World Screen Inter Medya Special Report

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INTER MEDYA SPECIAL REPORT

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A Look Inside T Soft launched at DISCOP Dubai, The Pit is Inter Medya’s new flagship drama for MIPTV. World Screen takes an in-depth look at the series.

Aras Bulut Iynemli and Dilan Çiçek Deniz lead the cast of Ay Yapim’s brand-new drama The Pit for Show TV. Directed by Sinan Öztürk, the series is set against the backdrop of a dangerous Istanbul neighborhood called Çukur, which is ruled by the Koçovali family.

Although they are closely related to crime, the family has its own rules. One of these is the prohibition of drugs, which cannot be produced, used or sold in Çukur. But one man is determined to get the ban lifted. First he tries to negotiate with the Koçovalis, but when his request is rejected he attacks the neighborhood and the family. Just when he thinks that he has brought the family to its knees, something unexpected happens.

Yamaç is a young man who has focused on living life the way he wants to. He doesn’t think about tomorrow. One night he meets a beautiful young woman as wounded and dangerous as he is. Her name is Sena. Soon they fall in love and get married. They thought they were going to live happily ever after until Yamaç’s family, which he abandoned a decade ago, comes between them.

Their lives will never be the same.

“The Pit has been extremely successful in Turkey, not only because of its unusual and fast-paced storyline, but also its acclaimed cast,” says Can Okan, the founder and CEO of Inter Medya. “We have received a lot of interest from a variety of territories, including the Middle East.”

Okan adds, “It’s always exciting and thrilling to cooperate with Ay Yapim. With every title, Ay Yapim manages to find new ways to glue the audience to the screen and immerse them into a variety of worlds.”

Who’s W Yamaç Koçovali (Aras Bulut Iynemli)

Sena Koçovali (Dilan Çiçek Deniz)

The younger son of the Koçovali family is a chemist during the day and a musician at night. He returns to Çukur to protect his family and the neighborhood.

Yamaç’s true love is reckless, stubborn, high on life and beautiful.

Saadet (Boncuk Yilmaz)

Selim Koçovali (Öner Erkan)

Taken in by the Koçovali family, she is aware of everything that happens but keeps it all to herself.

Idris’s third son is looked down upon because he doesn’t embrace his father’s values.

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e The Pit

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s Who Idris Koçovali (Ercan Kesal)

Sultan Koçovali (Perihan Savaş)

The head of the Koçovali family and ruler of The Pit is a powerful and generous man.

Idris’s wife is the backbone of the Koçovali family, a woman whose word is accepted as law.

Vartolu (Erkan Kolçak Köstendil)

Aliço (Riza Kocaoğlu)

A ruthless mafia leader who comes back to The Pit for revenge.

Idris’s eyes and ears on the street.

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WS: How do you see the position of Turkish dramas in the global market today?

OKAN: In the past ten years, Turkey has become the second-biggest exporter of TV series following the U.S., with the current volume estimated to exceed $300 million. The Turkish Exporters’ Assembly plans [for the industry] to reach $1 billion in content exports by 2023. So far, more than 150 Turkish series have been sold abroad and watched by more than 500 million viewers in 100-plus countries, reaching from the Middle East to Latin America, from Central and Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia.

The number of territories where Turkish content is finding its way is increasing every day. In fact, Turkish series are now being watched in Western Europe. We have recently sold Black Money Love and 20 Minutes to Canal+, one of France’s largest television channels. There is no doubt that other European countries will soon follow the Turkish drama trend.

WS: Can Turkish dramas continue to sustain their popularity in the international market?

OKAN: Turkish drama series have been so successful everywhere because of their exciting and captivating scenarios, outstanding production quality and their attractive and talented casts. Because of its strategic location and historical background, Turkey has been ruled by various cultures for centuries. Born from a combination of cultures, Turkish writers and directors are able to develop universal stories that appeal to everyone. While classic Turkish dramas with more conventional stories featuring love triangles and betrayals are still extremely popular, new genres are starting to attract more and more interest across the globe. Dramas with some comedy elements, such as Hayat, and dramas with some criminal features, like our newest title, The Pit, are generating a new trend in the Turkish television industry.

WS: Many Turkish actors and shows have been recognized at prestigious international award ceremonies. What are your thoughts on that?

By Mansha Daswani

ne of Turkey’s leading distributors, Inter Medya, in its 26-year history, has evolved from being a feature-film agent to a multigenre content hub. While the sale of Turkish dramas remains a big part of Inter Medya’s business, the company has expanded into format creation, production and distribution. Can Okan, the founder and CEO of Inter Medya, talks to World Screen about his strategy for the company.

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OKAN: A number of our titles and their cast members have been nominated to receive prestigious international awards. In fact, several even won. In 2013, 20 Minutes was nominated for the best drama series award at the Seoul International Drama Awards. A year later, the lead actress was nominated for the best performance by an actress award at the International Emmys. In 2015, although the lead actor in Black Money Love, who was nominated for the best performance by

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WS: How has Inter Medya contributed to the worldwide success and popularity of Turkish content?

OKAN: For 26 years, Inter Medya has managed to reach an important position as a distributor of Turkish series and feature films in the international market. By following an aggressive marketing strategy, which includes extensive media coverage—both online and in print—major branding opportunities and corporate sponsorships and events, we have tried to maximize our company’s visibility to consistently and reliably spread the Turkish TV and film industry outside of Turkey. We have managed to earn our clients’ trust and loyalty by providing them with an up-todate catalog and a satisfactory and sustained service record. Following a pricing policy respected by our partners, our most important achievement is that our trustworthy work relationships have spread in many countries.

the Fresh TV conference, this quiz show is a perfect combination of intelligence, speed and talent. With each correctly answered question, the contestant gets a chance to count as much cash as they can in 60 seconds and earn that amount if the announced sum is correct. Now we do not only distribute paper formats but formats that have been successfully broadcast on TV in Turkey. Produced by BKM and broadcast on Show TV, another one of our popular formats is 1 vs. 10. It is an unusual quiz show, where one contestant is asked ten questions but instead of answering these questions, he or she has to pick one rival out of ten who he or she believes will answer incorrectly. If the chosen rival answers correctly, the rival wins. If not, the contestant wins. At MIPTV we are launching a brand-new format called The Perfect Couple.

