Calinos Entertainment CEO Firat Gulgen says rising costs could threaten Turkish producers but believes a more consolidated industry will be able to withstand economic and geopolitical pressures.
What veteran executive Firat Gulgen doesn’t know about the Turkish content industry, and its ever-growing stature in the global market, probably isn’t worth knowing.
Firat Gulgen
As the CEO and founder of Istanbul-headquartered distributor Calinos Entertainment, Gulgen is celebrating his company’s 25th birthday in 2024. He claims Calinos was the first company to sell Turkish programming internationally – kickstarting a trend that has seen the country’s trademark telenovelas find new homes all over the globe.
In the last quarter of a century, Gulgen has overseen the licensing of around 130,000 hours of content to 105 countries on five continents. “Selling more than 200 programmes around the world hasn’t been easy, believe me,” says Gulgen.
“But I’m proud to say that in these past 25 years, Calinos has established a great global reputation by doing business the right way. In all that time, we’ve never had negative feedback or conflict from any of our clients and partners.”
With such a wealth of experience in the audiovisual industry – and dividing his time equally between Turkey and the US – Gulgen is able to take an over-arching view of the issues facing the Turkish production and distribution sector.
One of the biggest challenges is the soaring cost of production, exacerbated by the decline of the traditional linear broadcasting model, as streaming platforms carve out their own slices of audience share. The problem is so severe in Turkey, Gulgen suspects many prodcos won’t be able to survive for much longer.
“Inflation and Turkey’s exchange rate problems are causing production costs for shows such as our telenovelas to go up every year, but the budgets at our TV channels are not going in the same direction,” he explains.
“Therefore, prodcos try to cover this financial gap with global distribution revenue. However, this is based on the success of shows in the TV ratings and the streamer revolution means that overall free-to-air viewership numbers are down.
“Subsequently, the shows that aren’t financially effective have to end their runs earlier than projected. If the industry doesn’t find a solution to this, a lot of production companies will have to be consolidated and there will be no more content diversity.
“Market share isn’t growing in line with the current increasing costs and only financially strong companies will survive. Consolidations will be inevitable.”
03 Medya’s Farah has been sold into more than 30 countries
With Turkey occupying a uniquely central position on the map, straddling both Europe and Asia, the country is vulnerable to any number of geopolitical tensions that may be simmering around the region.
Gulgen ponders how political unrest in the US and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza might affect the entertainment industry in the coming months.
“We need to assess 2024 not only in terms of our industry in Turkey, but the political impact on a global scale,” he says. “I work in the US a lot and read all the news. I believe the outcome of the elections there will affect all countries.
“Equally, if the war between Ukraine and Russia ends, perhaps Europe’s economic struggles will end. Will the conflict between Palestine and Israel spread further across the Middle East?
“All of these factors will create a new media mathematic and influence the content industries in Turkey, the US, Europe and Latin America. If there is still so much turmoil in the coming years, will viewers really want to watch entertainment shows on TV while eating popcorn, or will the news and current affairs naturally start to take the spotlight?”
Despite these concerns, Gulgen is quick to point out that Turkey is better positioned than most to weather any potential storms.
Certainly, from a distribution perspective alone, the Turkish content industry is thriving. C21’s recent Content Americas market in Miami, for example, staged a Turkish Drama Gala to celebrate 10 years of prolific business between the country and the Lat Am market.
Business is booming all around the world for Calinos, which has licensed hit drama Forbidden Fruit, produced by Medyapim, into Poland, Spain, the US and across Latin America. Meanwhile, flagship title Farah, produced by 03 Medya, has been sold into more than 30 countries including Lithuania and Albania.
Scripted format That’s My Life, made by Pastel Film, has been licensed in Africa and remade under the title Adela in Romania. Calinos has also recently closed deals in France, Australia and the Philippines.
Medyapim produced hit drama Forbidden Fruit
“Last year, the Turkish production industry was faster and more productive than ever, both in terms of ready-mades and coproductions,” says Gulgen.
“While the Turkish economy may be perceived as weak, its dynamism positions it better than many European countries affected by the war in Ukraine. Turkey has benefited from the changing balance in the region and in the Middle East. We have a young population which can consume, produce and export at the same time.
“This has turned into a very profitable model and the companies who are producing according to this strategy are now entering the sphere of global media groups. In the short term, I anticipate a number of mergers between global players and Turkish prodcos.”
Like many TV executives, Gulgen believes that the rise of streaming platforms has been both beneficial and problematic in the TV ecosystem. On the one hand, he observes that US streamers, such as Netflix, entering the Turkish market have driven up the price of creative talent.
From a more positive perspective, local VoD services, such as Warner Bros Discovery-owned BluTV and Gain, launched by game company Beyn last year, have brought younger generations hungry for fresh, exciting content to the market.
“As streaming platforms and FAST [free, ad-supported streaming TV] channels rise in popularity, audiences are now being introduced to the so-called new-generation Turkish productions,” Gulgen says. “These shows carry the essence of Turkish drama DNA, but in a faster, to-the-point and more striking manner.
“This style of programming is more orientated towards streaming platforms. That’s why we produce shows for Gain and BluTV of eight-, 12- or 16-episode seasons – much shorter than the traditional Turkish telenovelas.
“A new path has emerged with the rise of social media. Turkish scriptwriters capture the vibe and they evolve stories according to daily social media feedback. Buyers appreciate the flexibility and pace of this trend.”
Scripted format That’s My Life from Pastel Film
After founding Calinos Entertainment in 1999, Gulgen signed an output deal with Paramount and Universal Studios in 2003, allowing his company to distribute their content in Turkey.
Gulgen’s other achievements include founding Calinos Films, which boasts a library of more than 300 movies. In 2012, he also created branded pay TV channel FilmTivi for IPTV service Tivibu.
Although celebrating its silver anniversary in 2024, Calinos Entertainment is not resting on its laurels and is already mapping out a corporate strategy for the next 25 years. Gulgen is cautiously optimistic that the current trend for Turkish drama will continue for the foreseeable future, fostering more prosperity for his homeland.
“The Turkish production industry is struggling with the problems I mentioned before, but there is always room for quality content with compelling stories,” he says. “I’ve been told officially that about 800 million people are watching Turkish drama around the world, but I suspect that figure might actually be as many as 1.2 billion.
“There are probably a handful of territories that have not yet given into the Turkish drama trend yet – places like Asia, Africa and the Nordics, for example – but we will reach those territories in the near future. As long as the broadcasting industry grows, Turkish content will continue to expand, both on free TV and digital platforms.”
