Abstract

In the past fifteen years, governments with different ideological views edited many times the Italian film policy. All these changes share a common feature: the progressive shift from the support of merit goods to the support of merit companies. This article is composed of two parts. The first one illustrates and critically discusses the evolution of the Italian film policy. The second one, instead, takes Indigo Film as case study: a production company famous for producing Paolo Sorrentino's films. In the past few years, Indigo developed a successful production formula that perfectly embodies the spirit of the national policy. As the case study demonstrates, this new path undertaken by policymakers allows public-supported films to reach a wide audience and therefore to refund the State. Despite that, it tends to discourage experimentation in film production. Moreover, even these policies cannot cancel the uncertainty that comes with each film sold in the market.