Post by Dèsîŗĕ Yèarning on Mar 16, 2011 21:01:34 GMT -5
ver the past few years, Turkish television series have seen a rapid rise in popularity, partially due to the techniques used in filming them as well as their strong acting ensembles.
Outside of Turkey, the popularity of these series is breaking viewing records in regions from the Middle East to the Balkans. So far, a total of 65 Turkish series, including popular favorites such as “Acı Hayat,” “Asmalı Konak,” “Aşk-ı Memnu,” “Kurtlar Vadisi,” “Yabancı Damat,” “Yaprak Dökümü,” “Çocuklar Duymasın” and “Ihlamurlar Altında” have been broadcast to audiences in 39 countries, such as Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Iraq, Bulgaria and Greece. The country with the greatest demand for more Turkish television series is Kazakhstan, followed by Bulgaria and then Azerbaijan.
Copyrights and Cinema General Manager Abdurrahman Çelik spoke recently to a reporter from the Anatolia news agency, noting that the real development of the Turkish television series sector has actually been going on for the past seven or eight years. Çelik talked about how the significant development of this sector has been occurring parallel to the rapid development of the Turkish cinema sector, saying, “We see this reflected in the national and international success enjoyed by films produced in recent years in Turkey.” Talking about how notably Turkey has managed to distinguish itself in recent film festivals in Europe, Çelik said, ‘’Compared with European countries, we have been showing serious advances in the past three years.”
Çelik also noted that the development of the Turkish television series sector over the past few years is having a very positive effect from the perspective of promoting Turkey abroad. He continued: “Thanks to series and films, we are really able these days to promote ourselves influentially. Even those who didn’t know what sort of country Turkey is before are now learning. They are saying things like ‘Turkey is not what we expected.’ One of the best countries there is at using series and films to promote themselves is the US. People who have never in their lives even been to the US know many things about the lifestyle, the food and the cities there.
So much so that when they do finally get there, it doesn’t even seem foreign to them. What we can understand from this is that the influence wielded by the film sector is very great. As the state has finally begun to comprehend all this, we have arrived at a stage in which the state extends a hand to the sector.” Çelik noted it is currently Turkish television series that have begun catching on extraordinarily rapidly in countries outside of Turkey and that the various successes of Turkish foreign policy and agreements and the elimination of visa requirements with neighboring nations have all contributed to this. Referencing a new law introduced in 2008 that allows a return on KDV for all spending and profit in the series and cinema sector, Çelik says: “With this new law, television series are now accepted as export products, and companies can make money off of them. So series episodes that we were selling for $50 only five years ago are now selling for $50,000. This is the clearest expression there is of the general development we have seen in the series sector and in the interest from abroad in Turkish series.”
Çelik said the export of series to other countries started with “Deli Yürek” being sold to Kazakhstan in 2001 and that the export of such films took off much faster following 2005. He noted: “Despite the fact that 2009 was a year of global economic crisis, there were 3,670 series hours exported from Turkey. This was a 30 percent increase over the previous year. After all, there is a very serious television series sector in Turkey. They have started to surpass the average European series in quality. Both the technical underpinnings and the general topics addressed by these series are really advancing. And we see that Turkey, which used to watch Brazilian series, now exports its own series abroad.”
‘Foreigners want to shoot their series in Turkey’
Çelik noted how significant it was for Turkey that homegrown television series from this nation are breaking viewing records in the Middle East, the Turkic republics of Central Asia and the Balkan countries. He also said that foreign production companies have been noticing the beauty of the settings chosen to shoot many of these series, saying this is translating into an interest expressed by foreign producers to shoot their own work here. Said Çelik: “Of course, shooting a film is not an easy thing. One needs to prepare the proper technical foundations. So we have formed a technical team to determine where films can be best shot in Turkey. They will be doing more research, and actually, spots such as Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Cappadocia are some of the regions they will be paying primary attention to.”
In the meantime, the greatest demand for more Turkish television series comes from the nation of Kazakhstan, which has broadcast 42 such series, including “Acı Hayat,” “Aliye,” “Asi,” “Bir İstanbul Masalı” and “Dudaktan Kalbe.” Following Kazakhstan is Bulgaria, with 27 series from Turkey, Azerbaijan with 23, Macedonia with 17, Middle Eastern countries with 14, Uzbekistan with 13, Greece with eight, Kosovo with four, Iran with three, Romania with two and Bosnia with one Turkish series.
