A New Skilled Migration? Turkish Media Practitioners in Britain [online panel]

 

A New Skilled Migration?: Turkish Media Practitioners in Britain [online panel: Teams link] 

 

8 JUNE 2022, WEDNESDAY, 13:00-14:30

 

ORGANISERS AND RESPONDENTS: ECE BULUT (NTU PGR), CUNEYT CAKIRLAR (NTU), ZEYNEP SERINKAYA WINTER (NTU PGR)

 

 

Turkey is experiencing a new boom in media production, with an increase on VoD platforms, high demand for TV series and significant place of TV productions in export revenues. Yet, media practitioners also face many challenges, ranging from issues of workplace safety and precarious working conditions to censorship and political pressures. A young, dynamic, educated, and experienced population of media practitioners have started looking for opportunities abroad. In this panel, we aim to start a conversation on whether this has resulted in a new wave of skilled migration from Turkey to Britain. The panel will seek to cover various aspects of the migration process, the motives for the migration, challenges, and opportunities the practitioners have found in the British media sector, differences in media cultures in both contexts, ways of building networks as a migrant and how the process may contribute to the work of the practitioners themselves as well as the wider British media sector. Opening a space to discuss different migrant experiences, we hope that the conversation will introduce an emerging phenomenon which remains under-researched. 

 

 

PANELISTS:

 

GÖZDE KOYUNCU

 

Gözde Koyuncu is a cinematographer with 10+ years of experience in TVC's, fashion films, music videos, feature fiction/documentaries and TV shows. Her latest work, an 8-episode Netflix original drama Who Were We Running From? (in post-production and set for global release, late 2022). Koyuncu started her career in Turkey when shee was one of three women DOPs to professionally excel within a male dominated industry. Ambition and passion have helped her succeed in becoming a critically-acclaimed and an award winning DOP. She was included in the Dream Team of 2021 selected by MediaCat Magazine, and at the same year, she won the Best Cinematography Award at the Felis Advertising Awards - Commercial Films Category. She has recently relocated to London.

 

MARSHA FRANCO 

 

Born in 1986 in Izmir, Turkey, Marsha Franco earned her BA in Film and TV studies from Galatasaray University. She was selected to participate in Istanbul Film Festival’s “Meeting on the Bridge” pitching forum in 2013 with her original script. After working as a producer’s assistant at Anima Istanbul, she went on to being a producer at PTOT Film. During her five years there, she worked on numerous TV commercials around Turkey. She took part in the feature film “Ikimizin Yerine” as a producer’s assistant and in “Aile Arasinda” as production coordinator. After moving to London in 2020, she is now working as Integrated Producer at Tag Collective Arts and continuing her personal projects.

 

EMİNE SOYDANYAVAŞ

 

Born in 1982 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Emine Soydanyavas earned her BA in Photography & Video from Yildiz Technical University, Fine Arts Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey. After her graduation she started working in the Turkish Film Industry as a Production Coordinator at a company that provides Production Servicing to foreign films shooting in Turkey. She moved to London in 2016 and has been working as coordinator on major feature films. She has a wide range of experiences from internet commercials to multi-million dollar projects.