Netflix names winners of Italian writing program
Netflix said Nov. 4, 2026, that it announced the winners of the fourth edition of La Bottega della Sceneggiatura, a coaching and training program created and developed with Premio Solinas for young talents seeking careers in series writing.
The company said the initiative aims to enrich Italian series with new creativity and a diversity of voices and points of view, with attention to gender and gender identity, disability, ethnicity, and sexual and romantic orientation. Netflix said the program again used a multi‑phase format that put young writers to the test on projects they conceived and developed under the supervision of mentors and jurors.
Netflix said the first prize of €7,000 went to SANGUE CALDO by Iris Aresu and Mattia Salvetti. The jury said the project’s “bold writing” and contemporary voice portray adolescence through complex characters while offering “a fresh portrait of provincial Italy.”
Netflix said the second prize, worth €2,000 per project, was awarded ex aequo to DUE CULTURE E MEZZA by Nawal Chouaf and Imane Kamil and UFORIA by Edoardo Melchioretto and Giorgia Conigliaro. According to the jury’s notes, DUE CULTURE E MEZZA is a sincere comedy rooted in Turin’s Barriera di Milano neighborhood that turns encounters between cultures into a living story without stereotypes. The jury said UFORIA balances absurdity and humanity as antiheroes face close encounters with UFOs while exploring themes such as loss and friendship.
Netflix said that, at its discretion, authors of the winning projects may receive an offer to work as assistants in the writers’ room of a series project in which Netflix is involved.
Netflix said mentors and jurors included Francesco Cenni, Laura Colella, Alessandro Fabbri, Flaminia Gressi, Antonio Le Fosse, Laura Luchetti, Michele Pellegrini, Monica Rametta, Ludovica Rampoldi, Marco Raspanti, Re Salvador, Stefano Sardo, Davide Serino, Michela Straniero, Eleonora Trucchi, and assistant writers from the program’s second edition: Raffaele Iaccarino, Jessica Romagnoli and Giacomo Zibardi.