Turkish producers in Hollywood enter Turkish market with student film project

Two Turkish producers currently employed under the roof of Hollywood giant Warner Bros are readying for a film project to be shot in Turkey with a Turkish script. The producer credits of the project, which ultimately aims to bring Hollywood standards to Turkish filmmaking, are owned by Silver Screen Entertainment, a subcontractor to the Warner Bros, established by İfakat Bak, Semih Eren and their U.S. partner Timothy Patrick Cavanaugh.

Bak told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview that another very significant aspect of the project was that it would provide an opportunity for Turkish film students to take part in a Hollywood project by working together with U.S. film crew professionals who will come to Turkey to make the film.

“Any investment in film students is an investment in the Turkish film sector in the end. We want to teach these kids how to do their job under professional conditions and want them to know that success is inevitable provided that you adopt these professional standards. The biggest shortcoming of Turkish cinema in becoming a global genre is the lack of a professional work ethic,” Bak said.

Eren said Silver Screen wanted to change that mentality and to incorporate Hollywood professionalism into Turkey’s film sector. “Rather than an aggressive entrance into the sector, we have designed an initial project that employs no-name actors and university students so we can show how Turkish filmmakers can also make successful movies when they adopt Hollywood professionalism.”

Eren said Silver Screen Entertainment’s business target was Turkish, Middle Eastern and Balkan film sectors for future projects.

The seeds of the initial project were sown when Bak was invited as a keynote speaker to a panel at the Faculty of Communication Sciences in Kocaeli University in the Marmara province of Kocaeli.

“Professor Kerim Kocagöz invited me for the conference and when I was there he asked me what I could do for the Turkish film students as a Hollywood producer. Knowing that all these children studying cinema in Turkey are dreaming about Hollywood, I told him I either should take these kids to Hollywood or bring Hollywood to them. The second option was more viable, so I came up with this project,” she said.

Bak is planning to bring her whole crew to Turkey and make the film here. She said they already contacted the heads of related departments and faculties in many Turkish universities and asked them to suggest a few students for the audition. “Some 10 students from the Kocaeli University will partake in the project and the rest of the 55 trainees will be from various universities. The students will send us a statement of purpose and sample of their work. Our chief criterion in selecting the trainees is of course success. We want to give a chance to successful film students who cannot find access to Hollywood by their own means.”

Professor Kocagöz will be coordinating the audition process, which is expected to be finalized within two weeks. “After the audition process the crew will travel from the states to Kocaeli and we will introduce them to the trainees. Kocaeli University will host a one week orientation program,” Bak said.

The shooting of the film is set to kick off in mid-October, and it is scheduled to premier in February 2012.

“Post-production won’t take long, because we have already signed all our distribution deals,” Semih Eren said, adding that the U.S. distribution of the film would be by Warner Bros, while global distribution would be taken care of by Hanniball Pictures.

Film students will be taking active part in all stages of film making, from editing and light fixing, to costume, sound and set design.

Bak said the film was titled Cafe Meridyen and based on a script by a Turkish non-professional, Dilek Ataönder. “She is an acquaintance and when she learned about the project she said she had a script. I read the script and liked it. Our script writer, Glen Larsson, will do the final editing on the text. The film will be shot in two languages.” Bak said every shot would be done twice, first in English and then in Turkish, because it targeted both audience.

“Americans do not like reading subtitles. One of the reasons that Turkish films won’t sell in the U.S. market is that they are not in English. We will overcome this problem by shooting the film in two languages separately.”

She said the Turkish actors the movie features would be selected from small-time but successful professionals. The cast also includes American actors. The male lead of the film is expected to be Andrew Howard and the producers are planning to make a five-minute scene in the U.S. that will include a cameo by a very famous Hollywood actor.

“We have talked about this with Al Pacino. He was very interested, but you never know. He might not be able to do what he promised, for personal or professional reasons, like getting sick or signing a contract for another film. In that case we will have to shift plans to another star,” Bak said.


/Hurriyet Daily News/