Izzet Pinto - another accolade for a fantastic career
A decade after he launched his one-man company which has grown so fast to become one of the biggest international distributor, Izzet Pinto will receive yet another recognition for his fantastic career and contribution to the development of the television business around the globe. We certainly had to talk about this milestone.
Izzet Pinto
Izzet, you will receive MIPTV’s Médaille d’Honneur which is yet another among numerous recognitions throughout your career. What makes this Medal more special?
I believe that this is the best year to receive this award since it is our most successful one to-date. It’s been 11 years since I found the company; with a much stronger catalog, a very special location stand at MIPTV (we just took half of the Endemol Shine stand), with a big marketing campaign, plus our music show is now an Amazon original and my own format The Legend is going to air in Brazil, it can’t be a better timing to win this award. I am very thankful for all these achievements.

Looking back to what do you attribute your success with Global Agency? What do you think are the main prerequisites to become successful in the modern international TV marketplace?
I think in order for a distributor to be successful, you need to be backed up by the successful content owners. Since we don’t produce our shows, it’s so important that these producers believe in us and give their content to our company. Our incredibly strong relationship with all the leading producers really helped us to come to this point. Also, our honesty was a key thing for them and our transparent business values. The producers know that whatever we achieve in business, we put back into it: we always have a bigger team each year, bigger marketing budgets and successful launch parties, so all these makes them put their trust in us and with their support we came to this point.

Can you point out some of the big highlights in your career so far?
It all started with one format, the wedding format titled The Perfect Bride 11 years ago, and that really helped us to gain some recognition and also helped us to learn the business. Then, it was the launch of 1001 Nights in our third year and this drama brought us huge success and afterwards it was Magnificent Century that helped us become the fastest growing distributor in the industry. After that, one of the highlights for me was when MIP made a campaign with the slogan “Success stories start at MIP” and they made me the face of this campaign. A few years ago, I created my first successful format Keep Your Light Shining that helped me to gain a lot of experience in format making and with that experience, two years ago, I created The Legend, which will be on air next month in Brazil. That is huge news for me, a dream come true. Also this month our show, The Remix, became an Amazon original. I think these have been the main highlights, plus the acquisition and representation of Endemol Shine Turkey’s series four years ago was a big thing for us.

You are known for your innovative formats, marketing campaigns and spectacular parties. What surprises have you prepared for MIPTV this time?
This time I wouldn’t say surprises, but we doubled our stand size and that’s a big accomplishment for us, and with our own balcony and taking half of the Endemol Shine stand, we will show that we are one of the majors and we will be announcing the launch of The Legend in Brazil during MIPTV and even though I tell you now, we are keeping very quiet about it, and we are making a big story out of it at MIP, so that’s our second big thing. For me, getting such a prestigious award is a big highlight for the company. Also, we will have an innovative creative campaign for The Remix at the airport.

Sultan of My Heart


What are the main highlights in Global Agency’s catalog for this year’s MIPTV?
As you know, the digital series are getting big in Turkey and we have one big launch shortly, which is called The Deep - from the producer of 1001 Nights, that’s one of our big launches. Also from the producer of Mother, we have My Dangerous Wife, which is an adaptation of the Korean drama of the same name. There’s a co-production going on between Turkey and Russia for a costume, period drama called Sultan of My Heart. These are the biggest highlights in the drama catalog. In formats, The Legend will be one of our highlights in terms of announcements. We are relaunching The Remix since it’s now an Amazon Original and The Sphere which is a big gameshow, which we are shooting a pilot for this format. We also have a format called The Heritage, a French show which was also selected by Fresh TV, and last but not least, thanks to your introduction – the Pitch & Play 2017 winner The Land is Singing. Our Turkish production partner Ruyhan Durali (creator of Shopping Monsters, Lucky Room, etc.) added some new elements for this show, and it became a joint business with the Slovak producers, Ruyhan and us under the title Sounds of the Nation.

You have created a number of formats. Which one is your favorite and why?
By far it is The Legend, because the format business is all about creating emotions for the audience and The Legend creates so many emotions - excitement, disappointment, happiness and even sadness. On top of the emotions, it’s the first time that the contestants decide their own destiny: they are the ones deciding if they will win this show or not, they are not in hands of others, but they can take risks and by retrying they can beat the highest score. It has this gameshow element, which creates a lot of emotions. Also, Keep Your Light Shining was a very good one, but that was lacking some emotions. Still, it really helped me to gain experience and pile up what that one was missing. So, when I created The Legend I filled up all the missing spots and that’s why I have big expectations and my idols have always been John de Mol and Simon Cowell, and I want to achieve more.

What are your main goals for this year?
First of all, financially this is really the best year ever, when I look at the first three months. My biggest goal, frankly speaking, is to maintain this growth, because for 11 years in a row, we have never stopped expanding and we have always been growing bigger, not only financially but in terms of the number of people we employ and brand image. I want to keep on making Global Agency a bigger company, a much bigger distributor with a bigger team, bigger and stronger catalog. I want to keep this growth going and also I want to see The Legend in 68 countries - why 68? Because The Voice has aired in 67 countries, so that’s why I want to see it in 68.

The growth of your company has been tremendous. Are there any still unexplored horizons that will make you even bigger in the coming years?
We will soon be investing in the app business, but all the apps will be related to TV, so a very strong second screen app that people not only play along, but chat, spend time on it. That’s the place I want to explore more. I have no plans to enter the production business. However, I would like to create partnerships in each country, to find exclusive partners that we can work with, so I can be a co-producer, maybe, but not too much involved in production.

The Remix


Everyone knows about your business but not so many people know about your personal life. How do you like to spend your time when not working?
Definitely I am a family guy and I spend a lot of time with my family. I believe it’s important to have dinner together with the family every night. I enjoy spending time with my kid and with my wife, we love to travel, every three months let’s say. Lately, I like doing sports and going to the gym, which I have never done in my life.

You also hold lectures in universities. Are young people interested in the TV business? What is the advice you give to those who want to be a part of it?
People are very much into the entertainment business, because it’s fun, but one thing that’s lacking in students is that they want to be successful in a very short time, and I think patience is the key here, because before setting up Global Agency, I failed in almost 20 different businesses and I had 12 unsuccessful years, but that experience helped me to be successful. That’s why I will tell everyone to work very hard, be creative, trustworthy, but maintain the patience.

What’s your view on the changes that happen in the television world? Where do you see its future?
It’s true that the television is losing its strength, but the thing is most of the channels are also investing in the digital side and that is growing so fast, so I think that these two together are not making losses, they create a healthy business. So, I’m not negative about it. I think with investment in the digital side and also the free TV side the business will be healthy. I am also reading news that most of the American networks are trying to reduce their advertising time on TV so that people will not switch between programs. I think that’s smart - to have less ads on TV but more expensive price tags for these ads, I think that could be the key to keep the viewers.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I think I will most probably work until the end of my life, most probably I will be in the entertainment business since I tried so many businesses and I can see this is the one I want to be in and I want to continue. How do I see it? We are almost 30 people, I would like to have 60 or 70 people and I would love to triple my catalog, open offices in multiple territories, create big franchise shows like The Legend, build coproduction partnerships around the world... I love my job, and I want to do the things that I enjoy.
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