MADD Celebrates Fifth Anniversary with New Pacts

MADD Entertainment, celebrating its fifth anniversary, has scored a host of new content deals and partnerships with Paramount, Secuoya Studios, Cris Morena and Globo.

The company signed its third volume deal in Latin America with a new three-year deal with Paramount’s Telefe and Chilevisión. As per the deal, Telefe and Chilevisión will acquire the Turkish titles that Ay Yapım and Medyapım will produce over the three years.

“Paramount is a huge player in Latin America, and they’re a big part of MADD’s success,” said Ateş İnce, managing director at MADD. “We have been working very intensely with Telefe ever since MADD was established, and that relationship has flourished over the past five years. The addition of Chilevisión to the Paramount banner makes this an even bigger deal.”

“Throughout these years we have strengthened our alliances with MADD Entertainment and that is why we are pleased to announce that we have signed a new agreement that strengthens our alliance to bring more hours of high-quality content and represents a mutually beneficial step forward for our organizations,” added Mercedes Feu, acqusitions senior director for Telefe and Chilevisión. “We hope to continue building more successes together in the region.”

In another deal, Secuoya Studios Stories and Ay Yapım will co-produce an adaptation of Brave and Beautiful, which was nominated for an International Emmy for best telenovela in 2018. The adaptation will be the first project from the Secuoya Studios Stories division, a new entrant to the team. Brave and Beautiful will air in Spain on Atresmedia. Atresmedia and MADD will distribute the title to the international market.

“The main idea behind this partnership is to bring long-running dramas back to Spanish prime time,” said Kerem Çatay, CEO of Ay Yapım. “Turkish dramas have proven themselves in prime time, to the point where Atresmedia is running them three evenings a week. Our series work in Spain, so an adaptation like this only makes sense.”

MADD also acquired HBO Max’s upcoming series Margarita, a spin-off of Floricienta, from Argentinean producer Cris Morena. It will distribute the 40-episode dramedy to the international market.

“I’m thrilled to introduce Margarita, our new family dramedy, through MADD, our worldwide distribution partner,” Morena said. “Margarita will hopefully inspire new generations as we did with Floricienta more than 15 years ago.”

Tomas Yankelevich added, “It’s an honor to be MADD’s first third-party distributed series with HBO Max. I have known and worked with Medyapim and Ay Yapim for more than a decade and admire all their work. Combing MADD’s strength with my uber-talented mother, Cris Morena, with such a unique and compelling project as Margarita—it’s a dream come true!”

In another agreement, MADD Entertainment will distribute the international adaptation of the Brazilian telenovela Brazil Avenue. Globo has sold the format for its first adaptation to Ay Yapım.

“We are betting on selling formats to bring our productions to new audiences in different ways,” said Angela Colla, head of international business and co-productions at Globo. “And this agreement with Ay Yapım reflects that, showing the market that we are open to various business models. Seeing one of our most successful dramas produced in a new version will be fascinating. We believe in the potential of this adaptation, its success in Turkey and around the world, and that it will open doors for many to come.”

Çatay added, “We are already very excited to produce and create the first version of this great story. I am sure this will be the next hit that will travel the world one more time. I believe joining forces in this new journey will bring a lot more new opportunities in the future.”

“MADD already has a proven track of powerful titles that drive audiences to all screens,” commented İnce. “And now, with the Turkish adaptation of Avenida Brasil, we will have more to offer. It will bring much excitement to the market. Being part of such a big partnership between Globo and Ay Yapım is also a privilege for us.”

João Emanuel Carneiro, Brazil Avenue author, said, “It’s delightful to know that Brazil Avenue’s first adaptation will take place in a country that loves telenovelas and has risen as one of the most prolific producers and exporters of this genre in the world, just like my own country.”

“This is an occasion to thank all the people who have made MADD Entertainment the number one distributor of Turkish drama,” İnce said. “Five years ago, Ay Yapım and Medyapım, two of the companies that made Turkish drama so popular around the world, came together to create MADD. All the volume deals we did around the world, the co-productions, the digital platform deals—all of that was possible, not because we were selling titles so much as this creative partnership. Anyone who knows Turkish drama knows that these two companies are the best.”