Translator: Damla Erkiner
Reviewer: Erman Turkmen I have been in TV business
approximately for a decade. I used to be a shoe-seller though. Yes, people get surprised at this. Shoe-selling? Seriously? What's the link
between TV series and shoes? Foreigners, in particular
are baffled at this fact. They generally ask me:
"What's your background?" "Your professional background?"
I reply: "Shoe business." Then they say: "Oh, show business?"
I reply: "Nope. Shoe business." I remember someone once commented:
"Are you high or something?" They were that perplexed. To me, there is no difference between
selling shoes and TV series. Unfortunately, I'd always been told
that I was a daydreamer since childhood. They never believed I would succeed. They label all my ideas
as way too nonsense. They said I would never
ever achieve anything. I was having a hard time understanding it
because, to me, daydreamers are those acting in an unreasonable way
through absurd ideas. Most importantly, they don't take a step. I, on the other hand, was constantly
dreaming but always taking a step. As I failed in the end
most of the time, everyone thought
that I was a daydreamer. I started working at the age of 17.
It was a very young age. Throughout those 12 years,
I changed 20 different jobs. I failed in all of them. But I never gave up as I had
no such luxury. Giving up was meaningless. I was dreaming of a certain lifestyle
and I was naturally hoping to reach it. Therefore, I constantly
kept trying out new jobs. Some lasted for 1 month, some for 1 year. When things didn't work out,
I found a new job. After 20 trials or so,
something changed my life. You know what people say: "I've read
a book and my life has changed." This was exactly what happened to me. One day, my cousin decided to write
a book about his own life. Regarding reincarnation so to speak.
Its title was: "I am 44 and my son is 53." So I bought and read
that book just out of courtesy because I knew that she would
ask me: "What do you think about it?" So I decided to read it first
before facing such a question. I liked the book to the extent
so I gave her an immediate call and said: "I will turn you into a public figure,
a megastar known worldwide." She replied: "Are you nuts?
Aren't you a shoe seller?" (Laughter) And I said: "No worries,
I can also market this to the world." (Applause) Thank you. I added: "Just give me its summary" Looks like summary is called 'synopsis'
and I'd no idea about even that. It was the first time I'd learnt that word When I called her, I even said: "You will be so famous that book signing
events will be organized for you abroad." She thought I was a real lunatic. Anyhow, she wrote the summary
probably not to hurt my feelings. I promptly checked Google whether there was a fair
for the business in an attempt to sell it. Turned out there was going to be
a book fair to be held in NY. The biggest one of the world. In my pocket, I had 1000$ that I'd saved. I spent 500$ to book a flight with two
connections to NY. The cheapest one. I also booked a room at a one-star hotel. I headed off to the fair and
paid a visit to all the publishing houses. I was able to convince
the largest publisher of Taiwan. They decided to translate it into Chinese
and it was published in Chinese. The best part is that a week after this, the book was on the fourth
of the best sellers list. (Applause) Just imagine. At the time,
even Orhan Pamuk was not well-known. But, my cousin became a star in Taiwan. I mean this was indeed thrilling. This triggered me a lot so I did my best
to convince the publishers in Thailand. They purchased the book. I said:
"Why don't you hold a book signing day?" I asked them to invite us to it.
It truly happened. There were like 100 people from the press,
everyone was screaming for autographs. I remember my cousin
was about to faint there. However, I'd told her since the first day.
I said: "Do you recall it?" "When I called you, I said
there would be a signing day for you." Because I think, if you utterly
believe in something, it comes true. I loved that job. I had an agency
for authors, a prestigious job. Then, I started looking for new books. I considered working with some
other authors as well. Everyone was talking about the novel
(Kiraze) written by Solmaz Kamuran. I decided to take a look at that book.
I then noticed that it has 350 pages! "No way! I can't read it" I thought,
in case she wouldn't let me market it. I got an appointment and visited her.
I was extremely embarassed. We were talking about the book
but I had no idea on it. I didn't even have a clue
about its summary. She asked: "Which part was your favorite?"
I replied saying: "All of it!" "All is beautiful and I liked
all the chapters." were my responses. I did my best not to be noticed. Imagine you are in front of an author
and if she finds out, she will show you the door.
