Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival kicked off its third edition on Thursday with the world premiere of Dubai-based Iraqi director Yasir Al-Yasiri’s fantasy “Hwjn” and a glitzy red carpet featuring Will Smith, Sharon Stone, Baz Luhrmann, Ranveer Singh and a slew of Arabic stars.
Johnny Depp also posed on the red carpet and attended the opening gala, but kept a lower profile.
Depp is at the festival with Maïwenn’s Cannes-opener “Jeanne du Barry,” which was funded by the Red Sea Film Foundation. Maïwenn also made the trek to Jeddah. Depp’s relationship with the foundation now continues with his directorial effort “Modi,” a biopic about Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani also backed by the fund. The actor is scheduled to deliver an onstage conversation in the coming days.
The Israel-Hamas war that has caused cancellations of several movie celebrations across the Arab world has...
Johnny Depp also posed on the red carpet and attended the opening gala, but kept a lower profile.
Depp is at the festival with Maïwenn’s Cannes-opener “Jeanne du Barry,” which was funded by the Red Sea Film Foundation. Maïwenn also made the trek to Jeddah. Depp’s relationship with the foundation now continues with his directorial effort “Modi,” a biopic about Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani also backed by the fund. The actor is scheduled to deliver an onstage conversation in the coming days.
The Israel-Hamas war that has caused cancellations of several movie celebrations across the Arab world has...
- 11/30/2023
- by Rafa Sales Ross and Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we’ll shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week, we’re talking to Turkish TV powerhouse Tims & B Productions. The company is coming off the back of launching new drama Another Love in Mipcom last month and Selin Arat, Director of International Operations at the company reveals what next steps are for the prolific producer and why Turkish TV content will continue to punch above its weight in the international arena.
When rival producers Timur Savcı and Burak Sağyaşar decided to join their two production outfits – Savcı’s Tims Productions and Sağyaşar’s Bi Yapım – in 2017, it marked a union of two of Turkey’s most prominent creators of television content. Savcı had been the producer behind Ottoman period drama Magnificent Century, a worldwide phenomenon that is...
When rival producers Timur Savcı and Burak Sağyaşar decided to join their two production outfits – Savcı’s Tims Productions and Sağyaşar’s Bi Yapım – in 2017, it marked a union of two of Turkey’s most prominent creators of television content. Savcı had been the producer behind Ottoman period drama Magnificent Century, a worldwide phenomenon that is...
- 11/2/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Producer Timur Savci a decade ago made “Magnificent Century” the Ottoman costume drama that spearheaded the country’s TV boom.
He is currently at the MipTV market in Cannes with his partner Burak Sağyaşar, with whom he co-heads prolific Turkish shingle Tims & B, launching their new show “Modern Woman” (pictured above) in which a young working woman in Turkey who is single and stuck in between Eastern and Western lifestyles. It’s the first time they’ve fully financed the first season of a series and taken it to market as a readymade. Global Agency is selling.
The Tims & B co-chiefs and the company’s director of international operations Selin Arat spoke exclusively to Variety about working with Netflix and Disney+, putting “Century” on the Metaverse, and why they’ve made “Modern Woman” themselves so they can hold on to their IP.
Tims is launching a new series “Modern Woman” at MipTV.
He is currently at the MipTV market in Cannes with his partner Burak Sağyaşar, with whom he co-heads prolific Turkish shingle Tims & B, launching their new show “Modern Woman” (pictured above) in which a young working woman in Turkey who is single and stuck in between Eastern and Western lifestyles. It’s the first time they’ve fully financed the first season of a series and taken it to market as a readymade. Global Agency is selling.
The Tims & B co-chiefs and the company’s director of international operations Selin Arat spoke exclusively to Variety about working with Netflix and Disney+, putting “Century” on the Metaverse, and why they’ve made “Modern Woman” themselves so they can hold on to their IP.
Tims is launching a new series “Modern Woman” at MipTV.
- 4/18/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Prominent Turkish sales company Global Agency, which brought milestone TV series “Magnificent Century” to the world, has more recently been scoring with formats, such as their singing talent show “Good Singers” that has been a primetime hit on TF1 in France.
Now the Istanbul-based company is at MipTV with a new singing show called “Beat Me If You Can,” which is already a hit in Saudi Arabia where Saudi broadcaster Sbc has just commissioned a second season.
“When I established Global Agency 15 years ago we started with formats,” says Global Agency chief Izzet Pinto. During its first two years his company was actually just a format distributor. And “then we decided to take Turkish drama abroad,” he notes.
Now that the onslaught of streaming giants such as Netflix, Disney and HBO Max in Turkey has prompted production costs of Turkish dramas to skyrocket, Global Agency – while continuing to sell Turkish...
Now the Istanbul-based company is at MipTV with a new singing show called “Beat Me If You Can,” which is already a hit in Saudi Arabia where Saudi broadcaster Sbc has just commissioned a second season.
