I make it easy for you to take it easy.
No guesstimating work.
No stone unturned.
One contact does it all.
I fix, you film.
I am a full service, “one-contact-does-it-all” service provider assuring top notch productions to run like clockwork.
If it is broken, I will fix it!
If it is needed, I will get it!
Many times, challenge is the name of the game
and I thrive on it!
Fix and film!
Results achieved here!
By the trusted expert for the discerning eye for filming in Turkey.
Since 1991.
All of my qualities put together as briefed below enable me to provide a full service package for all your needs and wants for the research, planning, execution and all other production related inquiries.
I have been working as a location manager/ line producer/ fixer and researcher for filming projects all over Turkey since 1991.
Historic documentaries, current issues documentaries, newscasts, advertorials and event filming lead the way in the kind of productions I have experienced so far.
PBS, BBC, CNN, Channel 4, Discovery, National Geographic, BFMTV, ZDF, ORF, SAT3, MBC, MediaCorp are to name a few.
During all this production, I had the pleasure of meeting with famous personalities such as Boris Johnson, Michael Portillo, Tony Robinson, David Baddiel and many valuable scientists, academicians and contributors who are at the top of their game.
I have lived and worked both in Turkey and U.S.A.
I am local; I do not have to research and learn or depend on others’ recommendations when you request services in Turkey. My extensive travels and contacts all over Turkey give me the upper hand.
On the other hand, having lived in foreign lands, on top of my extensive travels around the world equip me with the international flair and understanding of different cultures and industry expectations.
I have assisted foreign crews/ production companies with research, planning, permissions, interviews, equipment and crew retrieval, translation and travel arrangements.
My background as a professional tour guide since 1991 and a travel industry veteran for almost 3 decades strongly backs up my filming work. It provides me with extensive insight information about locations, sites, museums and service providers all over Turkey, gives me free access to all these as well as personal contacts.
My oral and written interpretation and translation capacities between Turkish and English languages including simultaneous and consecutive translation, post-filming audio, document and subtitle translations come as a further asset.
I believe in safeguarding the confidentiality of my guests and patrons in the realm of cyberspace.
I prefer not sharing my portfolio with the entire world in here. But, yes, the list is extensive and I will share it in private should you inquire.
My credentials include multinational productions for the highest caliber production houses and TV channels such as PBS, BBC, CNN, Channel 4, Discovery, National Geographic, BFMTV, ZDF, ORF, SAT3, MBC, MediaCorp, hosting famous personalities such as Michael Portillo, Tony Robinson, Boris Johnson, Bettany Hughes and David Baddiel, just to name a few.
According to Turkish legislation, it is obligatory for foreign filming crews and/or companies to have at least one host/ guide who is a citizen of the Turkish Republic during the film shooting in Turkey.
There is one general permit for filming in Turkey to be applied for as a foreign crew and/or company. However, there are further local permits to be obtained.
For most countries’ citizens planning to come to Turkey for filming, a filming visa is required for each foreign individual.
All information hereby is given as a general outline for starters to the best of my knowledge at the time it is prepared. Information might have changed at the time of your inquiry. The most up-to-date information on the legalities will be provided at the time of your contact.
Many of the foreign production houses and TV Channels contact me with an already established idea or project with very specific needs and wants based on their own research. However, sometimes, they have an open end and they are still searching for ideas or at least for the right locations.
Here is a sample list of facts, stories, places and historic figures you may or may not have heard about which are in Turkey: Turkey has a high potential for shooting with all the variety it has; geography, history, culture, people… You name it, Turkey has it!
It is a people’s land. Hospitable people that is. Welcoming…
It is a land of geographical and climatic variety.
Three major bodies of seas surround Turkey; Black Sea in the North, the Aegean Sea on the West and the Mediterranean Sea in the South. The Marmara Sea connects the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea through the Bosphorus Strait. Istanbul is situated on the Asian and European sides of the Bosphorus.
The climate changes drastically from one region to another. Snow capped mountains, rainfall for ten months of the year, ten months of sunshine, high barren mountains, green plateaus; it is all there as you travel from one part of Turkey to another.
Though and calm seas, meandering rivers right out of the Bible, mountains of historic value and untouched beauty, unparalled landscapes in forest or on turquoise waters, limestone laden white-washed pools, the Cappadocian pinnacles of tufa stone, agricultural lands, rocky beaches, sandy beaches, ski-centers, fishing villages, salt lakes… It is all there!
It is a land of thousands of years of history. Nowhere in the world so many different civilizations have lived in one land. Grand historic architectural existence, Byzantine monasteries, earliest Christian churches, mosques, synagogues, medieval fortresses, archaeological sites dating back to 12,000 years ago, grand Roman ruins, more ancient Greek ruins than Greece has, underground cities…
It is a land of traditional culture and everchanging lifestyles. Bustling cities, cornucopia of cultures from the most primitive beehive dwellings to the post-modern shopping malls and highrises, a cuisine rich with variety and freshness, traditional and folkloric lifestyles, Turkish baths, whirling dervishes…
- Istanbul and Canakkale; the only two cities in the world located on two continents
- Mount Ararat and Noah’s Ark
- Troy and Homer’s Iliad
- Gobekli Tepe; 12,000 years old civilization
- Ephesus; the best preserved or restored ancient city in the world
- Pergamum where parchment paper was invented
- More ancient Greek sites than in Greece
- Alexander the Great
- St. Paul and the Seven Churches
- St. Nicholas
- Early Christians
- All of Christian Councils met in the land of modern Turkey including the Nicean Council
- Constantine and Constantinople
- St. Sophia; 4th biggest but oldest standing Christian monument in the world
- The earliest synagogue in Asia Minor
- Origination of whirling dervishes and Sufism
- Turkish baths
- Origination of tulips (Yes, it is not Holland!)
- The first money printing
- 9,000 varieties of vegetation (12,000 in all of Europe); 3,000 endemic varieties in Turkey (2,750 in Europe)
liz@hailizhere.com