That's crystal clear. Çetin Altan, the journalist was with me. He commented: "İzzet can
definitely market this book." The author posed me a question: "My publisher couldn't market it
for years. What's your plan?" My reply was: "No worry.
Your book is great!" I believed in this fact
because everyone was saying so. "I will market it" I said. I got the book.
It was publised in 8 countries in a year. It truly got successful. But when she watches this conference,
she'll know I didn't read her book before. (Laughter) Then everyone recommended
me to work with Ayşe Kulin. I got the appointment. Needless to say,
I went again without reading her book. However, I convinced her too. We had a deal in half an hour.
The agreement was signed. I started marketing her books as well. I was madly in love with my job. However, there was a problem.
The cost of the translation was too high. The editorial work, publishing and
dispatching the books to diverse countries were the things I spent all my profit on. So I had to give up on my work
regardless of my commitment to it. As I wasn't able to make
enough money, I quitted my job. I started thinking about
what other jobs I could do. At the time,Tarkan released
his music album in English. It made sense to give
the music sector a go. (Laughter) Obviously, I enjoy marketing stuff abroad. I got an appointment from his manager
in no time and visited him. As I've previously lived in the far east,
I thought his album would fit to there. I shared my views and
I got an agreement with him too. We couldn't agree on the commission.
I expected a higher amount of commission. They disagreed as it was Tarkan
we were talking about. And I refused the project
and gave up on it. This means I spent just
2 days in the music sector. (Laughter) I ended up in the shoe business
once again, unfortunately. I was utterly unhappy. We had a store in Gedikpasa, Sultanahmet. And we would sell shoes
to the Russian and Iranian. I was visiting the stores
in Mecidiyeköy area in the hope of getting more orders. I felt deeply disappointed. Imagine I tried approximately
20 different jobs and none worked out. It was what it was. But something magnificent happened. The daughter of my my author cousin
gave me a call one day and said: "How come don't you
sell TV program format abroad?" I asked what that thing is. I found out that format
is related to reality game shows. "You can certainly sell this considering
the fact that you've sold my mom's book." (Laughter) I said to myself:
"Let's give it a shot as the 21st trial." The worst case scenario it too would fail. Back then, there was a TV show
involving brides and mother in laws, and it was too popular
by the mother in law figure called Semra. I was introduced to Murat Uckardesler
the initiator of its format. Lucky me! He too counted on me
and provided with me the rights. So I again googled things
to search how it could be sold. I found out there was its fair in Cannes. I am talking about a TV show fair. I gave them a call and asked
whether I could rent a booth. The smallest one was 10 square meter long
equal to 10.500 Euros. However, I only had 500 Euros.
Therefore, I needed 10.000 Euros. I wasn't eager to borrow money from anyone
as every business I tried went bankrupt. This one had the possibility. I visited a friend of mine
whom I knew through different jobs. Levent Ozdemir, the owner
of an advertising agency. When I told him the project,
he found it incredibly ridiculus. (Laughter) I asked him to borrow me 10.000 Euros. I said "If the business works out,
I will give you 20.000 Euros in 3 months. But if not, forget about it.
This is simply gambling." I really appreciate him,
even his financial situation wasn't great he gave 10.000 Euros
just to support me. I was excited as I made
10.000 Euros in minutes. I thouht "I can't believe
how easy to make money." Imagine I couldn't make
any money for years, but in 5 minutes I got 10.000 Euros. Right before the fair, my dad
advised me as follows: "Son, despite your being very smart
and creative you are unbelievably unlucky. I think you should give your sister
a 5% share so she brings you good luck.” "Perhaps, I am the problematic one."
I said to myself and decided to try that. (Laughter) So my sister and I
took part in the fair together. Upon our arrival, we saw that we had
the ugliest booth next to the restrooms. A Lebanese client came over and said
he wanted to buy a format of the TV show. But he didn't really trust me. It was my first time and I had
no idea what he was talking about. I didn't know about
the terminology of the sector. He told me that he would visit me
in Turkey and then we would sign the deal. Yet, the worst part was that I didn't
have an office. I had a shoe store. Had I invited that guy to the shoe store,
he would have thought he was punked! He wouldn't sign the deal.
