The Aegean Studios Plan Bridging the Gap between Istanbul & Hollywood AEGEAN ENTERTAINMENT THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A SINGLE HOLLYWOOD FILM THAT HAS SHOWN OFF TURKS OR TURKEY IN A POSITIVE LIGHT TO AN INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE (INCLUDING AMERICA AND THE WEST Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Turks are the “bad guys” in one of the grandest epics of all time. Only one “Turk” has a speaking role. Not even played by a Turkish actor but rather by José Ferer, he doesn’t even have a name. He is just called “Turkish Bey,” and is a syphilitic, homosexual predator who first attempts to rape Peter O’Toole’s lead character of T.E. Lawrence, and then has him beaten. Midnight Express (1978) A drug smuggler is cast as an unlikely hero against the Turks, who are portrayed as cruel, barbaric an inhuman. Their prisons are hellholes and their justice system is corrupt. This film terrifies anyone who does not know better and convinced the whole world to steer clear of Turkey. It did more to hurt Turks and Turkey than anything before or since. My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding (2002) This heartwarming and family-friendly comedy had one reference to Turks. In a “flashback” scene, the lead character remembered when she was a little girl, and her father brought his mother (her grandmother to America from Greece to live with them. The “joke” was that the grandmother was supposedly so senile, she did not even recognize her own son. Instead, she thought he was the incarnation of evil … a Turk. The West Wing (2003) This was a popular series that ran in America on the NBC network for eight years. It dealt with a “behind- the-scenes” view of the White House and Presidential politics. The plot in one episode concerned fallout from news that Turkey had “convicted” a woman of the “crime” of adultery, and that she was going to be publicly beheaded. The show ran the same “news” clip three times in one episode to drive the point home. 24 (2004) This popular TV show follows events that supposedly happen in one 24-hour period, dealing with threats to national security. One episode in particular aired where supposedly “Turkish” terrorists were going to strike in Los Angeles. The fact that these terrorists were Turkish was mentioned close to forty times in the one hour of the show. Argo (2012) This film dealt with the events surrounding the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979 following the Islamic Revolution there and, specifically, the covert CIA operation to smuggle out six embassy staffers who were in hiding. Ben Affleck was unable to secure permission to film in Tehran, so he used Istanbul instead as a stand in for scenes involving riots, demonstrations and public executions. Taken 2 (2012) This sequel to the first Taken film is set almost entirely in Istanbul. Liam Neeson and Famke Jansen are there on vacation when they are kidnapped by the families of the terrorists he killed in the first film to avenge their deaths. As a result, rather than show off the city as a place of beauty, the entire film is shot in back alleys in a very gritty and harsh manner (which served the film itself well, but which did nothing for how Istanbul looked). Skyfall (2013) James Bond came back to Turkey, and everyone was so very excited. Yet the finished product again did nothing for the image of Turkey as portrayed to the world. The opening scene in Istanbul featured open air vegetable stalls and rug merchants, making the city look like Cairo or Marrakech. By contrast, 45 minutes later in the same film, Bond visits first Shanghai and then Macao, both of which looked sleek, modern and civilized. 2 THE PROBLEM Cihangir (“John”) Safyurtlu, Founder and President of Aegean Entertainment and Producer of all ten movies in the development slate (plus one already released), was interviewed on MTC. Here are some excerpts from this as to his vision for these films. I was once told by a friend “you know, you Turks are so great … and yet no one will ever know it, because all you ever do is talk amongst yourselves..” And he’s right. If you look what film has done with Turkey up until now … quite frankly, it hasn’t been good. We Turks don’t do a very good job of broadcasting outside of our little group as to what we are all about.; we don’t do a very good job of “P.R.” I think I can change that. I really want to try. What I am trying to do with Aegean Entertainment is to tell our stories, the stories of Turkey, to the West – to America and to Europe – so that they can get to know us better. We have such amazing things to tell that no one in the West knows about. Because of the way in which it has been portrayed in the popular media so far, Turkey is not just a stranger to many people in the E.U. Turkey is actually viewed negatively. My hope is that with these films that we’re going to change that perception. Films can be used as a virtual brochure for the location in which they are shot, and all of my films are going to be shot in Turkey with Turks playing prominent roles in them. Right now is a critical time. Over the next few years, if we can influence the public’s perception of Turks and of Turkey, then maybe, just maybe we can contribute a little bit, and help nudge that conversation in a direction that we want it to go. And that would be something profound. After all, Turkey is, and always has been, a bridge between the East and the West. That’s what we are. If, by opening up that bridge, we can then allow more stories to come out, more understanding to flow, that can only be good; that can only help. We need more stories, not less. We need more voices, not less. We need people telling our side of things. The West has all kinds of people telling their side – where’s our side? Most of the people here in America don’t know any better. The only thing that 95% of people here know about Turkey is what they saw in the movies. To this day, if I tell my friends that I am about to visit Istanbul, all they can say to me is “Be careful – don’t get thrown into a Turkish Prison.” Thirty years after Midnight Express came out, that is still the image the West has of Turkey. The only image they have. That is the power of film. Now imagine, if we could use this power ourselves, and do something positive with it. One of the biggest job descriptions for me, maybe the biggest job description, as a Producer, is to protect my investors, and to make sure that I, as a steward for their money, for their trust, repay them. I want to make sure that they can say “yes, it was a good thing that we trusted you, John, because you did right by us.” 3 THE VISION With just six films, We want to do the same thing for writer/director/producer Peter Turkey, and create “Istiwood” as Jackson so changed the global a center for worldwide film face of New Zealand that his production as well as a magnate hometown of Wellington has been for tourism. Following are re-named as “Wellywoood.” concrete examples of this effect. Just from “The Hobbit” The New Zealand Film Sector • 99 sets built • New Zealand's total screen • 6750 domestic flights taken industry revenue rose 10% in • 19 commercial properties 2012 to reach $3.29B, a leased long term $300M increase • 93,000 hotel bed nights sold • Income from production and • 1800 rental cars hired post-production made up • 1650 work vehicles used more than half of this total, at $1.67 billion • $380,000 spent on coffee • $9,180,000 spent on set • Feature film revenue rose 47% to just over $1B, making construction materials (with local suppliers) up almost ⅓ of all production • Approximately 16,000 days and post-production revenue worked by New Zealand • In 2012, total international actors revenue rose 17%, to $517M • $1,450,000 spent with local • North America contributes food suppliers around 90% of all international screen revenue in NZ Lord of the Rings (“LOTR”) • The industry supports 2,805 In 2004 alone: businesses • Screen industry business • 6% of visitors (120-150K people) cite LOTR as being reported 110 international co- one of the main reasons for productions in 2012 visiting. • The New Zealand screen • 1% of visitors ($26M USD) industry contributes $780 cited LOTR as their main or million in wages and salaries only reason for visiting. • Employment figures • 63,200 visitors participated released in December 2012 in a LOTR activity showed that New Zealand • 9,988 visitors did a group Screen Industry Businesses tour for LOTRs fans directly employed more than • 20,251 tourists took 15,000 people in more than 23,000 screen industry jobs organized tour that included a LOTR site • Work was completed on 40 • 29,233 tourists visited a feature films (up from 35 in LOTR site independently 2011) • Since 2004, an average • There were 1300 television 47,000 tourists each year series and 520 “one-off” have visited a film location. programs 4 T H E GOAL Not one professional-grade studio for feature film production exists in Turkey: We seek to build and operate a film studio which, when complete, will be of the same size and scope as any major studio in Hollywood and will be able to compete with them on the global stage, putting Turkey at the forefront of world- class international film production.