Calinos Entertainment’s catalog continues to grow, with some of the most important Turkish dramas of the moment, as well as other top international productions, such as Indefensible.
Turkish dramas continue to be all the rage around the world, and in particular in Latin America, a television market that has been transformed since its arrival and subsequent explosion.
“Turkish dramas continue to have a strong presence in Latin America,” says Duda Rodrigues, International Sales Executive for Latin America at Calinos Entertainment. “Our distribution strategy is to expand the presence of Calinos’ dramas on each and every platform.”
“That’s why we are creating tailor-made solutions to meet the needs of each and every media outlet and we will continue to do so,” she adds.
The distributor’s objective is to “transmit joy to global audiences” and for them to “enjoy the drama”, underlines the executive, for which it will present titles such as Farah and Forbidden Fruit at LASI 2023, which are achieving excellent audience records in Chile. At the same time, Calinos expands his catalog of productions beyond borders, with the Canadian title, Indefensible.
Forbidden Fruit continues to draw in good news, now breaking audience records in Chile. How many territories have already been conquered for the title?
It is the leading drama in the Calinos Entertainment catalogue. Forbidden Fruit, produced by Medyapim, initially premiered on Fox in Turkey and is still running its sixth season on local screen, being one of the longest-running dramas in Turkish drama history. In line with its local success, the Forbidden Fruit phenomenon has so far conquered audiences in Spain and Chile, and has been sold to Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Poland, Puerto Rico and the US during 2022. We can say that it will be one of the best-selling Turkish dramas around the world in the near future.
Some of your colleagues have shared the view that post-pandemic audiences are looking for lighter content and Forbidden Fruit has a lot of humor for a Turkish drama. Do you share that opinion and do you think that this is one of the reasons why the title has done so well around the world?
Actually, the idea held true for a longer period, including the two years of pandemic, as well as those after, at least for a few months. But for now, demand is back to where it was, with even greater appetite. It is true that Forbidden Fruit contains a lot of humor for a drama, but its strength originally derives from its strong story and its captivating talent that reflects the strength of women.
How was the reception for Farah during the recent edition of Miptv? What are the most attractive points of this adaptation?
First of all, Farah is a strong story that supports women’s empowerment. It is the story of a strong woman, who can do anything to save her son from a terminal illness. But she is also capable of loving and trusting the people around her again. Farah contains everything a woman’s life can contain. A woman’s love for a child, love for a man, a man with strong desires and pure intentions, misfortune, fortune, etc. In short, the Turkish version of history is very strong and binding. Then the two lead actors, Demet Ozdemir and Engin Akyurek, are globally acclaimed talents with global fandoms. Therefore, it is a title that is very well received by the international public, as it was in Turkey. Right now there is a great demand and we will share the offers in a very short time.
Indefensible is a different title within the catalogue, both in origin and in genre. What is the distributor’s catalog expansion strategy like?
Calinos Entertainment’s mission is to bring joy to global audiences to “enjoy the drama” by enhancing the presence of Calinos’ dramas on all platforms, in all countries, with the newest content. We are expanding our catalog with content created by international producers, as well as Turkish dramas. We have started this with the Polish films in 2022 and Adela, the remake of That’s My Life. This year as our first global content we have acquired the distribution rights to Indefensible (Indefendable), a successful Canadian crime drama that stands out for its unique approach and has 2 successful seasons on TVA Canada.
What can you tell us about the title?
Produced by Pixcom in collaboration with Quebecor Content, Indefensible immerses audiences in the world of the Lapointe-Macdonald Cabinet and its team of criminal defense. A realistic universe built of human dramas, from the smallest to the largest, all imbued with the same emotion: the fear of being condemned. Due to its huge success, the crime series recently got the green light for a third season.
