‘Buen Camino’ Director Gennaro Nunziante and Italy’s Indiana Production Launch Comedy Content Factory (EXCLUSIVE)

Italy’s Indiana Production, part of pan-European studio Vuelta Group, is taking its ambitions as the country’s comedy leader to the next level.

The Milan-based company is setting up a multi-pronged comedy content factory — comprising a creative hub with a writers’ room and a Rome theater featuring live stand-up acts — all under the guidance of multi-hyphenate Gennaro Nunziante, the director of top local hits including the country’s all-time highest grosser “Buen Camino.”

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Nunziante now has two new features in the pipeline, one of which is currently shooting.

Indiana’s goal over the next three years is to discover and foster a new wave of Italian comic talent, using Rome’s Teatro Anfitrione as a laboratory that will put on a series of live comedy shows. The initiative, called “Artificio,” will be “a low-cost, highly operationally efficient pilot project, capable of guiding our transition towards a more digital business model,” the Milan-based company said in a statement.

The plan is for Indiana’s comedy creative hub to generate at least three feature films per year, Indiana’s Marco Cohen — who has been spearheading the operation — told Variety. But it also seeks to spawn several series, podcasts and formats that will generate valuable and scalable IP across the digital, TV and theatrical markets, bolstering Indiana’s cultural and market leadership in Italy’s comedy space.

One genre that the Indiana comedy factory will focus on in particular are Italian sitcoms, which are currently almost nonexistent in the country. “In Italy, situation comedies have been bumped off the airwaves and replaced by game shows in access primetime slots on linear TV because [they] are cheaper,” Nunziante said, adding that local audiences “still crave” sitcoms.

“I think sitcoms made in a 24-minute format represent the future for streamers like Netflix, because they generate audience retention,” Nunziante noted. “So we are going to produce several of them made for streamers.”

Nunziante also pointed out that “Buen Camino” — which stars local comic sensation Checco Zalone as a rich and debauched father who zips around in a red Ferrari searching for his daughter along Spain’s famous Camino de Santiago spiritual pilgrimage – has recently been going strong on Netflix, where it reached the top 10 in 21 European countries. In January, the Zalone comedy — co-written and directed by Nunziante — became Italy’s all-time highest-grossing film by scoring a whopping more than $82 million local box office haul that generated buzz around the world. Local “Buen Camino” remakes are in the works in Spain, France, Germany and the Nordics.

Nunziante and Indiana are keen to make Italian comedy content that, similarly to “Buen Camino,” can travel. But he’s adamant that the key to doing this is to make it quintessentially Italian.

“For me, internationalization isn’t about filming abroad or featuring foreign actors,” he said. “It’s more about how close I can get to a universal aspect of humanity.”

“We are in a completely different league from American and British comedies, if only because of the language aspect,” Nunziante noted. “So we can’t ape foreign movies.” Instead, “We need to reach international audiences with our own identity. With our own heart. With our own boldness; our own truth. That’s what will open the doors of other countries,” he continued. “Otherwise, we’re losers. We’re just imitators.”

Within the newly created Indiana comedy creative hub, Nunziante will be working with writers Tano Mongelli, Andrea Deflino, Giuseppe Scoditti and Giovanni Busellato.

Discovering, fostering and giving a voice to new talents is one of the main objectives of Vuelta, said chairman Jerome Levy in a statement. “The comedy factory, which is a partnership between Indiana and Gennaro Nunziante, will enable these emerging comedians to leverage the Vuelta infrastructure and to learn from Gennaro’s experience and incredible track record,” he added.

Here’s a list of comedy projects in various stages at the Indiana comedy content factory:

A new film directed by Nunziante starring young comic Angelo Duro –– Shooting kicked off June 22 in Milan on this second film by Nunziante featuring the Sicilian stand-up comedian. This film follows from their first work, titled “Io sono la fine del mondo,” which scored more than $10 million at the Italian box office. The title and plot of the follow-up are being kept under wraps.

A new film by Nunziante starring Fabio de Luigi – Nunziante will direct a comedy titled “Miss Frutta” starring popular Italian actor and director de Luigi (“A Good Day”) that will seek to broaden his fanbase beyond national confines.

A romantic comedy featuring newcomer Nicolò De Devitiis – Devitiis, who is an Italian TV personality known as an anchor on an investigative Mediaset show called “Le Iene,” will make his acting debut in this feature film that will start shooting this fall. The director is being kept under wraps.

New Checco Zalone movie – “We’ve found a fun story that we like,” said Nunziante, who will start working with Zalone on the screenplay after he finishes shooting the film with Duro. The plan is to release it within two years.

Pictured above: from left to right, Indiana partner Marco Cohen and Gennaro Nunziante.