Massimo Righini
Italian leading company Casta Diva Group launched Casta Diva Entertainment, a new business line of its creative content production unit for the television industry, three years ago. The Entertainment division was created with the aim of developing new original formats, in addition to finding the best existing formats, to present to Italian and foreign broadcasters as well as international OTT platforms. "Our first challenge was to gain credibility with customers," asserted Massimo Righini, Chief Creative Officer at Casta Diva Entertainment. "Casta Diva Group is 20 years old, with 11 offices around the world, but it hadn’t yet ventured into the entertainment sector. I was brought on to open this new business unit, and for me, it was a huge challenge. However, it became immediately clear that customers wanted something new, even though I’ve been working in TV for almost 30 years," he explained.
Casta Diva Entertainment launched in January 2021, and just three months later, its first food show was already airing on Discovery. "Discovery placed a lot of trust in us, and we continue to work closely with them," Righini commented. "In our third year, we proudly entered Rai, and now we produce both daily shows and documentaries for them. Our first primetime show will be coming soon," he added.
KEY PROJECTS
Casta Diva Entertainment's main focus is original formats. "I'm proud to have produced the weekly dating show ‘Mi Presento ai Tuoi’ for Rai 2, a show born within Casta Diva and shared with Rai’s channel manager," said Righini. "We’ve also established ourselves as the production company behind 90% of the food shows on the road for Food Network—this year alone, we’re producing 11 different food shows. And recently, we began a collaboration with Rai Documentaries, with a co-produced project alongside a London company that aired in September."
These accomplishments reflect the company’s prolific and original ideas. "Diversifying genres is fundamental," Righini emphasized. "I love dating shows (in 2023, our ‘Back to Love’ was presented at Fresh in MIPCOM), but we’re also working extensively on documentaries. I’m passionate about cooking shows, and we make many for Food Network, but this year we’re also venturing into unscripted production with a project for Rai Fiction. We’re even planning to release two films in 2025," he revealed. "We’re pushing Italian creativity across more genres and platforms because I’ve built a really strong team, and we’re not stopping."
GLOBAL EXPANSION
After three years, Casta Diva Entertainment holds a strong position in the Italian audiovisual market, but its sights are set on becoming a global player. To achieve this, Casta Diva Entertainment is collaborating with a London-based company and an American partner to produce international documentaries. "We don’t want to limit ourselves to Italy. Documentaries are a genre that works and sells worldwide," said Righini. "We’ve already started a collaboration with China, which is more challenging, but we’re undeterred. We’re also working on proposing original formats to international distributors through partnerships with global companies."
After two years of investment, Casta Diva Entertainment will start producing their first 3 unscripted products Casta Diva Entertainment and then they will debut in primetime. "For a BU born 3 years ago I think it is a great achievement," Righini concluded.
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