THE‘anecdote is already in itself as a novel: to round off his teaching salary Antonio Scuratitoday the author by many millions of copies, is the salesman from Blockbuster. We are at the end of the nineties, there are still DVD to rent And Blockbuster is the king of the market.
In the shop enters Antonio Franchinithen editor of the Mondadoritoday editorial director of Joints. Chooses the DVD, presents the card e Dark recognizes the name: “But is you Antonio Franchini, the writer?” Amazement of the person concerned, then niche author with his first novels (now very well known thanks to the recent The fire you bring insideMarsilio Editore). The two become friends, they are both Neapolitansboth lovers of the word. Only after a year, Scurati has the courage to Franchini what he had written until then. AND becomes an author First Bompiani, then Mondadori.
The success comes by chance?
Did he do the whole case? If he hadn’t worked as a blockbuster, Would it be dark today’s dark? He tried to answer this kind of questions Cass R. Sunsteinprofessor of behavioral economy at Harvard Law School With an inviting book already in the title: How to become famous. The secret science of success (Cortina Editore). Sunstein has no truths packaged to give, But many doubts. Leave to the reader More questions than answers Because, scrolling over the centuries, find examples of sensational and lasting successbut with too many variables to transform them into a simple formula to be used in our daily life. Bob Dylan, George Lucas, Cassius Clay, Stan Leeto name a few.
Ambition, resilience and “tam tam” are needed
Let’s take for example the cases told of Emily Dickinson and of Jane Austen. The first died in 1886 having published about ten poems, unknown to most. There sister Lavinia It is set up to give life to at least a part of the 1800 compositions left by Emily; In 1890 the first volume supported by intellectual friends And from curiosity about the dead poet. Jane Austen’s case is different: in life she had had to deal with it, as a competitorwith Mary Bruton, who published in 1811 Self-Controlthree editions, a success. Compared, Jane Austen was littleyet today there is she in the Pantheon of the writers.
Jane Austen published anonymously. Only after his death does his brother Henry reveal his name (Getty Images).
Cass R.Sunstein reasoning on mechanisms of successsupported by studies of other teachers: ambition, determination, resilience, the “spirit of time”, randomnessthe encounter with a mentor, the tam-tam (the so-called “information waterfalls”), the singular Success ability to self -draw up (many liked it, I buy it/I follow him too) and the bizarre effect of one premature death, A precious ally. And then, the talent. He writes: «The fundamental question is: Who has an opportunity and who does not? Who meets effective supporters and who not? ». And he adds: «There are loses lossi Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare lost, lost Milton, Austen lost … there are many. We lost them for a thousand different reasons ».
It is difficult to guess what “will do the bang”
How to get to success today is question insidious, too genericsays Antonio Franchini, who in almost 30 years in Mondadori and now in joints, can boast of having “discovered” names from rankingtalent recognized as Piperno, Giordano, D’Avenia, Saviano And many more. «Things can be very different. There is not only one answer. The great success is the one that breaks a scheme, which goes in opposite direction To the dominant taste, but it is also the one in the wake. For example, the written narrative works for example by women for women, With family stories and a rather extensive time span ». It is also difficult to guess what the bang will do: «It’s another complicated question. You can have the perception you are reading a Book of great strength. You say “we are”, but it is not said that then it works in terms of sales. For example, Lives of non -illustrious men by Giuseppe Pontiggia is a Exceptional bookyet it was not for sales, perhaps because It was not reassuring ».
Andrea Camilleri, famous at 70 years old (Getty Images).
Giuseppe Tomasi of Lampedusa He does not see the success of The gotopardopublished in 1958, a year after his death. AND Andrea Camilleri he met notoriety not before the age of 70, and he redone himself on the decades of Editorial silence selling 31 million copies. Because, as Sunstein explains well, quality matters, but also count the Sliding Doors. In the world of cinema and TV there are many actresses and actors chosen casually to auditions, where they had gone to accompany a friend. Be in the right place at the right time.
Also the arrival of a international fame suddenly it says it long on the many variants: Sabrina Impacciatore with the series The White Lotusproduced by HBO and broadcast by Sky Atlantic, has become an overseas name.
For Sabrina Impacciatore international fame came with The White Lotus 2 (Getty Images).
Francesco Vedovatithe top of the Italian casting, signed the happy choice Of The White Lotus and many others: Dogman, I captain, The eight mountains, The art of joy. «You feel it, you perceive it a talent. Feel the vibration of that interpreter. The definition paths of a casting are long, elaborate. For I captain by Matteo Garrone We went to Senegal To look for the two protagonists, who were not professional actors. The point is: How you then manage fame. How many children-produces then disappeared into thin air? You have to invest, you have to study. In Italy there are many schools and good agents. But there is one jungle of sites who promise wonders, auditions. The Italian Union Casting Directorsthe UICD, has drawn up a vademecum. Success must be built little by little “.
Cassius Clay started punching because they had stolen his bike (Getty Images).
It is important to know how to generate value
If from the cinema and narrative we move on to more concrete world of the companyreflections are similar: Nobody gives you anything. Elisanna Simonato, CEO of GSO, one of the most listed consultancy companies of human capital says it: «Betting on one person instead of another is the result of one evaluation method. We use several tools, from the interview to the psycho -aptitude test, from the exercises to the single interview. Success is not the point of arrivalthe important thing is that the person knows how to generate value for himself and for the team. You have to know how to adapt, to be chameleon, there is no formula, in case an attitude. As Seneca said: “There is no luck, there is the moment when talent meets the opportunity”. The opportunity alone does nothing ».
In short, if Antonio Scurati had not done the blockbuster clerk … if a Cassius Clay they had not stolen the bicycle forcing him to box to defend himself in his neighborhood … if Stan Lee He had not decided to draw superheroes with fragility, such as the spider man and the fantastic four “capable of making mistakes, imperfect heroes who still have clay feet inside their colored tops” (his words) … In short, if it had gone differentlywho knows if they would still become famous. And if it had gone differently too To the many “transparent” of historynow would we mention them as examples?
Not to mention what to be successful generates envyenemies. He said Enzo Ferrari To Enzo Biagi in a memorable interview: «The Italians forgive everything except success. Behind the success there is something terrible. Forgive the thieves, the killers, the offenders. Success do not forgive him to anyone ».