Hakan Günday and Onur Saylak, the writer-director team behind the hit Turkish series “Persona”, have signed with CAA to represent the show.
The highest-rated show in Turkey, “Persona” premiered its first season in 2018 and recently wrapped production on its highly anticipated second season. It will air on Turkish streaming platform GAIN later this year.
“Persona,” or “Şahsiyet” as it is known in Turkey, follows Agâh, a 65-year-old retired court clerk who crosses paths with Nevra, the only female police officer in Istanbul’s homicide department. When Agâh is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, he sees an opportunity to commit a murder he has been planning for years, knowing that he will have no memory or remorse. Meanwhile, Nevra, on the verge of resigning due to the misogynistic behaviour of her colleagues, is forever changed by Agâh’s crime.
Günday began his career as a writer and has written nine books, three films and two series. Saylak started out as an actor, best known for the hit 2008 feature film Autumn, and made his directorial debut in 2015 with The Jungle. The two then teamed up in 2017, when Saylak adapted Günday’s novel “Daha” (“More”) into a feature film. “Daha” premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and won numerous awards on the festival circuit at the time, including best film at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in Turkey. Apart from “Persona”, Günday and Saylak have also collaborated on the Netflix series “Wild Abandon” in 2022 and the film “Chokehold”, which premiered this year.
Günday and Saylak continue to be represented by Gozde Yilmaz Saylak at On Talent.
