What Karga Seven Pictures does

Karga Seven Pictures is a Los Angeles-based television and film production company founded in 2008 by Emmy-nominated producers Emre Sahin, Sarah Wetherbee, and Kelly McPherson. The company develops, produces, and licenses original content across documentary, reality, and scripted formats in genres spanning history, science, true crime, travel, food, weather, and drama. It maintains a portfolio of 70+ productions delivered to major US cable networks (History, National Geographic, Discovery, Travel Channel, Food Network, Science Channel, Weather Channel, TLC, MTV, Investigation Discovery) and global streaming platforms (notably Netflix), with multi-season franchises including Hunting Hitler, Rise of Empires: Ottoman, the Sniper franchise, Alien Encounters, and Midnight at the Pera Palace.

Karga Seven operates a dual-hub model with its primary office in Los Angeles and a regional subsidiary, Karga Turkey, in Istanbul (opened 2017) that produces Turkish-language scripted content for the domestic Turkish TV market and serves as a co-production platform. The company has also extended into feature film, exemplified by Emre Sahin's directorial debut "40" (Toronto International Film Festival selection). In 2015, Red Arrow Studios — part of the ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE group — acquired a majority stake, providing global distribution reach and back-office resources, and Karga Seven now operates under the DBA "Karga Seven Pictures — A Red Arrow Studios Company."

The business model is B2B project-based production for enterprise content buyers. Revenue is generated through production fees and content licensing/royalty arrangements negotiated on a per-project basis, with potential backend participation tied to show performance. Distribution occurs entirely through licensing to networks and platforms; the company does not sell directly to consumers. GTM is relationship-driven: the founding team directly pitches projects to network and streaming executives, supplemented by a "Pitch Your Idea" submission portal on the company website and earned media coverage in outlets such as The New York Times.

Name

Karga Seven Pictures

Legal name

Karga Seven Pictures

Website

https://karga7la.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Karga Seven Pictures is a Los Angeles-based television and film production company, majority-owned by Red Arrow Studios (ProSiebenSat.1), that develops and licenses original documentary, reality, and scripted content to major US cable networks and global streaming platforms, with a regional subsidiary in Istanbul producing Turkish-language scripted series.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Television and Film Production

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Production (51211)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Live-Action TV Movies, Miniseries & Specials Production (MPADABAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

True Crime Documentaries (MPADADAN), Arts & Culture Documentaries (MPADADAI)

Keywords

• Television production
• Documentary production
• Scripted content
• Factual programming
• Reality series

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Television Production: Karga Seven produces documentary, reality, and scripted series for television networks and streaming platforms. Revenue is generated through production fees, licensing deals, and potentially backend participation based on show performance. The company creates original programming across genres including science, history, crime, and travel.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Karga Seven Pictures is a television and film production company that develops, produces, and licenses original documentary series, reality shows, and scripted drama for major US broadcast networks, cable channels, and streaming platforms. The company produces content across genres including history, science, crime, travel, food, and historical drama, with multi-national production capabilities spanning Los Angeles and Istanbul. Revenue is generated through production fees, licensing deals, and backend participation based on show performance.

