Films
Two Greedy Italians
Producer/Director
BBC 2
Fresh One Productions
4 x 59 mins
Sept-Nov 2011
Password: viewfinder
Bon Viveurs Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo travel to four provinces of their homeland to investigate facets of national character, eat, cook and grouse. My first cookery show after regretfully turning down an early Nigel Slater series to make Spice Girls in America.
Having heard about this second series from the first team while at Blast! I lobbied hard across the summer and was hired as Series Director by Producer Caroline Ross Pirie (1900 House) and an old friend from Travelog. The strong team included Italian-born AP, Laura Linton.
The BBC wanted lush photography, a strong travel story, and an even stronger narrative. The budget was tight but thankfully allowed me to bring on DoP Andrew Muggleton, the man who invented ‘food porn’.
Very long filming days with a great deal of travel in a very hot Italian Autumn made for a challenging shoot.
I came as the Series Director, but after shooting the first of four films we were already overspent and I was ‘let go and poor CRP had to shoot the remaining trio.