[Commlist] CFP: edited collection on Italian Contemporary Youth Television

With the advent of an increasing number of premium TV outlets and on 
demand platforms, television drama made in Italy has proliferated. With 
the arrival of Netflix in 2015, and the diffusion of a web series like 
/SKAM/, this has brought with it a new emphasis on youth-oriented 
programming and audiences, attracting increasing public and scholarly 
attention. We would like to bring scholars and industry professionals 
together to explore the ongoing impact of these changes on the Italian 
media landscape and its consumption, with a specific focus on series 
premiering since 2015. Whilst new providers import US-based or 
transnational models, these models both adapt to and change local 
practices in particular ways, as they also compete with national 
broadcasters and pay TV platforms. At the same time, the push by premium 
players has also led to adjustments in the production and distribution 
practices by public service media and commercial networks, with 
different writing and production, greater inclusion in linear and 
non-linear libraries, new targets, and more attention to international 
circulation and recognition for “classic” fiction. What do such 
encounters mean in the Italian context? How are changing industrial 
practices and professional roles, from script development to the 
emergence of “showrunners” and casting, tied up with youth television 
fictional programming? How do tensions between transnationalism and 
‘domestication’ work in the context of Italian-made productions? We are 
already seeing shifts in areas typically underrepresented, such as 
LGBTQ+ (e.g. /Baby/, /We Are Who We Are/) and race (e.g. /Summertime, 
Zero/), but what does this visibility mean? To what extent does the hype 
around these new products obscure the longer history of youth television 
in Italian broadcasting? What bearing does this longer history have on 
contemporary production? How is the public service mandate adjusted to a 
different, digital media system? How are Italian audiences and their 
viewing practices responding to these rapid shifts in apparent choice 
and availability of content? To what extent are their choices still 
defined by questions of access? Who is watching Italian youth 
television, in Italy and abroad, and what do audiences make of it?

We welcome contributions on the following topics, primarily on Italian 
youth series which premiered between 2015 to the present, and 
comparative approaches are welcome:

  * globalization and Italianness, transnationalism and domestication in
    contemporary youth TV productions;
  * genre and “Teen TV”, quality and popular TV;
  * teen TV series and teen TV entertainment/edutainment;
  * the history and tradition of youth television in Italy;
  * industrial structures of Italian teen television: production
    companies and  models, distribution on linear TV and platforms,
    marketing and promotion;
  * censorship, auto-censorship, dubbing and subtitling;
  * professional roles: scriptwriters, showrunners, directors, editors,
    costume designers;
  * original programming vs. format adaptations;
  * youth actors, casting and stardom;
  * language and/or location, authenticity, location branding;
  * representation and ideology;
  * questions of diversity and inclusion (gender, queer, race,
    disability, …);
  * consumption patterns, access and algorithms;
  * international circulation and foreign reception of Italian teen
    television;
  * audiences and success: ratings, social discourses, press.
*Sections *

 1. We invite proposals for a series of chapters on the topics listed
    above (approx. 5,000-6,000 words).
 2. The volume will also include a series of more focussed ‘close-ups’,
    i.e. readings of specific episodes or themes and approaches from
    these key youth-oriented television shows (1,000-1,500 words):
    /Baby/, /Generation 56k, Luna Park/,/My Brilliant Friend/, /SKAM
    Italia/, /Suburra/,/Summertime/, /We Are Who We Are/,/Zero, Curon,
    Nudes, Mental, Mare fuori, Anna/, …
 3. We plan to include a section on practitioners and industry
    professionals, with interviews with or reflections from those
    involved in the industry, from producers to writers to performers.

      For 1., please provide a title and an abstract of up to 500 words,
    along with a short bio of up to 250 words. For 2., please provide
    series name and episode number or series name and theme or approach
    with an abstract of 250 words, along with a short bio of up to 250
    words. For 3., please provide the practitioner’s name and brief
    description of interview focus. Submission deadline: *January 15,
    2022*, with final submissions of accepted pieces due November 15,
    2022. Please send all submissions to

    Luca Barra: (luca.barra /at/ unibo.it) <mailto:(luca.barra /at/ unibo.it)>
    Danielle Hipkins: (d.e.hipkins /at/ ex.ac.uk) <mailto:(d.e.hipkins /at/ ex.ac.uk)>
    Catherine O’Rawe: (c.g.orawe /at/ bristol.ac.uk)
    <mailto:(c.g.orawe /at/ bristol.ac.uk)>
    Dana Renga: (renga.1 /at/ osu.edu) <mailto:(renga.1 /at/ osu.edu)>

    We are currently working on securing a publishing contract and will
    provide further details once an agreement has been made.



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