For our Series Mania 2026 issue, we spoke with OGM‘s Head of International Production Berna Levin.
Our goal is to be a company that creates original, elevated, and innovative content regardless of language or market. Sometimes that may take the form of a premium drama rooted in the kind of storytelling OGM Pictures is already known for, and other times, it may be something more formally innovative. The key is that the idea itself should feel distinctive and ambitious.”
One of Türkiye’s leading production companies, OGM Pictures, is taking a significant step toward expanding its international presence. With the appointment of Berna Levin as Head of International Production, the company signals a new phase in its ambition to become a truly global production studio.
Known for her work on internationally recognized projects, Levin brings extensive experience in developing stories that travel across cultures and platforms. Her role at OGM Pictures will focus on building creative bridges between territories, fostering collaborations with international writers, directors, and producers, and developing projects in multiple languages.
At a time when Turkish series already enjoy a remarkable global reach, this new chapter aims to bring stories from Türkiye to wider audiences and to create a dynamic exchange of storytelling traditions from around the world. In this interview, Levin shares her vision for international production at OGM Pictures, discusses the role of adaptations and co-productions, and reflects on how the company plans to build a creative ecosystem where stories can evolve and resonate across borders.
Ms. Levin, your joining the OGM Pictures family as Head of International Production is an important development for the Turkish production industry. Within OGM Pictures’ vision of becoming a “global production studio,” what will be your priorities?
Our priority is first and foremost to tell compelling stories. Stories that move people and stay with them. That always starts with remembering where we come from. OGM Pictures was built on powerful, character-driven storytelling, and that creative DNA will remain at the center of everything we do as we expand internationally.
At the same time, we want to act as a bridge between territories. Sometimes that means taking stories that originate here and bringing them to new audiences around the world. Other times it means building relationships in different markets and developing stories locally, together with the writers, directors, and producers who truly understand those cultures.
In other words, our ambition is not simply to go global, but to create a genuine exchange for stories that can travel, evolve, and resonate across borders while still feeling authentic to the place they come from.
Throughout your career, you have delivered projects that made a global impact. Under the OGM Pictures banner, would you imagine your first project to be something more original and innovative, like The Playlist, or a premium OGM Pictures drama?
I think the ambition is really to do both. OGM Pictures has built its reputation in Türkiye by producing powerful, emotionally driven drama that connects with large audiences, and at the same time by constantly pushing for strong, original storytelling. What we want to do internationally is simply expand that philosophy into new territories.
Our goal is to be a company that creates original, elevated, and innovative content regardless of language or market. Sometimes that may take the form of a premium drama rooted in the kind of storytelling OGM Pictures is already known for, and other times, it may be something more formally innovative. The key is that the idea itself should feel distinctive and ambitious.
At the same time, we want to build a meaningful local footprint in the international territories we are focusing on. That means working closely with local writers, directors, and producers and becoming part of those creative ecosystems, rather than simply exporting content from the outside.
In many ways, it is about taking OGM Pictures’ strong creative identity and commitment to high-quality storytelling and allowing that approach to grow naturally on an international stage.
You are also the producer of Young Wallander, based on the novels of Henning Mankell. The series had a successful two-season run on Netflix. Will you be working on adaptations of novels from Türkiye or other countries under the OGM Pictures umbrella?
The short answer is yes. Interestingly enough, adaptations have always been a big part of my career. Whether they come from novels or existing series, I have always been fascinated by how a story can move from one medium or culture to another and take on a new life.
And in many ways that approach fits very naturally with OGM Pictures as well. Some of the company’s most successful shows are rooted in existing material. The Fall of the King and The Innocents, for example, are based on novels, while Golden Boy draws inspiration from real events. So there is already a strong tradition here of taking powerful source material and turning it into compelling television.
Because of that, adaptations will definitely play an important role in what we do internationally. Türkiye has an incredibly rich literary and storytelling tradition, and many of those stories de- serve to travel further. At the same time, we are equally interested in discovering strong material from other countries and reinterpreting it for new audiences.
