Scripted

At a press conference today in Istanbul, Netflix announced an ambitious new original drama series titled Midnight at the Pera Palace, produced by Karga Seven Pictures Turkey, the Turkish production outfit of award-winning LA-based production company Karga Seven Pictures, a Red Arrow Studios company.

The eight-episode Turkish language series has started production in multiple locations in Turkey.

Midnight at the Pera Palace is centred on a young journalist called Esra, and her encounter with the legendary Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul. When Esra is assigned to write a piece about the hotel, she accidentally discovers that one of the historic rooms is a portal to the year 1919. Thrust into the past, she lands in the middle of a political conspiracy against the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Together with Ahmet, the quirky hotel manager, Esra must protect the course of history and the future of Turkey. But Istanbul in 1919 is a dangerous place. From enemy occupation forces under the command of a ruthless general, to the local police fighting to control gangs willing to do anything for quick money, Esra must learn to navigate her new reality to stay alive. Then, when Esra meets Halit, the handsome and mysterious owner of Istanbul’s wildest club, she realizes that in the Istanbul of 1919 nothing is as it seems and no one is who they say they are.

Midnight at the Pera Palace is adapted from the award-winning non-fiction book of the same name written by Charles King, and is created for television by Emre Sahin, Kelly McPherson and Sam Anzel, written by Elif Usman, and directed by Emre Sahin. The series is executive produced by Sarah Wetherbee, Kelly McPherson and Emre Sahin for Karga Seven Pictures.

Emre Sahin, Founding Partner of Karga Seven Pictures, and the creator and director of the series, said: “As a lover of history and Istanbul, this project is a dream come true. The book did such a great job at telling the history of Turkey through the eyes of the hotel. In the series we’ve built on that foundation and pushed the storytelling into an ambitious new dimension. The show is entertaining, thought provoking and action packed and like Istanbul, just when you think you’ve figured it out, it will endlessly surprise you.”

Pelin Distas, Netflix’s Director of Original Content for Turkey, said: "At Netflix, we aspire to have best in class stories, across all genres. Therefore, we’re thrilled to diversify our slate of Turkish originals with such an exciting period adventure drama. We believe that Turkey is one of the major creative centers for great storytelling and we are looking forward to sharing this great story from the magical city of Istanbul to our members around the world."

Karga Seven Pictures opened their Turkish outfit in 2017, and recent projects include last year’s Netflix Original series Rise of Empires: Ottoman, which has proved a massive hit in Turkey and around the world.

Karga Seven Pictures’ US division produces an array of scripted and unscripted projects for all major networks, including recent commissions Bin Laden’s Hard Drive for NatGeo, Believers, Buried Worlds with Don Wildman and Mission Declassified for Travel Channel, and Unexplained and Unexplored for Discovery and Science Channel.