Asli Serim: “Our mission is to spread joy to global audiences”

Calinos Entertainment started the year with much news in the international arena. First, the company locked the global distribution of "Farah," the Turkish adaptation of the award-winning Argentinian scripted series "La Chica Que Limpia." Moreover, Calino's "Forbidden Fruit" became Spain's best fiction premiere in a decade. To describe these events and to highlight her new role as Head of International Sales at Calinos Entertainment, Señal News spoke with Asli Serim.

▸ What would be the main challenges of your new position at Calinos?

"Calinos Entertainment's mission is to spread joy to global audiences, to make them 'enjoy the drama.' I'll continue to carry on this mission and enwiden the presence of Calinos' dramas on all the platforms, in every country, with the new international shows and movies and the phenomenal Turkish titles from our catalog."

▸ What are the most significant growth opportunities for the company in the international arena?

"As always, Latin America is essential for us, and we aim to grow and enwiden our presence in the region. In addition, Asia and Africa are the continents we will focus on in 2023. We are adding new titles to our catalog, not only from Turkey but also from international producers. We started this with Polish films in 2022 and will have some new titles in the upcoming weeks. In addition to licensing finished content, we also work on format sales. That's why 'Adela,' the Romanian remake of Calinos' 'That's My Life' drama, was a great phenomenon in Romania and had four successful seasons. We added it to our catalog by the end of last year, and in 2023 we will have remakes of 'Dila,' 'The Bitter Life,' and 'Starlust' in Latin America. We also recently sold the formats of 'No:309' to Romania and 'That's My Life' to Africa."

▸ How would Calinos organize its strategy in order to work with free-TV channels, pay-TV brands, and streamers?

"Our distribution strategy is to enwiden the presence of Calinos’ dramas on every platform. So, we create tailor-made solutions to satisfy every media company's needs."

▸ Calinos will distribute the Turkish adaptation of "La Chica Que Limpia." What global appeal do you recognize in this title?

"'Farah' is the new leading drama of Wednesdays in Turkey. It is the adaptation of the award-winning Argentinean scripted series "La Chica Que Limpia." Produced by O3 Medya and starring Demet Ozdemir and Engin Akyurek, 'Farah' is the story of an Iranian woman who had to run away from her country and is struggling to live in Istanbul, working as a cleaning lady to maintain the health treatment of her son; but, in the end, she turns into a mafia collaborator. The US remake of the series, 'The Cleaning Lady,' is also an award-winner and lately achieved the 'Best Drama of 2022' award by 'Women's Image Network.' Firat Tanis, Senan Kara, Lale Basar, Oktay Cubuk, Mustafa Avkiran, and Ali Surmeli are some of the talents that star with Engin Akyurek and Demet Ozdemir in 'Farah.'"

▸ After "Forbidden Fruit" became a massive hit in Spain, could it expand its global footprint?

"At Calinos Entertainment, we present great dramas for audiences worldwide. That is the case of 'Forbidden Fruit.' The show was produced by Medyapim and sold to 14 countries in 2022, including Spain. In each of those territories, it became a phenomenon. Last February, 'Forbidden Fruit' debuted in Spain as 'Pecado Original' and was named the best fiction premiere in a decade. The show achieved a 15% share of its slot on Atresmedia's Antena 3. That reflects the solid power of Calinos' catalog and shows us that there are more countries to conquer with 'Forbidden Fruit.'"

By Diego Alfagemez