Luca Bernabei On How Keeping Costs Down On ‘Costiera’ & The ‘Shogun’-esque ‘Sandokan’ Has Been Crucial In Today’s “Tricky” Market
deadline.com“In Europe we are accustomed to producing with a bit less money and finding solutions,” declared Luca Bernabei as he spoke about how his Fremantle-backed production outfit Lux Vide has had to keep costs down on Jesse Williams-starrer Costiera and upcoming epic Sandokan.
Bernabei pointed to a “tricky” financial market in which American buyers are looking to Europeans for guidance on how to make shows for that little bit less. “Europe has been doing this for a long time,” Bernabei told Deadline on the Fremantle stand at MIPCOM. “The producer has to be smart and find new ways of making shows.” Starring John Hannah, Ed Westwick, Alanah Bloor and Can Yaman, Sandokan is a case in point.
The pirate series based on the old novels by Emilio Salgari, which has been adapted several times before for the big and small screen, is yet to find a buyer, with Fremantle deficit financing.
Bernabei said “we did not have enough money so had to cut money from the budget and find a way of ‘putting the money on screen’.” Lux Vide built a 360-degree panopticon studio itself, used “production engineering” techniques to keep costs down on big scenes involving boats and sea sequences, and shot scenes in Calabria in South Italy to take advantage of regional grants.
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