Meet Media Mogul Mahmoud Baraka
I started as an interior designer. I started designing small interiors and eventually worked my way up the ranks and into more interesting and challenging projects. So, I started Baraka design and we excelled in set design and art direction for TV shows, Music videos and Tv ads. In 2004, Al Beit Beitak was born and It was supposed to be a replacement for “Masaa Al Kheir Ya Masr” It was the biggest challenge for all of us to introduce the best set-design, best quality and the best content. We introduced to the Egyptian people a proper night show on the very conservative state TV. It was the best opportunity for all the young talents who worked with me in al Beit Beitak to work hard, learn and see how successful it was. And now I am happy and proud to see all those young talents have become producers in all major TV networks.. In 2008, we started producing TV series, in the beginning we focused on the quality of the picture and quality of the production. In 2010, Ahl Cairo was debuted during Ramadan season and it was revolutionary in the industry, because we told it like it is — we showed Egyptians how the system works here.
When did you expand to the UAE and are these the first steps in your expansion plans in the region or internationally?
I expanded my business in the field of GCC 10 years ago during the massive growth in the GCC media market. The market there is young but solid and the media production industry is thriving in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In Dubai the interest is to invest in the industry. The Media City in Dubai provides the newest technologies in the industry that helps you to have better picture quality.
To expand internationally the content and the quality limits you somehow. In terms of content one has to come up with a content and art direction that would be suitable in the Egyptian and Arab society. For instance Nadine Labky’s movie made it in Europe and America but couldn’t reach the same success here in the Middle East because the majority of the people could not understand the content of the movie.
What are the difficulties you feel face the current market and what advice would you give to new comers trying to make it?
The competition. We have the American and British shows and they are sharing the market with us. And therefore we have to come up with competitive products. But then again the market is small so you work with a limited production budget.
My advice to the new comers is to learn, work hard and focus on the quality. The quality of your work is what creates your name and your brand. Focus on the little things, in art direction the little details matters. In the cutting and coloring the little details makes big difference. So work hard and focus on quality.
What is your vision for new generation of the media?
Social media has changed the game completely; it took the media production to a different plateau. Media industry became one big market open to all markets. We have seen PSY the Korean artist, who made a song in Korean and it reached almost 1 billion views on YouTube while the population of Korea is 60 Million. That proves that you don’t have boundaries anymore and it means you not only have to come up with good quality but your content has to be very unique.
What is your take on the storm of Turkish soap operas that have flooded the market? How do you feel this has changed the game?
I say “Bravo” they studied our market and the similarities in the cultures and they exported products with content that perfectly fits in our society. They created a challenge for the Arab producers to produce with the same quality and invest more in developing the industry, because Arabs got used to the good production and quality. They became smarter, their eyes got used to the good picture. So we have to respect them by competing with the Turkish and invest more to come up with a better product.
How do you feel Hollywood and the west influences the field in the region, do you feel we have progressed technically in terms of production and technique?
In Hollywood it’s a real industry. They have a massive market that allows them to invest and develop in all elements of production. I remember in the art academy my professor told me that media production has a triangle of power.. Industry.. Sales.. And art.. They have the best studios in the world and they develop new technologies everyday for every process in production starting from set design to editing to sound quality to effects. That only motivates us to develop the production process here too.. in our production lap we update our machines and our equipment every year, we do researches to get the newest technologies and the newest softwares in order to have a competitive product- What is this new project you are working on and why is it different to anything you have done prior?
In BMP every year we come up with different generations of tv shows, in 2010 we made Ahl Cairo and it was a revolution in Tv series industry in Egypt. We talked freely about the corruption in the system without fearing them and that opened the door for others to follow us.
This season, we are still in the preparing process.. nothing is confirmed yet.
We have the talent sponsorship project. I have been doing that for years, as you can see the talents that worked with us back in 2006 in Al Beit Beitak are now the producers of all Egyptian and Arab tv networks. And the presenters who I introduced back then are now talk show stars.
I am willing to continue sponsoring the talented hard workers and give them the chance to learn and develop their talents and skills in 2013 season projects
How does one get involved?
Currently we are updating our website and it will be announced on the social media once the website is done. Candidates can apply online and we have screening team. if you’re good you will have a fair chance in an audition or a presentation and Good luck to all!
WE SAID THIS: Everyone Wants To Be A Star. Maybe Its Your Turn!