Outside of Turkey, the popularity of these series is breaking viewing records in regions from the Middle East to the Balkans. So far, a total of 65 Turkish series, including popular favorites such as “Acı Hayat,” “Asmalı Konak,” “Aşk-ı Memnu,” “Kurtlar Vadisi,” “Yabancı Damat,” “Yaprak Dökümü,” “Çocuklar Duymasın” and “Ihlamurlar Altında” have been broadcast to audiences in 39 countries, such as Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Iraq, Bulgaria and Greece. The country with the greatest demand for more Turkish television series is Kazakhstan, followed by Bulgaria and then Azerbaijan.
Copyrights and Cinema General Manager Abdurrahman Çelik spoke recently to a reporter from the Anatolia news agency, noting that the real development of the Turkish television series sector has actually been going on for the past seven or eight years. Çelik talked about how the significant development of this sector has been occurring parallel to the rapid development of the Turkish cinema sector, saying, “We see this reflected in the national and international success enjoyed by films produced in recent years in Turkey.” Talking about how notably Turkey has managed to distinguish itself in recent film festivals in Europe, Çelik said, ‘’Compared with European countries, we have been showing serious advances in the past three years.”
Çelik also noted that the development of the Turkish television series sector over the past few years is having a very positive effect from the perspective of promoting Turkey abroad. He continued: “Thanks to series and films, we are really able these days to promote ourselves influentially. Even those who didn’t know what sort of country Turkey is before are now learning. They are saying things like ‘Turkey is not what we expected.’ One of the best countries there is at using series and films to promote themselves is the US. People who have never in their lives even been to the US know many things about the lifestyle, the food and the cities there.
So much so that when they do finally get there, it doesn’t even seem foreign to them. What we can understand from this is that the influence wielded by the film sector is very great. As the state has finally begun to comprehend all this, we have arrived at a stage in which the state extends a hand to the sector.” Çelik noted it is currently Turkish television series that have begun catching on extraordinarily rapidly in countries outside of Turkey and that the various successes of Turkish foreign policy and agreements and the elimination of visa requirements with neighboring nations have all contributed to this. Referencing a new law introduced in 2008 that allows a return on KDV for all spending and profit in the series and cinema sector, Çelik says: “With this new law, television series are now accepted as export products, and companies can make money off of them. So series episodes that we were selling for $50 only five years ago are now selling for $50,000. This is the clearest expression there is of the general development we have seen in the series sector and in the interest from abroad in Turkish series.”
Çelik said the export of series to other countries started with “Deli Yürek” being sold to Kazakhstan in 2001 and that the export of such films took off much faster following 2005. He noted: “Despite the fact that 2009 was a year of global economic crisis, there were 3,670 series hours exported from Turkey. This was a 30 percent increase over the previous year. After all, there is a very serious television series sector in Turkey. They have started to surpass the average European series in quality. Both the technical underpinnings and the general topics addressed by these series are really advancing. And we see that Turkey, which used to watch Brazilian series, now exports its own series abroad.”
‘Foreigners want to shoot their series in Turkey’
Çelik noted how significant it was for Turkey that homegrown television series from this nation are breaking viewing records in the Middle East, the Turkic republics of Central Asia and the Balkan countries. He also said that foreign production companies have been noticing the beauty of the settings chosen to shoot many of these series, saying this is translating into an interest expressed by foreign producers to shoot their own work here. Said Çelik: “Of course, shooting a film is not an easy thing. One needs to prepare the proper technical foundations. So we have formed a technical team to determine where films can be best shot in Turkey. They will be doing more research, and actually, spots such as Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Cappadocia are some of the regions they will be paying primary attention to.”
In the meantime, the greatest demand for more Turkish television series comes from the nation of Kazakhstan, which has broadcast 42 such series, including “Acı Hayat,” “Aliye,” “Asi,” “Bir İstanbul Masalı” and “Dudaktan Kalbe.” Following Kazakhstan is Bulgaria, with 27 series from Turkey, Azerbaijan with 23, Macedonia with 17, Middle Eastern countries with 14, Uzbekistan with 13, Greece with eight, Kosovo with four, Iran with three, Romania with two and Bosnia with one Turkish series.