How This International Producer Is Bridging The Gap Between European And American Filmmakers


Turan was in her early 20s when she founded the company. Right after graduating college, she decided that instead of working for someone else, she wanted to operate her own production company. The primary headquarters opened in Budapest, Hungary, where she grew up. Within the 15 years of the company’s existence, Turan has opened the second headquarters in Los Angeles. Since its inception, Moviebar has produced content for companies such as HBO Nordic, ATMO, Sony Pictures Television and ROOK Films.

“During my studies in the university,” she explains, “since I spoke English, I was able to be an assistant in certain American feature films that were shot in Hungary. I did the casting for several local American movies. I was always hungry for challenges. Back then, when I established Moviebar right after film school, there were not that many production companies that were owned by young female producers.”

Networking played a significant role in Turan creating a successful production company. During the first year, her friends who worked in advertising hired her to produce their commercials. “First, my company started to produce television commercials,” she states. “Actually, after a year, all of a sudden, we weren't only producing television commercials for Hungary; we started to produce major campaigns across Europe.” Turan then had the opportunity to work on a feature film. In doing so, she had to create the film and television department within her company. Currently, she runs that division, while her partner, Vikoria Trepper, manages the commercial division.

Recently, Turan made her directorial debut with BP Underground, a music documentary series that pulls the curtain back on underground youth subcultures of Budapest, Hungary in the 1990’s and 2000’s right after the fall of the iron curtain. “I needed to dig down to what really had a major impact on my life,” she states. “I found the topic which talks about certain underground, youth subcultures in my country; I was a diehard punk rocker and a hip hop person. I turned to subcultures. I wanted to tell stories to the audience of how unique the underground scene was of my country.”

“I think filmmakers should have a message,” Turan continues, “and they should let it out. I think that a female voice is really needed, and we should tell even more of our stories; what shaped us and what influenced us. In my case, as a director, for instance, I'm talking in my documentaries as I said about certain musical youth subcultures and genres. It's really interesting to see how masculine those scenes are…I teamed up with Anna Koltay for my documentary; she’s a female co-director. So, it's really interesting how two women teamed up to tell the story of masculine musical subcultures. So females shouldn't be afraid of telling any stories that are interesting to them.”

In order for Turan’s goal of opening up a Hollywood office to come to fruition, she had to pivot multiple times within her career in order to build her portfolio and gain the trust of the industry. As she pivots, she focuses on these essential steps:

  • Expect to endure hard work during a transition. It's a lot of sweat and a lot of energy. You have to make a lot of compromises in your life to make it happen.
  • Choose what you want to master in carefully. Find your strength and become an expert in it.
  • Be brave. To succeed, you have to be brave enough to ask for what you want and take action in making your goals reality.

“My bravest moment,” Turan concludes, “was not only opening my production company but opening it without knowing if whether we're going to exist, or better, if we're going to survive. Here we are 15 years after, and we're bigger than ever. Now, I opened an office in Hollywood, which was always my dream…I’m not just European, but I'm Central European. I still remember in my early childhood what it felt like to be in a socialist country before the regime change. All of a sudden, a couple of years later, here I am in Hollywood working with American filmmakers whom I always admired.”

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I am a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership researching how individuals successfully pivot in their careers. Experiencing multiple pivots in my own career,