Erol Yesilkaya was born in 1976 in Istanbul, Turkey. He then moved with his parents to Krefeld, Germany, where he grew up.

After completing his studies of Modern German Literature and Media Studies at the University of Marburg, Germany in 2004, Yesilkaya moved to Hamburg, where he conceptualized, wrote and starred in the Internet-based mystery soap opera Sinister Bay (2006 - ) together with his companion Ben Bernschneider. The show was well received and earned them the chance to write the mystery thriller film Gonger - Das Böse vergisst nie (2008) for German TV.

Since 2008 Yesilkaya lives and works in Berlin. There, he is part of a authors' collective named "Schreibkombinat Kurt Klinke". As a member of the collective, he has written screenplays for popular drama and television series such as Dogs of Berlin (2018), The Island (2020), Hausen (2020) and Notruf Hafenkante (2007).

Yesilkaya has been successfully collaborating with director Sebastian Marka since 2012. He wrote the scripts for seven episodes of the famous German crime series Tatort (1970), which Marka directed. These episodes were praised by the German press and received prizes. So Yesilkaya won the prestigious German Grimme Award for the episode Meta (2018). With Marka, he also realized the dystopian science fiction film Exit (2020), which was broadcast by German national television channel "Das Erste".

In 2021 Yesilkaya founded the production company "DOG HAUS" together with Marka and producer André Zoch.

(Earlier version of this mini-biography by Knut Brockmann)

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Erol Yesilkaya

Writer

Producer

Script and Continuity Department