We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Akasha Coral. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Akasha below.
Hi Akasha, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout
I believe my generation is very aware of the burnout concept but you don’t really understand it until it hits you. I entered the entertainment industry during my master’s education and I felt like I had to catch up on so much – given the competition. To make up for lost time, I attempted to do a lot of things at once like producing short films, music videos, writing, working in development, getting agency experience, getting studio experience and such. When I wasn’t hustling, I was watching the most recent shows, older movies and reading books to get further insight. Although I enjoyed the fast-paced life this offered me, it all hit me when the pandemic happened and everything stopped. I was living in Los Angeles at the time and had to move back to my hometown, Istanbul. This meant that I needed to find a place for myself in a totally different entertainment landscape and perhaps update my career path.
This wasn’t a very easy feat. I started working with a line producer for a Netflix show and gained a good understanding of what it takes to produce a tv show and what the budgets of such an operation looked like. I really liked being on set because it allowed me to learn something new every day. However, this wasn’t enough for me. I was still running side hustles like working on a documentary, doing a podcast, writing a newsletter and helping a friend with her short film. I thought doing these side hustles were helping me grow. At some point, I was very close to burnout but I thought it was because of my main place of work, and I decided to switch companies. I started working at Disney+ and then I realized that I’ve been fooling myself while hitting all the buttons. I thought the more I did, the better it was on my path to success. It was shocking to realize that it wasn’t how much I did but it was how I did those things and how I felt doing those things. I’ve come to realize that I’d rather do one thing, excel at it and LIKE doing it rather than do a million things and feel super stressed.
Of course this revelation didn’t come at a calm time. I was so frustrated by doing a zillion things and still not feeling satisfied, it was time I changed the way I looked at work – which came with its own existential dilemma and a lack of interest in doing ANYTHING. Now I mostly try to focus on how I feel while I do any job and build from there. I feel so much more like myself and feel like I’m more on the right path.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m an entertainment industry person from Istanbul. I grew up watching a lot of tv shows and films to the extent that I would use them to learn about life. Although until my master’s eduction I never considered this profession, it now feels very appropriate. I started my career in Los Angeles, CA, working at the top agencies and studios. It was truly mesmerizing to experience the industry in Los Angeles where everyone is involved in the business – one way or another. During the pandemic, I moved back to my hometown with a thirst to learn about the industry dynamics in Turkey.
Many people know Turkish content by the soapy telenovelas with big stars (and the really long episodic runtime). Over the past 10 years, Turkish content became the most in demand content worldwide and portrayed a massive success. What I do is more on the other edge of the business – I work for a production company producing content for digital platforms and films for the big screen. While the telenovelas have more shallow storylines, digital series focus on more refined content. This is the part that interests me more. Because as some of you might know, Turkey is an interesting place to be in when it comes to freedom of thought. The list of forbidden topics run so long that it really is a craft to tell a risky story. However, that is also the allure of it.
Ever since I moved back, I tried to get into as many areas as possible because I wanted to understand the landscape. Right now, I’m focused on YouTube as I see the impact of it on the Turkish people. I’m about to launch a YouTube channel based on Film and TV content, which will also be available as a podcast. I’m also working as a production coordinator on a one-shot feature film for the big screen, along with an indie feature film. On top of it all, I’m also crafting a newsletter called “Cinema Politica” which takes a look at content and what they mean for us.
So you can think of me as an entertainment professional who is trying to find alternative ways to tell stories and start a conversation of the state of the country and the state of the industry.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Curiosity, ready for action, quick to learn.
I believe these are all tied to one another. Curiosity allows you to learn something quickly, which then makes you ready for action. With all these combined, you can get the momentum you need to carry out whatever you want.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
The fact that they always supported what I wanted, even if they thought it was absurd.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/akashacoral
- Linkedin: Akasha Coral
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/coralakasha
Image Credits
1st photo – me and Esin Aydıngöz (Composer) 2nd photo – is from the production of a tv show.