It is important for us to bring Turkish talent further into the international conversation. As I mentioned earlier, there is an extraordinary level of craft here among directors, cinematographers, actors, and technical crews, and people are genuinely interested in working with them, learning from that experience and understanding how this system operates. Ideally, it becomes a real exchange where international talent collaborates with us while Turkish creatives gain an even stronger presence on the global stage.”
OGM Pictures has announced that it will now take its place in the global market not only with Turkish-language stories but also with projects in English and other languages. In this regard, what will be your initial goals and focus areas? Turkish series already have a broad global impact. How do you think this impact will evolve with productions in different languages?
As I have mentioned previously, our starting point will always be strong storytelling. As you also point out, Turkish series already have an extraordinary global reach, and the emotional depth and scale of these stories are a big part of why they resonate so widely.
Expanding into projects in English and other languages is really about building on that strength, rather than changing direction. The goal is to create stories that remain rooted in authentic cultural perspectives but can travel outside of their borders.
Sometimes that will mean bringing stories from our catalogue to new markets through local adaptations, and other times, it will mean developing entirely new projects in collaboration with writers, producers, and talent in different parts of the world.
Even though I have only been at OGM Pictures for a couple of months, it has been remarkable to see the level of interest already coming in from Italy, Spain, the UK, and even the US. We are already in the final stages of formalizing several development partnerships with international collaborators, and it is incredibly exciting to see how quickly these stories are finding new life in different parts of the world.
What kind of ecosystem are you planning to build with international creative talents such as writers, directors, and actors? Is OGM Pictures becoming a global talent magnet?
Since I joined OGM Pictures, what has been great to see is how much genuine curiosity and respect there is around Turkish storytelling and the creative world behind it. What I am sensing is that the interest is not only about the stories or the IP.
There is also a lot of curiosity about the talent and the know-how behind the shows. One of the first questions that always comes up is how Turkish shows are made with such speed, quality and consistency.
For OGM Pictures, the idea is simply to build on this momentum in a natural way. The company already has a very strong catalogue of IP and a well-established international creative network, which gives us a solid foundation to grow from. Again, it all starts with the story. When you have strong source material, whether it is an original idea or a piece of IP, it becomes much easier to attract the right creative partners around it.
That is really how we see the ecosystem developing. We want to connect our stories with strong international writers, directors, and actors who share the same ambition to create compelling drama.
At the same time, it is just as important for us to bring Turkish talent further into the international conversation. As I mentioned earlier, there is an extraordinary level of craft here among directors, cinematographers, actors, and technical crews, and people are genuinely interested in working with them, learning from that experience and understanding how this system operates. Ideally, it becomes a real exchange where international talent collaborates with us while Turkish creatives gain an even stronger presence on the global stage.
So I do not really see it as trying to suddenly become a global talent magnet. It is more about creating the right environment where great stories bring great creative teams together. When the material is strong and the ambition is shared, those collaborations tend to happen naturally, and that is the kind of ecosystem we want to build around OGM Pictures.
Series Mania is a co-production market. Will we see OGM Pictures sitting at the co-production table this year with European or American production giants, embracing new models where risk and creativity are shared? What is OGM Pictures’ approach and its goals regarding co-productions?
Yes, absolutely. We would love that. Co-production is a very natural part of how we see OGM Pictures International growing. Meaningful collaborations between companies in different territories are often the best way to combine creative strengths, share financial risk, and reach wider audiences. But it also has to make sense for the individual project.
Our approach is clear in that respect. We are not looking to participate in co-productions simply as a service partner or a production base. What matters to us is being creatively involved from the very beginning, from the first spark of an idea, through development, and all the way to the finished project. Strong material and a clear creative voice are at the center of everything we want to build.
We are also interested in finding and working with new financing models. The industry is constantly evolving, and co-productions today often require complex and flexible structures. These can include partnerships between multiple territories, different platform models, or new ways of sharing both risk and opportunity, all of which we are happy to explore.
Series Mania is exactly the kind of environment where these conversations begin. Engaging in dialogue with partners from different countries often opens up interesting ways of combining storytelling traditions and creative perspectives. Finding that balance between collaboration, creative ownership, and the right financing structure is really at the heart of how we want to approach co-productions.
