The evolution of the TV series industry and the impact of social media discussed at Fire Talks

The ‘Fire Talks’ of Istanbul Medipol University School of Communication was held at the South Campus Conference Hall. Journalist Birsen Altuntaş and Screenwriter Umut Açıkalın answered questions from students at the event moderated by Director Meryem Beyza Er. Responding to questions about social media content and quality, Altuntaş said: “The scripts of some TV series are written according to the feedback from social media. For instance, in the past, it was thought that TV series where women were not marginalized and there was no chaos would not attract attention. However, after the Bahar series, stories about strong women and women empowerment started to be covered more. Therefore, quality and popularity can change according to the situation.”

AÇIKALIN: CONTENT HAS TURNED INTO COMMERCIAL CONTENT
Açıkalın, who stated that social media makes the job of screenwriters difficult, said: “Since we try to write and complete 150 pages a day, we don’t have much time to read the comments, but when the trailers are released, we look at the feedback. In the past, the content was more artistic. In the early 2000s, cinema movies were ahead of TV series and movie actors were feeding the TV series. Now, TV series have started to feed movies. Today, what we do has become more commercial than artistic. Producers can interfere with us more, so we are not completely free as scriptwriters.”