03/10/2006

The need to go beyond the FUS and introduce a film industry tax “on all professionals, producers, distributors, exhibitors, broadcasters, as well as Internet and telephone service providers”, has been maintained for some time by Andrea Colasio, Secretary of the Cultural Commission of the House of Deputies and author of the proposed law in favour of the Italian film and audiovisual industry that is meant to replace the current Urbani Law.

Minister Rutelli was also clear on the need for this reform: "We need collective rules, and we will create them. We are highly determined. I am driven by the conviction that the entertainment and film industries are ready for an overhaul. We will work as a team and, in the end, the new film law will be created".

Rutelli explained the changes at Venice, when he spoke of short-term and strategic long-term measures. "As far as the first series of legislative measures are concerned,” said the Minister, "we’re thinking of modifying and integrating [the “Urbani Law”] foreseen by the proxy law. We are already working on them and within six to eight months we will propose our changes". These include: an extension of the film season, which currently neglects the summer; a legal definition of the independent producer’s role; an examination of exhibition difficulties; and the creation of a national film agency that helps to "remove the structural conditions that hinder the growth of Italian cinema” and whose duties will have to be studied and defined.

There will be further economic measures, Rutelli assured. In that regard, and based on the indications of Minister of the Economy Padoa Schioppa, a workgroup led by Biennale President Davide Croff has been instituted, which must suggest new financial measures for the film and entertainment industry.

However, Minister Rutelli has specified that, above all, "we must create a new law and modify Law 122 of 1998", which includes production funding from Pay and free TV broadcasters. The long-term objectives include the reorganisation of the FUS, which "must not become an hypertrophic entity, but must accompany the growth of a reform that cannot be achieved within a context of impoverished resources".