The Corona case is just the latest example: almost 800 thousand euros of public funds end up in a Netflix docuseries. And she’s not the only one. The tax credit mechanism continues to favor global giants such as Paramount+ and Sky, while doubts and contradictions are growing at the Ministry of Culture on the assignment criteria
At the Ministry of Culture, in particular at the Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual, the numbers still don’t add up. From the taxpayers’ point of view, of course. Because, seen from the perspective of the beneficiaries of the funding from the Via del Collegio Romano dicastery, film and television producers, broadcasters and multinational platforms, the numbers add up in a big way, indeed. After the discovery documented on The Truth from Davide Perego with a long and meticulous investigation into dozens of films and works of little or non-existent public interest, some not even released in cinemas, others shown in deserted theatres, but supported in various capacities for years and for several tens of millions by contributions from the Ministry of Culture, first with Dario Franceschini and then with his successors Gennaro Sangiuliano And Alessandro Giuli in the Meloni government, after all this, it was hoped that the criteria for assigning the same funds would be extensively revised. Unfortunately, it seems we can say with a certain amount of regret that this is not the case.
In recent days, this newspaper revealed that the controversial docuseries Fabrizio Corona – I am newswhich has been showing on Netflix since January 9th, received almost 800,000 euros (793,629 to be exact) from the Ministry of Culture, practically a third of the entire budget (2,448,556 euros) to make it. The five episodes directed by documentary directors Massimo Cappello And Marzia Maniscalco they are produced by Bloom media house, a company with a slim portfolio whose website homepage states: «We are a production company that deals with the conception, writing, adaptation and production of audiovisual content for the different media: television, cinema and the Web». And which, however, managed to convince the mega platform to release a docuseries defined by Aldo Grasso on the Corriere della Sera «a bad commercial that tries to transform a criminal (fraudulent bankruptcy, tax fraud, corruption, extortion, possession of counterfeit banknotes…) into an unscrupulous person, a mythomaniac into a hero of our time». Or told by Antonio Dipollina on Republic like a long peek into the back room of Berlusconism, “a tank of sewage” on which to “throw petrol… turn on, enjoy the show and make as much money as possible”. We too, in our small way, classified it as “a monument to a champion of nihilism… an evil genius”.
However, the point of the matter is not the morality of the subject of the work, nor its quality. But the amount of the public contribution assigned with the tax credit mechanism, the infamous tax credit. In other words, these are not “selective contributions”, i.e. funds assigned after a commission of experts has examined the screenplay, assessed the need to encourage authors to make their first work or to reward the production effort for an arthouse film or one of cultural interest for its “artistic, historical or anthropological value”. No, the support with the tax credit takes place, so to speak, automatically, on the basis of aseptic criteria and, put that way, it can be even worse because it is practically a matter of public financing in a shower. What are these criteria? That the producers who request it have their own recognized activity and that the work has adequate visibility. Anything else? Yes, that the film or series in question does not encourage racial or gender hatred, the use of pornography and other amenities. But this evaluation, so to speak, of content can only be made retrospectively, possibly triggering the revocation of the financing provided if someone raises their finger and objects.
This is not the case with Fabrizio Corona – I am newsa documentary that brings together a series of opinions, stories and anecdotes about the activity of the former king of the paparazzi, supported or contradicted by the same Crown. Zero processing, zero writing. But what is really disconcerting is that, in the end, passing through the Bloom media house company, taxpayers’ money ended up at Netflix. Which, without public support, would probably have paid the entire cost for the purchase of the docuseries. The same can be said of Paramount+, which would have paid the entire budget of Life as Carlo (fourth season). And of Sky Italia, which would have paid for the purchase of Gomorrah – The originsor the third season of Call my agent. This is just to mention some other titles that have obtained the disbursement of the Ministry of Culture with the same decree of 23 December last which concerns the series on Crown. It is difficult to explain why there is a need for this public support and why very powerful multinational companies such as Netflix, Paramaount+ (Skydance media) and Sky (Comcast corporation) can indirectly benefit from the money of Italian taxpayers.
To understand more, we turned to the Ministry’s Directorate General of Cinema and Audiovisual. Where they asked us to send an email…