Taking place in a luxurious beach house in the Caribbean, it is a dating game show where contestants compete to win the limited number of room keys in order to avoid sleeping outside. The losing contestants, who stay outside, have to fight in an elimination duel to determine the one going home.

This year, we not only plan to expand the sales of TV series and entertainment formats, we also want to boost our feature-film sales. We believe that Turkish movies, just like Turkish drama series, will become extremely popular in the international market. Over time, we managed to build an extensive catalog of movies that are not only box-office hits in Turkey but that feature many known actors, some of whom play parts in our most successful series.

WS: Can you keep defending your position as one of the leading players in the international market by only selling Turkish dramas? How are you expanding the catalog?

OKAN: While distributing Turkish drama series continues to be our core business, a couple of years ago we began a format business in order to increase our product diversity and further extend our client network. We established an in-house creation and production team to not only create and develop new formats but also to undertake future productions. We started to grow our catalog with formats conceived by our own team as well as formats co-developed with creators from various

WS: Which titles are you highlighting at MIPTV? OKAN: Produced by Avşar Film, Mrs. Fazilet and Her Daughters is one of the newest titles in our catalog. It tells the story of a single mother from a modest background who dreams of becoming successful and wealthy by using her two daughters. Launched only a few months ago at MIP Cancun, Broken Wings is produced by Koliba. A true family drama, this title depicts the story of four siblings who are left alone in poverty after their father’s sudden death. Another highlight is Runaway Brides, a title produced by NTC Medya. We are launching one new title at this year’s MIPTV.

countries, including Turkey, Israel, France and Italy. In the summer of 2016, we produced a ten-episode season of our format Fifty Fifty for ATV, one of Turkey’s biggest broadcasters. A few months after, we were approached

by Secuoya Group, one of Spain’s leading companies in the format business, to represent many of their formats in a large number of territories. One of our newest formats, Money Monster, also turned out to be one of the most popular ones. Highlighted by Virginia Mouseler at

Pre-launched at DISCOP Dubai, it is produced by Ay Yapim and features the actors Aras Bulut Iynemli and Dilan Çiçek Deniz. The Pit is the story of a young man named Yamaç, who comes from an influential family ruling over Çukur, a neighborhood in Istanbul. Torn between his love, his family and his neighborhood, Yamaç has no idea that his life is never going to be the same when he has to go back to Çukur to become the head of the family.

an actor award, did not take the International Emmy home, he grabbed the best actor award at the Seoul International Drama Awards. That said, it was Endless Love that made the headlines. Not only did it receive the Jury’s Special Prize at the Seoul International Drama Awards, it also brought home an International Emmy in the telenovela category. This was an extraordinary success not only for our company and the producer Ay Yapim, but also an incredible achievement for the Turkish television industry. This Emmy also represented a benchmark for new trends that will shape the future world of television. As Turkish productions gain more popularity around the world, more nominations and wins will follow.

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FAMILY DRAMA Stories focused on the bonds between families have been strong sellers for Inter Medya. World Screen spotlights two of the company’s recent hits.

Broken Wings fter the sudden death of their father, Zeynep, Emre, Cemre and Aysun face difficult times. The one person they have to keep them going is Nefise, their young mother. Nefise does her best to take care of her children, but things aren’t easy. The Koliba Film production starring Melis Tüzüngüç, Deniz Bolişik, Ahmet Varli and Seda Türkmen also follows the romantic life of Zeynep.

Aloof to Ahmet, who has feelings for her, Zeynep meets and falls for Onur.

The drama was officially launched to the global market at MIP Cancun following its summer debut in Turkey, where it premiered with a 13-percent share.

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Mrs. Fazilet and Her Daughters rom Avşar Film, Mrs. Fazilet and Her Daughters has quickly emerged as one of Inter Medya’s top sellers.

The Star TV drama rolled out on OSN at the end of last year, and has been licensed in Chile, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldova, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Romania.

The drama, which is one of the top five series in Turkey this season, focuses on Mrs. Fazilet and her attempts to use her daughters to climb up the social ladder. It stars Nazan Kesal, Deniz Baysal, Afra Saraçoğlu, Mahir Günşiray and Gülsen Tuncer.

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GAME TIME Formats is a significant growth area for Inter Medya. World Screen explores one of the newest additions to the company’s catalog.

The Perfect Couple his new reality dating show will take place in a luxurious villa in the Caribbean.

For 52 episodes, 22 contestants (11 men and 11 women) will have the best days of their lives in a beach house with six double rooms and an amazing suite. But there is a catch. In this fancy beach house, there isn’t enough space for everyone. The contestants will have to compete in the Key Challenges and win in order to score the limited number of room keys. The winning contestants will pick their partners to enjoy their time in the house, while the losing couple will be left outside, marginalized and homeless. But they will have one chance to convince the key holders to switch their partners, leading the household into conflict and jealousy. After the winners make their final decision, the losing contestants, who have to stay outside, must fight in an elimination duel to determine the one going home. After 17 weeks, only four couples will make it to the finale, where they will play elimination games as couples.

The winners will be “The Perfect Couple” and grab the big prize. This prime-time format will air two nights a week, 60 to 90 minutes per episode.

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