Friday, August 28, 2009

SABC's choking stranglehold on production industry


''If you rob a country of the right to tell it's own stories, then you are killing the culture,'' actor Terrance Bridget said yesterday at the macabre ''death theatre'' public protest right in front of the SABC's doors by the TV Industry Emergency Coalition (TVIEC) yesterday.


Producers are rallying and keeping the pressure up on the public broadcaster who still has outstanding debt to pay and is also turning the tap off on current and future production revenue by drastically decreasing the commissioning budget for local content.


I speak to producers and studios on a DAILY basis. While I have to say that the TVIEC has a great PR approach (the SABC only has spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago), it really is as BAD and even worse than all of the stories you are reading about this issue.


COMING SOON: Massive layoffs in the local production industry (already happening but set to escalate, lots of repeats which I have written about already extensively (because there just won't be anything else to watch on the SABC, a lack of skilled production people to help with 2010 because people are already venturing into other career opportunities.)