WorldScreenings: Calinos Entertainment Touts Client-Centric Approach

Jose Luis Gascue, Calinos Entertainment’s executive VP and head of worldwide sales, on how the company is serving the needs of broadcasters worldwide with its slate of hit Turkish dramas and dramedies.

The last few months have seen TV viewing and online streaming surge, yet advertising budgets tighten, and Calinos Entertainment has been adjusting accordingly to the changing demands of the marketplace. “Some of our clients opted for reruns of already purchased shows; others were more keen on licensing library titles,” says Jose Luis Gascue, the company’s executive VP, head of worldwide sales. “At Calinos, we have one of the largest content libraries; thus, we were able to serve broadcasters as best as we can, offering them the content that is most appropriate to fill in the gaps in their schedules.”

The demand for dramas and dramedies remains high, according to Gascue. “People want to watch programming that can mentally take them away from the COVID-19-related stress for a few hours. Most of our Turkish series are in that drama-dramedy genre, so we have been lucky,” and overall, there has been a strong appetite for Turkish shows and films from broadcasters all around the world during the past few months, he adds.

“Woman is our best-performing title of 2020; it has been a huge success in almost every country where it has sold,” Gascue says, highlighting its performance in Spain and Chile in particular. “We also recently sold the scripted format of That Is My Life to Romania’s Antena 1, which has started shooting the new program with the title Adela.”

Forbidden Fruit has also been a resounding success. The drama is currently in its fourth season in Turkey, “which is a rare phenomenon, as most series go up to two, maximum three seasons,” notes Gascue.

The fact that Calinos has a robust library of programming to offer to its partners has proven to be a “very important advantage for our customers in this period, as productions are disrupted in many countries due to the pandemic. Production in Turkey was disrupted for a few months, but we have recently resumed. In the case that productions get suspended again, many of our clients will start looking for long-running library titles, which would be an advantage for us, seeing as we have one of the biggest libraries of content.”

He adds that the company has been trying to keep its relationships with clients as strong as possible by arranging meetings via platforms such as Zoom and Skype. “Due to our inability to physically meet with clients, the only way we can keep in touch is online,” Gascue says. “COVID-19 has caused serious economic issues in most countries, which has led to a considerable decrease in advertising revenues globally. We aim to overcome this difficult time by helping our customers as much as we can. This crisis is certainly going to spur some creative innovation in terms of new programming as the demand for entertainment rises while supply shrinks dramatically. This is definitely going to produce some lasting changes in the industry, and we have been able to adapt successfully.”

With its strong client relationships, vast catalog of completed programming and slate of recent hit dramas and dramedies, Calinos is well placed to capitalize on the opportunities to come in 2021. “If circumstances allow us, we plan to take advantage of the pandemic and develop new strategies in order to continue to supply our clients with top content, as we have always done,” Gascue says.

See Calinos Entertainment’s Fall/Winter 2020 Showcase here.