White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 7viewers (see at world level the examplesof Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and themore recent High School Musical),generating fandom and public interestto go and see the locations first-handor take away a souvenir, talisman, etc.Interestingly, the forecasts before thelaunch of the series were notfavourable. The filmed episodes hadalready been in the storerooms forseveral months before Canale 5 finallydecided to put on the series during theChristmas period (the first episode wasbroadcast on 17 December 2003) i.e. a“quiet” time, chosen not to overcrowdthe “guaranteed period” (the period forwhich the network has agreements to“guarantee” advertising investors acertain number of viewers) and soavoid competition from major RAIproductions. The reluctance was due tothe opinions of some focus groups onanother product – another historicalromance – which a few months earlier(February 2002) had been a unexpectedterrible flop. This was the costly Italo-French joint production, YoungCasanova, starring Stefano Accorsi, whohad recently enjoyed considerablesuccess in the film L’ultimo bacio. Thenetwork had had great expectations forthis series, but it only managed a 15%audience share. The conclusions of thefocus groups were, at least according toMediaset marketing, that “people aren’tinterested in the 18th century”.Another important example of a localregion revitalised by television fiction isthat of Southeast Sicily, which featuredin the highly popular episodes of thedetective series Montalbano. This, too,was an intelligent production choice.After the first episode (Il ladro dimerendine) set in a squalid, decayedquarter of Palermo, xxxviii the producersmoved to some beautiful locations,mainly in the areas of Agrigento andRagusa, which added considerablevisual charm to the stories about theSicilian detective. In very little time,tourism to the area rose, especiallyfrom Sweden, a joint producer of theseries and one of the first countries tobroadcast these stories created bySicilian writer Andrea Camilleri. Thereis a now full-blown Montalbano touristcircuit and the protagonist’s house is akind of cult place, rented out atexorbitant prices.In a way less linked to locations andmore to production-related economicactivities, there are at least another twoimportant cases concerning Italiantelevision series: a production facility inNaples and a new Sicilian productioncentre at Termini Imerese. Both werecreated by the RAI and were theoutcome of a choice that was partlysocio-economic. In the case of Naples,programming director Giovanni Minolichose to revitalise the then peripheralproduction facility by creating a longrunningsoap opera entitled Un posto alsole (“A place in the sun”). After a yearof fairly low audiences in 1996, theserial managed to build up a stableaudience, and has recently clocked upits 2000th episode. In addition to thesoap opera, a few years ago the Naplesfacility produced a long-running policeseries, La squadra (“The squad”),televised on RAI 3 prime time for eightseasons (from 2000 to 2007).Almost ten years on from the creationof Un posto al sole, the Campania Regionhas decided to develop film productionfurther by building new studios atWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 184