“When I established Global Agency 15 years ago we started with formats,” says Global Agency chief Izzet Pinto. During its first two years his company was actually just a format distributor. And “then we decided to take Turkish drama abroad,” he notes.
Now that the onslaught of streaming giants such as Netflix, Disney and HBO Max in Turkey has prompted production costs of Turkish dramas to skyrocket, Global Agency – while continuing to sell Turkish...
- 4/4/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
French broadcaster TF1 will air entertainment show “Good Singers,” hosted by TV personality Anthony Lambert, from July 17.
The weekly prime time show is based on Istanbul-headquartered distributor Global Agency’s original format “Is That Really Your Voice?,” created by Izzet Pinto, in which a panel must select the talented singers from a group based purely on their appearance.
Pinto said: “The idea for the show came from watching the singer Susan Boyle, who rose to fame on a talent show. That inspired me to create this format. Her voice did not match her look and created big surprising moments for the audience. This feeling led me to create this idea.”
In the show, two teams of three celebrities each compete against one another. In each episode, 12 contestants will take the stage, each with a numbered label, and each pretending to be a good singer. The celebrities’ goal is to distinguish...
The weekly prime time show is based on Istanbul-headquartered distributor Global Agency’s original format “Is That Really Your Voice?,” created by Izzet Pinto, in which a panel must select the talented singers from a group based purely on their appearance.
Pinto said: “The idea for the show came from watching the singer Susan Boyle, who rose to fame on a talent show. That inspired me to create this format. Her voice did not match her look and created big surprising moments for the audience. This feeling led me to create this idea.”
In the show, two teams of three celebrities each compete against one another. In each episode, 12 contestants will take the stage, each with a numbered label, and each pretending to be a good singer. The celebrities’ goal is to distinguish...
- 7/15/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
As Turkey’s TV industry reels from the shock of the country’s sharp currency devaluation, Netflix is starting to establish its footprint and get traction in a market that remains among the world’s top five exporters of serial dramas.
“The roughly 40% tumble of the Turkish lira amid tensions between populist presidents Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan has caused interest rates to skyrocket and linear broadcasters’ advertising revenues to shrink,” says Ahmet Ziyalar, COO of prominent sales company Inter Medya. “As a result, due to budgeting problems, the number of successful dramas [on linear TV] decreased dramatically this season.”
Ziyalar calls 2019 an experimental year for the Turkish industry. “Digital platforms have been trying things that were long in-the-waiting,” both thematically and in terms of shorter episode lengths, since Turkish dramas on linear TV run between 120 and 150 minutes, excluding ads, he notes. That’s an “old-fashioned” format that could be on its way out,...
“The roughly 40% tumble of the Turkish lira amid tensions between populist presidents Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan has caused interest rates to skyrocket and linear broadcasters’ advertising revenues to shrink,” says Ahmet Ziyalar, COO of prominent sales company Inter Medya. “As a result, due to budgeting problems, the number of successful dramas [on linear TV] decreased dramatically this season.”
Ziyalar calls 2019 an experimental year for the Turkish industry. “Digital platforms have been trying things that were long in-the-waiting,” both thematically and in terms of shorter episode lengths, since Turkish dramas on linear TV run between 120 and 150 minutes, excluding ads, he notes. That’s an “old-fashioned” format that could be on its way out,...
- 4/8/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Avlu (The Yard)
FremantleMedia
This adaptation of Australian soap “Wentworth,” co-produced by FremantleMedia, is set in a female prison in Istanbul. “Avlu” boasts the same characters as the Australian original, with action-packed stories of survival as the inmates are thrown together to tackle life behind bars. Abused wife Deniz, played by Demet Evgar (“Wounded Love”), is arrested and charged with her husband’s murder. She is sent to prison where she finds herself caught in the middle of a bitter rivalry between Azra and Alp – the leaders of two notorious jail gangs and gets caught in their warfare. The show, which airs on Star TV, has ruffled feathers with local censors.
Bir Zamanlar Cukurova (Bitter Lands)
Tims&B Prods.
Produced by Tims&B Prods. (“Magnificent Century”), this dark romancer set in the 1970s debuted recently on Atv to strong ratings. The story begins in Istanbul and then moves to the Cilician Plains in south-central Turkey,...
FremantleMedia
This adaptation of Australian soap “Wentworth,” co-produced by FremantleMedia, is set in a female prison in Istanbul. “Avlu” boasts the same characters as the Australian original, with action-packed stories of survival as the inmates are thrown together to tackle life behind bars. Abused wife Deniz, played by Demet Evgar (“Wounded Love”), is arrested and charged with her husband’s murder. She is sent to prison where she finds herself caught in the middle of a bitter rivalry between Azra and Alp – the leaders of two notorious jail gangs and gets caught in their warfare. The show, which airs on Star TV, has ruffled feathers with local censors.
