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Turkish drama has been a strong international seller for some time, but as production costs rise, distributors are keen to open up more territories and find new ‘dizi’ fans. Accordingly, Valley Of Hearts is one of a growing number of Turkish shows breaking into Western Europe, selling into Italy where it has commanded strong ratings.
A tale of twins finding their real-life mother and the ensuing drama and intrigue, the series comes from esteemed author and TV scribe Yıldız Tunç, the writer of Broken Pieces, Bitter Lands and many other Turkish series. She tells Deadline about Valley of Hearts, as do the series producer and director.
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Name: Valley of Hearts
Country: Turkey
Producer: TIMS&B Productions
International Sales: Inter Medya
For fans of: Yellowstone
Cappadocia has become a hotspot for travelers, many of whom take a trip in one of hundreds of colorful air balloons that shoot upwards each day, giving them an aerial view of the stunning region in central Turkey. In Valley of Hearts, family tensions are on the rise against this stunning backdrop. Having fared well at home on Show TV, the series is one of a growing number of Turkish dramas breaking into Western Europe.
Valley of Hearts follows Sumru (Ece Uslu), who abandoned her twin daughters at a young age and later married a wealthy businessman, Samet Şansalan (Burak Sergen). Years later, her children, Nuh (Aras Aydın) and Melek (Hafsanur Sancaktutan), uncover their mother’s identity and travel to Cappadocia to confront her. Complicating matters, meanwhile, is the return of Cihan (Burak Tozkoparan), Samet’s son from his first marriage, which increases family tensions.
Sumru tries to maintain the luxurious life she has with her new family, but the secrets of her past and the arrival of Nuh and Melek lead to confrontations with Cihan as well as his reluctant fiancée, Sevilay (Leyla Tanlar), who in turn is the daughter of Samet’s sister (Esra Dermancıoğlu).
Valley’s origins
Conversations around Valley of Hearts between producer TIMS&B and writer Yıldız Tunç began while the final eps of their previous series Deception were airing.
The twins set-up allows for twice the drama and a new take on the so-called ‘dizi’, the term for the high-emotion Turkish series that generally involves a web of relationships and family drama as well as lashings of melodrama.
“We added to the conventional ‘dizi’ plot [with] not one but two love arcs centered around twins. Not to mention the contribution of the extraordinary and almost magical backdrop of Cappadocia,” says Selin Arat, Chief Global Officer, TIMS Group.
Writer Tunç picks up the thread: “My stories usually begin with a single sentence that suddenly comes to my mind. In Bitter Lands, it was the idea of ‘sacrifice for love’ – how far can someone go for the one they love?” she adds. “With Valley of Hearts, the twin archetype came together with themes of abandonment and motherhood. I asked myself, what if two twins, abandoned at birth, found their mother and held her accountable?”
She adds that the Cappadocia setting was perfect for the story she wanted to tell. “It’s unlike anywhere else — not as harsh as eastern Turkey, nor as soft as the west. It is a unique place in Central Anatolia with a different character from neighboring cities. That made it the perfect location for Valley of Hearts. The Şansalan Family had to have the appearance of an Istanbul family but with stricter rules. Cappadocia gave us the ideal grounding for that visual and emotional contrast.”
The family at the heart of the story run a tourism business allowing Cappadocia to feature in a way that naturally chimes with the narrative, but the connection between landscape and plot runs far deeper, series director Murat Saraçoğlu says. “The rugged terrain, the silent aggression of the rocks, the sheer hardness of the landscape – all of it carries a deep, emotional force that’s even felt in the region’s traditional music. This timeless and calm energy of the land helped shape the spirit of our entire project.”
He adds: “When your sociological and cultural understanding blends with the emotional truth of the story and the landscape you’re treating as a character, it creates a level of realism that the audience can truly feel. Otherwise, the director is like an American tourist visiting Egypt, that is, [just] using the geography with the most familiar touristic elements in the imagery.”
Tunç is both a TV writer and accomplished novelist. Her approach, she explains, differs vastly between book and screen. “I always imagine the story through the eyes of an average viewer. I constantly put myself in their place. Television doesn’t tolerate stories without tension — you have to keep it alive, alert, and emotionally engaging. What the audience expects from a television series is first excitement and then emotion, which requires powerful themes. These themes are also universal archetypes. They work everywhere in the world. The global popularity of Turkish drama proves this, in my opinion.”
Tunç has written other series like Aliye, 1001 Nights, and Broken Pieces, which are bound together by spotlighting “women who are empowered and manage to come out of difficult situations.” “The TV audience in Turkey is predominantly female,” she adds. “This is the desire of women, to become empowered and be in control of their own lives. Interestingly, male viewers also enjoy these stories because they offer strong dramatic conflict.”
She adds that she “absolutely feels a sense of responsibility” towards the female characters, who are “role models.”
Turkish trends
Inter Medya is distributing of Valley of Hearts with sales already ticking over, including to several countries in the CEE and CIS regions – familiar destinations for Turkish drama. In Western Europe, Italy and Spain are now buying Turkish series and Valley of Hearts has fared well on Mediaset’s Canale 5 in the former, regularly garnering about 2 million viewers in its Sunday primetime slot.
Elsewhere, Arat tells Deadline a Greek remake of the series is in the works, while new markets are opening up.
“Our recent successes in Italy and Spain have contributed to opening a window in Portugal which is a new suitor in the Turkish drama market,” Arat says of distribution trends. “Declining dubbing costs have started contributing to emerging interest from territories such as Africa. I think that will pave the path for Northern Europe as well in the near future. There were some withdrawals in certain regions but we have comebacks from Bulgaria, Indonesia, and Malaysia, which is great. Trying to regain normalcy, Ukraine is back in the game. And a newcomer Malta has started showing interest in Turkish series.”
She adds that the challenge is for domestic broadcasters to fund splashy series while the ad market flounders. “You need to be able to sell well worldwide,” she says. “And the rising costs are in reverse proportion to the dwindling first screen advertising revenues, [which] challenge broadcasters in terms of financing the shows to stay on screen long enough to create a reciprocal international buzz, so it’s a double bind.”
But Arat remains optimistic: “Magically, the Turkish TV industry somehow manages to pull through all these hurdles,” she notes.