Barbara Petronio is a name that not everyone perhaps knows but she represents one of the most important figures in Italian seriality. She is, in fact, behind some of the most popular Italian series of recent years, from Novel Criminale to Police District, from Suburra to Tutta guilt di Freud up to the film Indivisible which earned her the David di Donatello for Best original screenplay in 2017. Barbara Petronio writes TV series by trade and her latest work is the adventure series “Uonderbois” with Serena Rossi and Massimiliano Caiazzo set in Naples between folklore, legends and mysteries and available on Dianey+ from December 6th.
How did the idea for Uonderbois come about?
“This is a story of friendship born from a story of friendship. It all started thanks to a trip to Naples with colleagues and friends Giorgio Romano and Garbiele Galli, who later became director and screenwriter of the series. Giorgio, as a Neapolitan , he wanted to show us the most evocative places in his city that could inspire us with stories. And so it was in 2016, so think about how long it takes to go from an idea to a result.
And then I wanted to pay homage to the adventure genre, the world of the Goonies, of Indiana Jones, with which I grew up. Uonderbois was born from my love for adventure cinema, for Steven Spielberg’s cinema that made the public dream. I wanted Italian children to have references of this type linked to their homeland.”
You have written series that have become iconic, from Crime Novel to Suburra. Can you tell us the secret to writing a good TV series?
“I can say that I am always very passionate about the stories I write. I am always very sincere. I never do operations like “I put that ingredient together with that other one”. I always start from my references, from what I have loved since girl and I loved Scorsese’s gangster movie, Sergio Leone. I think the secret is this, sincerity.”
I read that you fell in love with TV series by watching Twin Peaks, what was so special about that series?
“That was the series that changed my life and that gave me the desire to make television series. It is the first series that riveted millions of viewers to the screen.
And that story of mystery created in me that desire to do something similar even if it is such a mythological model that it is almost unattainable in its perfection. That was the first series that totally hooked me.”
How have the series improved and how have they worsened today compared to the past?
“They have certainly improved in artistic and technical quality, in the means available. Perhaps where they have worsened is that they are a bit similar, they always seem to have been studied on a desk. This somewhat standardized level feels.
There are, however, some Italian series that have recently undermined this mechanism such as “They Killed Spider-Man” which I really liked because it is fresh, it is a very sincere aspirational story. Here, TV series make the difference when they are not studied on a desk and come from the guts of the authors, directors and actors.”
It is often said that American series are unattainable. What do they have more than the Italian ones?
“Americans have a different productive and organizational work system that is closely linked to the market of ideas. The great showrunners conceive a project and then have the possibility of following it in the round by intervening in the choice of casting, directors, photography. This is that element that gives greater compactness to a product.
And we Italians don’t have this thing. Here in the series there are often thirty thousand voices speaking. On Uonderbois, in our small way, I was perhaps one of the first examples of an Italian showrunner.”
Uonderbois’s review
How has the serial audience changed over the years?
“The way we watch series has changed compared to the past. Today you have an almost infinite choice and the public is more selective. After the first ten minutes a story has either grabbed you or it hasn’t and that’s the difference bigger.
It’s a demanding audience. This is good because, as a screenwriter, it pushes you to increasingly stimulate the attention of those who are watching you.”
The interview with Serena Rossi and Massimiliano Caiazzo, protagonists of Uonderbois
