Emmy Award-winning director Adam Bernstein (“30 Rock,” “Fargo,” “Better Call Saul”) is set to helm new Prime Video Italy original “Costiera,” an English-language action drama set on Italy’s iconic Amalfi Coast.
The high-end show is being co-produced by Amazon Studios and Luca Bernabei for Lux Vide, the prominent Italian company behind financial thriller “Devils” that is owned by Fremantle. Though production on “Costiera” is set to start on location this summer, the international cast is being kept under wraps.
Under a highly innovative deal structure, Fremantle will handle global sales on “Costiera” in all territories outside of Italy, France, Spain and Portugal where Amazon is holding on to full exclusive rights.
In interviews with Variety, Nicole Morganti, who is Amazon Studios head of originals in Italy, and Lux Vide CEO Luca Bernabei (pictured above) hailed the groundbreaking aspect of the “Costiera” business model.
“Up until now we always did deals that were buyouts, or in any event co-productions,” said Morganti. “But in this case we had the great fortune – thanks to approval from our U.S. headquarters – to try instead to be more flexible and to innovate: to be open to the possibility of working with an international distributor,” she went on to point out.
Morganti also underlined that, while buyouts and co-productions remain a fundamental way of doing business at Amazon Studios, “I am certainly happy that Amazon has had the foresight to look beyond the short-term result [of having exclusivity on a show around the world]. “Though it remains key for us to maintain IP, there is a desire to give talents and production companies, and everyone in the industry, more opportunities,” she said. Morganti also noted that this new business model “Is being looked at by Amazon not just in Italy but in the rest of the world.”
Marco Azzani, who is director of Prime Video Italy, called “Costiera” “A great example of how we at Prime Video approach our business – collaborating with the Italian production and creative industry to constantly innovate for our customers.”
“I think it’s a watershed moment” said Bernabei, commenting on how the financing and sales aspects of “Costiera” are structured.
As for the show itself, Bernabei explained that “Costiera” takes its cue from wanting to put one of the world’s most charming and elegant places on screen. “The British writer Osbert Sitwell used to say: ‘Those who don’t know Amalfi, don’t know Italy.’,” he said. “But of course the location isn’t enough.”
In “Costiera” an Italian-American former marine named Daniel De Luca is a problem-solver in one of the most exclusive hotels of the world in Positano, a gem resort between Sorrento and Amalfi. He is a guest of the owner because DD, as everyone knows him, is the only person who caught a glimpse of the face of the man who may have kidnapped his daughter and therefore the only person who may be able to hunt the kidnapper down. Aside from that storyline, basically DD solves a case in each episode.
Jens Richter, who is CEO of commercial and international at Fremantle, in a statement called “Costiera” “An intoxicating thriller set in the sun-drenched Amalfi Coast” and “The ultimate blue-sky drama that ticks all the boxes.”
The show was developed by in-house at Lux by the company’s head of drama Elena Bucaccio (“Devils”) and its head writer Francesco Arlanch (“Medici”).
“It’s a great meeting of the minds between two great Italian screenwriters and a great American director [Adam Bernstein] who fell in love with the story,” said Bernabei who pointed out that Bernstein is fluent in Italian.