Product overview

Karga Seven Pictures is a television and film production company based in Los Angeles with additional offices in Istanbul. The company specializes in factual, scripted, and branded content, producing documentary series, reality shows, and feature films. Founded by Emmy-nominated producers Sarah Wetherbee, Emre Sahin, and Kelly McPherson in 2008, the company joined Red Arrow Studios in 2015. Their portfolio includes a diverse range of productions spanning genres such as historical documentaries (Rise of Empires: Ottoman, JFK Declassified), true crime series (Hunting Hitler, Hunt for the Zodiac Killer), science and exploration shows (Alien Encounters, Cities of the Underworld), food and travel programming (Booze Traveler, Beach Eats), and dramatic series (Midnight at the Pera Palace, Sorgu). The company operates across multiple networks including History, Discovery, National Geographic, Netflix, MTV, Food Network, TLC, and the Weather Channel.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sorgu S2
• Umami
• Sorgu Odasi
• Midnight at the Pera Palace S2
• Testament: The Story of Moses
• Rise of Empires: Ottoman Season 2
• Good Sex
• Cities of the Underworld
• Midnight at the Pera Palace
• Infamy
• Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch
• Paranormal
• Hunting Hitler: The Final Chapter
• Bin Laden's Hard Drive
• Believers
• Buried Worlds with Don Wildman
• Duff Takes the Cake Season 2
• Rise of Empires Ottoman
• MTV True Life: Crime
• White Supremacy Destroyed My Life
• Unexplained and Unexplored
• Duff Takes the Cake
• Sex for Sale
• Mission Declassified
• Unchartered
• Killing Time
• Legends of the Lost
• True Life
• Shot In the Dark
• Hard to Kill
• Hunt for the Zodiac Killer
• Breaking the Day
• Hunting Hitler S3
• Search History
• Booze Traveler Season 4
• JFK Declassified: Tracking Oswald
• JFK Declassified: The New Files
• Buried
• Searching for Sound
• Best Bars
• Kayitdisi
• True Alaska
• Best Place to Be
• Sniper: Inside the Crosshairs
• CRY WOLFE Season 3
• Got Your Six
• 40
• How Booze Built America
• Beach Eats
• Natural Born Monsters
• Alien Encounters Season 3
• Realtime Tornado
• Futurscape
• Could I Live There
• Jill & Dad's America
• Eyewitness War
• In Other News
• The Quick and the Curious
• I Survived a Tornado - Season 2
• Big City Twister
• Rebel Eats
• Twisted Believers
• Alien Encounters Season 2
• Baron Ambrosia
• Sniper: Deadliest Missions
• Ultimate Guide to the Presidents
• Sniper: Bulletproof
• Spy Wars
• Jesus Conspiracies
• Can Family Save My Business?
• Spy World
• Proving God
• Ultimate Armored Car: The Presidential Beast
• Day After Disaster
• Secret Service Secrets
• Plane Sexy
• Bizarre Collections
• Alien Encounters
• Big Hair Alaska
• Extreme Cruiseship
• Forensicator

Quantifiable outcome

• 2014 Emmy Nomination for 'Ultimate Guide to the Presidents' (History)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Lionsgate Television: Lionsgate's television division produces scripted and unscripted content for networks and streamers globally. It is a broad incumbent peer to Karga Seven in TV production, with a deeper scripted footprint and much larger library.
• All3Media: All3Media is a UK-based global television production group with dozens of production labels producing factual, drama, and entertainment content. It is a broad incumbent peer producing content for many of the same US and UK networks that Karga Seven supplies.
• Banijay: Banijay is a leading global content producer and distributor with a portfolio of more than 130 production labels, spanning factual, entertainment, and scripted. It is comparable to Karga Seven as a peer production group but operates at much larger scale following its Endemol Shine acquisition.
• ITV Studios: ITV Studios is the global content production and distribution arm of ITV, producing drama, entertainment, and factual programming. It is comparable to Karga Seven as a production-side peer with strong factual credentials, but operates at much larger scale.
• A+E Studios: A+E Studios is the in-house production arm of A+E Networks (History, A&E, Lifetime). It is a broad incumbent peer to Karga Seven in that it supplies premium factual and scripted content to the same History Channel buyer that is one of Karga Seven's largest customers.
• Fremantle: Fremantle is one of the largest global TV production and distribution groups, producing factual, entertainment, and drama programming. It is a relevant broad incumbent to Karga Seven in the factual/scripted production space, though at significantly greater scale and geographic reach.

Direct peers

• Cineflix Media: Cineflix is an independent global content producer producing factual, scripted, and formatted entertainment. It is a direct peer to Karga Seven as a mid-sized independent production company with comparable US/international footprint and factual production focus.
• Propagate Content: Propagate is an independent production company producing unscripted and scripted content for broadcasters and streamers, with significant factual and reality programming. It is a direct peer to Karga Seven in scale and business model — producing premium content for similar buyers like History, Discovery, and Netflix.
• ITV America: ITV America is the US production arm of ITV Studios, producing unscripted and scripted content for US networks. It is a direct peer to Karga Seven producing factual and reality programming for many of the same US cable and streaming buyers.
• Sharp Entertainment: Sharp Entertainment is an independent US production company specializing in factual and reality programming for cable networks and streamers. It is a direct peer to Karga Seven given overlapping customer base (History, Discovery, Travel, Food) and similar factual/food/travel content focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/karga-seven-pictures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Karga Seven Pictures