New York City is really close to the heart of Roman born screenwriter and vlogger Andrea Careri. He has just finished writing a book about NYC, titled La Mia New York. It’s a hybrid between a novel and a travel memoir. Each chapter will be dedicated to a specific place, restaurant, street, or neighborhood of New York City.                           

“Basically, it’s a collection of stories set in a variety of locations in New York that will be forever in my mind and forever in my memory. ” The book will be published by ULTRA edizioni and distributed in top bookstores throughout Italy in spring 2020. ULTRA edizioni is a division of the famous Italian publishing company Lit Edizioni. The book is a must read for people who dream about visiting or living in the Big Apple.

Careri has kept himself extremely busy since arriving in the states. This year, Careri’s first movie produced in English won and was nominated for several awards: New York Film Awards as best fantasy movie, The LA Film Awards as best action movie, The Hollywood Sun Film Festival, Florence Film Award. 

There are even more people that watch his videos on social media. Careri was commissioned to work on a docu-series titled Sognando ’USA, where he traveled to Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Boston to tell stories in Italian about these cities. “I’m able to be myself and show who I am. I can entertain people by showing different aspects of my personality. I consider myself lucky and privileged to tell stories about the United States and promote tourism. Many Italians want to come and visit New York and LA because of my videos”. Andrea quickly noticed that social media was a great way to communicate directly with the people and has developed a large audience. They’re impressively active and watch and follow everything he does.

“The reason why I love the United States, is because I come from a lower middle class environment and after a few years I was having lunch with an American Ambassador and a super American spy.” Andrea explains, while refusing to mention the real identities inspiring the TV show, he’s attached as writer and producer. The working title is The Chameleon. The executive producers and Andrea spent the winter at their office on the Upper East Side of Manhattan developing the show. Careri was the only Italian on the team and leading the writing. It’s his fifth commissioned TV show in the United States. 

But spies, government agents, and TV producers that treat him as equals are not the only reason Careri loves America. Andrea has fallen in love with the sometimes strange, but familiar Italian Americans, especially those living in New York. “New York is an Italian colony. My favorite place is Arthur Avenue in the Bronx because it’s where I can find my food and my coffee. It’s really authentic. The other reason I love New York is I can watch my team.” Andrea is a big supporter of his soccer team, Roma. He’s a member of the Roma Club NYC, where he has a lot of friends who go to watch the games and eat together. 

“In general, I love all of the United States. I’m glad I can tell stories of the United States to the Italian people. I can create and enforce the relationship between Italians and Americans.”

Along with having a deep connection to New York City, Andrea has a complicated, but equally loving relationship with his hometown of Rome, Italy. More specifically, he loves Colle del Sole, a suburb close to some of the more rough and unforgiving parts of the city, where he grew up. But Andrea finds the beauty of Rome all over. Often stopping to take a photo of the same panorama he's seen a thousand times. Feeling as if it was the first time the scene caught his eyes: Trastevere, Villa Pamphilli, Monti... And the food of course, the Jewish Ghetto has the best food in Rome. “A few weeks ago, I ate coda alla vaccinara at Giggetto in the ghetto and when I tasted the food, it felt like my grandmother was feeding me.” Andrea smiles. 

Before, Careri started producing social media content and television in the US, he was always behind the screen as a writer. Andrea started his career writing for the son of a film producer in Italy who produced movies for Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, and Nanni Moretti. The producer taught Andrea how to write for actors at a specific location while respecting the available budget. This experience gave Andrea a preference to write commissioned scripts instead of specs and to develop scripts with producers. Then, he studied at the famous masterclass at Rai. The Italian public television organized a class for screenwriters and TV writers where Andrea met the Hollywood gurus: Chris Vogler, Dara Marks, Robert McKee. Andrea learned how to write a studio movie.

Andrea graduated in history from University in Italy and also studied abroad at Salamanca, the oldest university in the world, where Andrea had his first experience in the movie business. Andrea worked as a PA for the Ghosts of Goya made by Milos Forman starring Natalie Portman and Javier Bardem. Next, Andrea worked with De Laurentis in Rome. All his colleagues were experienced writers, who wrote with Monicelli and the old school generation of writers who created La Commedia all’Italiana.  Andrea got lucky on a large budget movie with De Laurentis and had a comedy produced. 

“It was one of the biggest satisfactions in my life to sit down in the theater with my father and see the credits on the screen.” Andrea glows.  

“I’m able to write in Italian, English, and Spanish. I’m not American, so it’s a challenge to me. Sometimes it’s funny because my English is not perfect and often I’m the one that finds the typos.” Andrea has become known throughout the industry as a writer who is skilled at finding problems in the structure of a script. He is currently working for more than a few Hollywood Producers where Andrea is the brains, the technician, and the artist, who offers solutions. Wherever the script seems to get stuck, Andrea can unstick it for them.  

“At the end of the day, I’m a storyteller and what I want to do is be a storyteller. I’m not so concerned about which media I use: TV, Film or Social Media. The stories are what matter most to me.” Andrea Careri discloses from the stoop of a Greenwich Village building as he takes a sip from what will probably be his last espresso in New York before moving to Los Angeles to continue his path from Cinecitta to New York to Hollywood.