So I called Levent once again. "I need your help again." I said. I need to borrow your office." I added. He accepted it. I immediately got
a signboard for my company: Global Agency (Laughter) Then, I removed his company's sign
from the wall and installed mine instead. And told his crew to play along, that they
were working for me from that moment on. And added: "Don't ruin it!
My client will show up." Then, he arrived and
the meeting went well. I had to use Levent's office
for quite some time. The drill was the same. Before the client
visits, I changed the signs on the wall. (Laughter) Finally, the producers
got to know my name. TV channels were in touch with me. One day, I answered the phone and a man
asked to talk to Mr. Pinto's assistant. Well, I didn't have any assistant,
so his request was not possible. So I asked him to call back in 5 minutes. I found someone else in the company
to put me through to the guy on the phone. Obviously, the image was everything.. (Applause) So this was how things started. I was doing great in my business. I bought the car of my dreams.
A capacious cabriolet. I used to drive without the top
even at the 40C heat of August. I would sweat a lot. I´d had enough of traveling in public bus. One day, a friend of mine was passing by.
He was calling me daydreamer at the time. I honked the horn and
leaned out the window to greet him. Well, the intention was to give him
the message that he was wrong. In time, the business as to selling
TV show formats went pretty well. One day, my Lebanese client
got in touch with me again to ask if I could find
some Turkish TV series. "Who would ever buy
a Turkish series?" I thought. It sounded absurd to me.
I wasn't even watching them. "Who will watch these?" I said.
They wouldn't attract other countries. All the same, he was my client. So I had to look into the details. I spent a few weeks on this,
complaning and cursing. I paid a visit to several clients,
I gathered DVDs. Finally I sent him a message
to inform him I had the DVDs ready. I got no reply in return. What's more
he didn't even return my calls. So, I had to leave the DVDs on my desk
and they stood there for 3 months. One day, a client from Bulgaria called
to ask about some Turkish producers to find out if they had
any TV series samples. "Oh, I already have some.
Let me send them to you." I said. I sent all the DVDs
that were lying on my desk. Among them, there was the one called
"1001 Nights" which I hadn't even watched. And they decided to purchase that one. Upon its airing, it quadrupled
the ratings of the channel. The channel that was previously
on the 4th rank placed number 1 position. I said to myself: "Gee! Looks like
I have some sort of hidden treasure." With the advent of this success,
I could market TV series to 60 countries." Thanks to the success of 1001 Nights,
Turkish drama series export has started. As a result of a coincidence
DVDs were still on my desk, Bulgaria got them first,
then it was sold all over the world. From Colombia to Vietnam,
all over in Latin America people loved it. It was as if I'd had won the lottery. Right on those days, the TV series
'Magnificent Century' was on air. I knew the producer, Timur Savci. I represented his films before
and we become friends. He even had come to my wedding. I thought he would give me
the rights as we were friends. When I talked to him,
I saw he had no such intention. It was my biggest dream to get its rights.
It turned into an obsession for me. I visited him for a second time,
the answer was the same. On the 5th visit, he finally
agreed to give its rights to me. I was so over the moon
that I kind of lost myself. And I promised him that I would hire
a booth 3 times bigger in the fair. I would rent all the billboards in Cannes. I would give 5 pages of ads
in all the industry magazines. I would invite all the cast, throw
a party with live music band from USA. I was seriously out of control.
I gave many promises out of excitement. After leaving the office,
I figured out that I had given promises with almost
a million dollars cost. Yet, I am a man of my word. All in all, I had to do them considering
that he had given me its rights. And I made them true as promised. A Turkish series was launched worldwide
for the first time ever. All the cast from Halit Ergenc
to Meryem Uzerli showed up for the party. They walked on red carpet and everyone
talked about the party for months. Following the fair, one of our employees
working abroad sent me an email saying "It's the 12th of the month,
I guess you forgot to wire my salary?" Actually I couldn't send it
as I got broke. All my bank accounts were empty.
