Just before the year’s end, VideoAge contacted Aysegul Tuzun, Managing Director for Istanbul-based distribution company MISTCO, to review her 2020 international content sales activities on behalf of TRT, Turkey’s public radio and television corporation.
VideoAge: How have your two new dramas, The Innocents and Great Seljuks performed since their respective premieres on Turkish television?
Aysegul Tuzun: The Innocents, our brand new title, is still the highest rated drama in Turkey right now. Up to the time of this interview, 10 episodes have been broadcast in Turkey. Even with such a short period since its launch, we have seen a lot of interest in the series from our international partners. It is based on real life stories which makes it easy for people to connect with the characters.
The Innocents follows the life of Han, his family, and his love story with İnci, who has her own complicated relationships with her own family and friends. Han is a very attractive man and a very successful businessman, but his private life is very complicated: He lives with his father and three sisters, all of whom have obsessive compulsive disoder as a result of very traumatic childhoods. Our story begins with the accidental encounter between İnci and Han.
Great Seljuks: Guardians of Justice continues in the tradition of great historical TRT productions. TRT has the best know-how to produce historical dramas. They were the first to invest in this genre in Turkey. This genre is different than the other Turkish dramas that we have on the international market. It is different from what the audience imagines, because the traditional Turkish drama focuses on love stories, but the historical drama is another genre altogether. We started it with Resurrection: Ertugrul, which opened the doors for other Turkish historical dramas.
We now see that there is an increased demand for Turkish historical dramas and Great Seljuks: Guardians of Justice will be a new phenomenon with its great cast, high production values, and strong storyline, which is blended with love, struggle, and secrets, so the series invites viewers on an epic journey.
VA: How is the rest of the MISTCO catalog going, especially during the pandemic?
AT: At MISTCO, we are representing a most diverse Turkish catalog, and in the begining of 2020, we enriched our library with titles other than TRT ones. As a result of having such a diverse catalog, we can now say that we were able to reach great sales levels despite the pandemic, especially for series such as Melek: A Mother’s Struggle. We just released the second season, and in these new episodes, the story will focus more on Melek and her former boyfried Halil, who rekindle their love again after years of being apart. Produced by Üs Yapım, which is also the producer of Hold My Hand, Melek: A Mother’s Story will remind viewers of the importance of family and standing together against all difficulties. At MISTCO we believed in the series from the very beginning, and the sales results to several countries have proved us right, even during the pandemic. It continues to show lots of potential.
In addition, Hold My Hand, My Champion, The Circle, Golden Cage, and Resurrection: Ertugrul conquered new territories, allowing us to make new sales agreements. Together with our brand-new titles that have been sold to different key territories, our aim is to keep the momentum going in the upcoming year, as well.
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