Anica and Confindustria they take the picture of the Italian cinema and audiovisual industry. It is an important photo, which opens a glimpse of a sector of 8.500 businesses and 61 employees and that it was not by chance that it was presented by Anica, the National Association of Cinematographic and Multimedia Industries after a joint effort with the Confindustria Study Centre.
Many were convinced that the world of cinema, television and all companies linked to the production and distribution of audiovisual and multimedia products were an important reality, a strategic resource for the country, and not for a short time. However, a scientific quantification was lacking, better still a reading with economic analysis criteria, capable of providing precise details comparable with the rest of the country's productive activities and what happens on an international level.
The indicators presented, it was said, provide important numbers. The whole sector is made up of approx 8.500 companies which collectively employ a over 61 thousand people, with an average size of about 4,5 units. This is a substantial figure, but it refers only to a part of the overall picture: in fact, the number of employees considered in the indirect supply chain (estimated at around 112) is more than double, i.e. all those small and medium-sized enterprises that supply, produce, support and distribute audiovisual material.
CINEMA AND TV, HIGH PROFITABILITY
In summary, the sector is an energy multiplier: against one euro invested, the report reads, the return is equal to 1,98 and is second only to that of the construction sector. To these numbers must be added other immaterial and intangible values which weigh heavily on the entire national productive world. Cinema, as well as television, contribute decisively to the growth and development of the entire so-called country system in the way in which this is represented, told and highlighted in all its richness and potential. The example was given of Matera which, not only for its beauty, but also thanks to the many images that have been produced of the city and its territory, has contributed to strengthening, growing and improving the image of Italy in the world. These numbers, the ones that commonly quantify indirect and transversal "soft power", cannot be enclosed in data or tables, but there is no doubt that they strongly participate in the entire national production chain.
CINEMA AND TV, YOUNG PEOPLE AND WOMEN
Another interesting fact that deserves attention is that relating to the composition of employees: on average young and with an average female employment higher than the national one. Exactly, 61% are in the range between 30 and 49 years (compared to the national average of 59%) e 39% are women (against 36% for all other sectors compared). Furthermore, the data on the specific skills employed in the sector are significant, where there are over 26 highly specialized professional figures (engineers, architects, legal consultants, designers, etc.) not to mention the fundamental component linked to artistic creativity, which also supports a large part of the system.
CINEMA AND TV, LIGHTS AND SHADOWS
This whole world, these numbers, this "beauty and richness" as defined by the President of Anica, Francesco Rutelli, must then be compared and brought back to two other complementary worlds: the legislative-regulatory world, which still often appears slow and excessively stiff, and that of international competition. The report of the Confindustria Study Center, in this regard, provides a complex picture, where our country struggles to find a suitable location for its potential. We are in ninth place in the ranking of the sector's value added in the various countries, where there is a decline compared to the previous decade while we are 22nd in terms of the comparison of the value added compared to the population (the United Kingdom is in the lead with 423 billion dollars, while Italy is after Spain with 116).
The whole world of cinema, audiovisual and television is at the center of epochal mutations where any delay is guilty. Legislative adaptation, economic supports (other than the usual welfare provisions) and quality products can be the driving forces for development. Fierce adversaries and competitors leave no way out for hesitations and uncertainties: the market does not foresee breaks.
