V I D E O • A G E OC T O B E R 2 0 1 1 38 company to company.” According to Pinto, who credited his Global Agency for opening the door to Central and Eastern Europe with the popular 1001 Nights, Turkish dramas have become so popular in the territories because, “they have great stories and work with high budgets. They are especially popular in the Balkan territories and in the Middle East where audiences find many similarities to their own cultures and feel connected with the series.” Okan further explained: “Due to strong competition in the local market, Turkish producers raise high budgets for their projects to obtain higher ratings, therefore the production values are very high. Additionally, while an episode of a Latin American telenovela is filmed in a day or two, the same process [in Turkey] takes a week or even longer, since the Turkish series are broadcast on a weekly basis, which increases the quality of the final product. Furthermore, Turkey is located between Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and our country reflects bits and pieces of the Western and Eastern cultures, which also attracts the international audience.” Added Özsümbül, “Especially [popular are] dramas that target female audiences — family dramas, ‘Cinderella’ stories because of the production quality, locations, good cast, acting and stories. We are all human and feelings are the same: love, revenge, and passion. [And] we use real locations, not studios.” Internationally, said Pinto, “the most popular Turkish TV products are the high-end drama series, those that do well in the ratings and have high production values.” To Okan, “Drama series and telenovelas are becoming more andmore popular every day. Besides drama, some action series have also been successful in certain territories.” According to Global Agency’s Pinto, “Rates for a 45-minute episode in various territories differ with every project and there is no standard. Prices can start from U.S.$500 per hour to more than $10,000.” T u r k i s h ( C o n t i n u e d ) (Continued from Page 36) Turkey Has Its Own Desperate Housewives Last August, The Walt Disney Company Turkey announced that plans were in the works for a local production of U.S. series Desperate Housewives. The original Desperate Housewives series was created by Marc Cherry and produced by Disney’s ABC Studios. It was honored with the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy in both 2005 and 2006 and airs in over 200 territories. In the U.S. it is now entering its eighth and final season. The Turkish version of the series will be called Umutsuz Ev Kadinlari and will be co-produced by Turkish productioncompanyMedyapim and Disney. It will air later this year on Kanal D, a free-to-air channel. Production will follow the format and storylines of the original, but with a Turkish twist, and it will be filmed on location in Istanbul. Since 2006, four versions of DesperateHousewiveshave been produced in Latin America. The Argentinean version is broadcast in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay; the Colombian/Ecuadorian version airs in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama, and has been sold to Japan; the U.S. Hispanic version is broadcast in the U.S., Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic; and the Brazilian version airs in Portuguese in Brazil.
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