but demand for high-end series is going to be strong for many years.
What is the core business of your company: film or television?
We started 18 years ago as a film production company, today TV production is roughly 70% of our business.
What projects do you have in the pipeline?
With Sky we are developing Gomorrah 3, Diabolik (in English, based on a very popular Italian comic character), Django (in English, coproduced wth Atlantique). For Rai we are shooting Tutto Può Succedere 2 (Italian adaptation of Parenthood) and developing two more series.
Next month we will start shooting Suburra – The Series for Netflix, their first Italian original production. With Canal+ we are working on ZeroZeroZero (in English, based on the book by Roberto Saviano). Principal photography will start in June 2017.
Do you put the emphasis on adapting scripted formats like NBC’s Parenthood or Spanish drama Gran Hotel which were very successful on Rai, or do you prefer to develop original ideas from Italy?
We are more concentrated on original concepts, it is one of our strengths, but always looking for a good opportunity from other countries.
How do you come up with ideas for new shows? Do you organize pitching events?
My partners Riccardo Tozzi and Marco Chimenz are constantly in search for new ideas, in Italy and abroad. Moreover, we have 16 talented young people working in scouting and development.
Sky Italia announced a distribution deal with the 5 top production companies including Cattleya for cinema in Italy. Do you think that will shake the market in a positive way?
Yes, we are involved as other Italian produces and the movement is supposed to promote Italian cinema through an innovative and collaborative model creating new business opportunities.
Recently Cattleya appointed Cristina Giubbetti to drive the growth of international investments in Italy. Has there been interest from international players?
Very much! We are already producing our first film, a fantasy with a famous rockstar (we are not allowed to disclose the title) and various series are in preproduction. The 25% tax credit on local spending is attracting more and more producers. Word of mouth is positive, and the trend is promising.
You also produced the first Italian remake of a French movie title…
Before Benvenuti al Sud (remake of Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis) no remake had ever been a hit. The success of the movie was quite a surprise for us and even more for Medusa. They had doubts about investing in a remake and, moreover, did not believe in the couple of actors Bisio- Siani. It was tough to get their greenlight on the project. The enormous success sparked a race to find comedies with remake potential. But none has been as successful as Benvenuti al Sud. Since then Cattleya and Alessandro Siani have developed a very strong relationship: we have produced all of his movies (all big hits in Italy).
Is the international vocation of the company due to its shareholding structure? Currently it’s 20% is owned by Universal, and 7.96% by De Agostini Communications…
No, I would say that our international vocation is due to our ambition to grow out of the constrains of the Italian market. If you want to grow, both in terms of quality and size, you have to look for new partners. Having strong partners has helped a lot, but it was our commitment to quality that enabled Cattleya to outgrow most of our competitors.
How would you comment the rumours about a possible acquisition by Vivendi? They are also your partner for the TV series ZeroZeroZero.
We had reached an agreement with Vivendi, but when they announced the acquisition of Mediaset Premium, our deal was cancelled by mutual agreement. With Vivendi becoming an Italian broadcaster, Cattleya would have lost the status of independent producer and all the related benefits: tax credits, government subsidies and, moreover, our productions would not have been eligible for the broadcasters as Italian investment quotas in TV and theatrical production.
How do you see the future of Cattleya?
We’ll concentrate our efforts on further expansion in areas where we have proven to be successful: international TV series, high-end advertising and branded content and domestic comedies for theatrical distribution in Italy.