Bir Zamanlar Cukurova (Bitter Lands)
Tims&B Prods.
Produced by Tims&B Prods. (“Magnificent Century”), this dark romancer set in the 1970s debuted recently on Atv to strong ratings. The story begins in Istanbul and then moves to the Cilician Plains in south-central Turkey,...
- 10/16/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
One year after launching a production venture in Turkey, L.A.-based production company Karga Seven Pictures has announced the appointment of prominent Turkish media exec Omer Ozguner as CEO of their Istanbul-based outfit.
Concurrently Karga have also forged a partnership with prominent local directorial duo The Taylan brothers, known for megahit dramas “Magnificent Century” and “Wounded Love.”
Durul Taylan and Yagmur Taylan will be based in Karga Seven Pictures offices in Los Angeles where they will develop scripted projects targeting “Turkey, the Middle East and the United States,” the company said in a statement. Karga Seven is a subsidiary of global film and TV group Red Arrow Studios.
Karga Seven’s decision to have these top Turkish creatives work out of L.A. reflects a greater international push underway within the country’s TV industry prompted by the current roughly 40% Turkish Lira devaluation against the Dollar due to tensions...
Concurrently Karga have also forged a partnership with prominent local directorial duo The Taylan brothers, known for megahit dramas “Magnificent Century” and “Wounded Love.”
Durul Taylan and Yagmur Taylan will be based in Karga Seven Pictures offices in Los Angeles where they will develop scripted projects targeting “Turkey, the Middle East and the United States,” the company said in a statement. Karga Seven is a subsidiary of global film and TV group Red Arrow Studios.
Karga Seven’s decision to have these top Turkish creatives work out of L.A. reflects a greater international push underway within the country’s TV industry prompted by the current roughly 40% Turkish Lira devaluation against the Dollar due to tensions...
- 10/5/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Local films take a larger market share in Turkey than Hollywood films.
Leading South Korean entertainment studio Cj E&M has announced it will invest in and distribute 25 local films in Turkey by June 2019.
Cj stated it has “joined hands with Turkey’s no. 1 production company Bkm and no. 2 production company Taff to secure an investment-distribution line-up,” to “solidify” Cj’s position as a film production, investment and distribution studio in Turkey.
The Korean company noted its Turkish partners were responsible for six out of 2017’s top 10 local films with Bkm, established in 1994, steadily producing more than 10 films a year, and...
Leading South Korean entertainment studio Cj E&M has announced it will invest in and distribute 25 local films in Turkey by June 2019.
Cj stated it has “joined hands with Turkey’s no. 1 production company Bkm and no. 2 production company Taff to secure an investment-distribution line-up,” to “solidify” Cj’s position as a film production, investment and distribution studio in Turkey.
The Korean company noted its Turkish partners were responsible for six out of 2017’s top 10 local films with Bkm, established in 1994, steadily producing more than 10 films a year, and...
- 6/21/2018
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
Kfm: Russian investor boards ‘Black Angel’ remake, ‘made in Russia’ blockbusters, Kfm pitching winners, Latido picks up Ukrainian debut
Russian investment is set to be tapped for Roger Christian’s feature version of his 1980 cult short Black Angel.
Speaking during the first edition of the KinoPoisk Film Market (Kfm) in Moscow, the film’s producer Harald Reichebner said that 70% of the budget is in place as a co-production between the UK, Belgium and Hungary, with the final 30% now to come from an undisclosed private Russian investor.
The $9.7m production features an international cast including Dougray Scott, John Rhys-Davies, Rutger Hauer (who starred as The Mystic Monk in Christian’s 1994 biopic Nostradamus), Turkish-German actress-model Meryem Uzerli, star of the Turkish TV series Muhtesem Yüzyil, and Russian actor Vladimir Mashkov, known to international audiences from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Behind Enemy Lines.
Berlin-based, Austrian-born Reichebner – who had previously worked with Christian as the producer on Nostradamus - told...
Russian investment is set to be tapped for Roger Christian’s feature version of his 1980 cult short Black Angel.
Speaking during the first edition of the KinoPoisk Film Market (Kfm) in Moscow, the film’s producer Harald Reichebner said that 70% of the budget is in place as a co-production between the UK, Belgium and Hungary, with the final 30% now to come from an undisclosed private Russian investor.
The $9.7m production features an international cast including Dougray Scott, John Rhys-Davies, Rutger Hauer (who starred as The Mystic Monk in Christian’s 1994 biopic Nostradamus), Turkish-German actress-model Meryem Uzerli, star of the Turkish TV series Muhtesem Yüzyil, and Russian actor Vladimir Mashkov, known to international audiences from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Behind Enemy Lines.
Berlin-based, Austrian-born Reichebner – who had previously worked with Christian as the producer on Nostradamus - told...
- 10/26/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
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