Yet I gave a promise and I had to keep it. However, I'm glad I'd made that promise. Because we could sell
this TV series to 75 countries. It is being watched
by 300 million people. (Applause) This means without taking risks
in life, one cannot win. I took lots of risks all my life
and I'm glad I did so as it is how I eventually succeeded. And again thanks to the Turkish series,
Turkish export margin has quite increased. Our company's margin increased as well
not only with "Magnificient Century" but through all the Turkish TV series. Countless people earn bread
through this industry. People that you would never
think of make money via them. For instance, there is a male stripper
in Chile who could rarely do house visits. This fellow was barely hired
and was working for 100 USD. Then, he suddenly started getting many
invitations. He was literally sold out! The airing of ‘1001 Nights’ in the country
was the reason for that. By chance, he is like the spitting
image of Halit Ergenc, the main actor. (Laughter) That’s why, he was sold out as a stripper! Using this resemblance,
he even increased his price to 250 USD! And he was all over the news. ‘Magnificent Century’ with that actor
was aired there as well. Lucky stripper! With that, he increased
his price to 400 USD! (Laughter) When booked, he starts his performance
like the 'Onur' character in '1001 Nights' and ends his show as 'Sultan Suleiman'
from the TV series ‘Magnificient Century’. (Laughter) (Applause) I even thought of asking him a cut
as he makes a fortune thanks to us. In retrospect, we remember this project
all had started with 10000 Euros borrowed. But most importantly,
it stated with a dream. A dream to succeed. Many years ago, I noticed
I wanted to succeed things for my dad. Since my childhood, he’d done his best
to raise me in the best way possible. I will never forget this memory.
I was 8 years old at the time. We used to spend time
on the Princes' Islands in Summer. One day, he came home and told me
that it was time for me to earn money. “Earning money? At the age of 8, why
should I need to earn any money?” I said. He said it was time for me
to learn how to make money. Back then, he was importing watches. “I’ll give you the watches, you will
sell them at the street bazaar” he said. It was a long shot for me. if you wish to sell something
in the bazaar, you need to chant slogans: “Buy these watches for 5 liras, 10 liras.” I was a shy boy and
that was impossible for me. I immediately talked to a friend and said: “You’ll chant slogans
and I’ll sell the watches.” (Laughter) In a few hours, we sold everything else. In excitement, we headed back home
waiting for my dad. Let’s say we made 100 Liras.
On his arrival, my father said: "Kids, 50 liras of this money is equal
to the expenses, the other 50 is profit. Here is 25 liras for each of you."
I was pissed off after hearing this. I said: “I am your son! Give me 40 liras
and 10 liras would be fine for him.” "Son, If you fail to share,
you cannot succeed in life." he responded. Just try to imagine. I got this valuable
life lesson at the age of 8, and it is still a valid one. (Applause) If you fail to share,
one cannot succeed in life. From that point on,
I’ve truly enjoyed trade. My father taught me
a priceless lesson in my childhood. At the age of 17, I got admission
from a university in the States. Nevertheless, I liked working
so much that I wasn't eager to go there. I told my dad that I didn't want to study
further; instead I wanted to keep working. I decided to live in the Far East and
headed off to there at the age of 19. It was my dad's dream
to see me as a successful person as he desired to prove it to everyone. Our way was a different one
but that doesn't make it wrong. That's what he wanted to show people. Unfortunately, he got sick.
A terrible disease. All the same, he told me he wouldn´t leave
this world before seeing me succeed. He made a promised for that. I know the more I had failed,
the worst he had felt. One day, I was given
the entrepreneur of the year award by a reputable institution,
despite being a rookie in this business. I was over the moon
when I went to the ceremony. My dad could not make it to the ceremony
due to his being at the hospital. Right after getting my award, I rushed
to the hospital and gave it to him. Because I knew it was all thanks to him. Unfortunately, he passed away
a few days later. I feel like he'd been waiting
for this reward. He longed for this award all his life,
I could give it as a present in the end. I indeed feel blessed that I could give
the prize to him while he was still alive. And I am sure he would have been
proud of me if he'd been here today. Thanks for listening to my story. (Applause)
