Disney+ Drops Town’s Name from Title of True Crime Series After Local Mayor Sues

Disney+ series “Avetrana — This Is Not Hollywood” has lost the “Avetrana” in its title after the mayor of Avetrana sued Disney. We’ll explain.

“Avetrana — This Is Not Hollywood” is an Italian-language true-crime series fictionalizing the 2010 murder of 15-year-old Sarah Scazzi in Avetrana, a small town in the province of Taranto, part of the Apulia region of southeast Italy. The local media frenzy that followed hit a low point when the host of a state-run news program informed Scazzi’s mother live on TV that her daughter was dead.

The crime has already been documented on streaming by 2022 Apple TV+ docuseries “The Murder of Sarah Scazzi.” That one was unscripted.

To say the murder and its aftermath are a sore spot in Avetrana would be an understatement. Mayor Antonio Lazzi argued that the inclusion of the town’s name in the series’ title gave the municipality a bad name.

In Italy, the series is “Avetrana — Qui Non è Hollywood.” It premiered at the 19th Rome Film Festival; see the group photo from the red carpet above.

Incredibly, Lazzi succeeded — temporarily, at least. A court in Taranto accepted the appeal and halted the show’s original October 25 release on a provisional basis, setting a November 5 hearing in which it planned to adjudicate the matter more fully. For the time being, Disney is dropping the town’s name from the title.

When it finally launches tomorrow, October 30, on Disney+ (in Italy), the series will just be called “This Is Not Hollywood,” IndieWire has confirmed. The “This Is Not Hollywood” portion of the title refers to a scrawling on an Avetrana wall imploring the swarm of outside TV broadcasters investigating the crime to go home.

“Following the court order issued by the Court of Taranto and pending a follow up hearing on the 5th November, Groenlandia and Disney inform that the title of the series will now be ‘This Is Not Hollywood,'” a Disney spokesperson told IndieWire.

Should Disney and the series’ production company Grøenlandia Group (“Grøenlandia” translates to “Greenland”) triumph in court, it is possible the “Avetrana” will be back in the show’s title. There are currently no dates set for the true-crime series’ release in other territories.

Reuters first reported the news of the court order and Disney’s decision to drop “Avetrana” from the series’ title.