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Like Sex and the City 2, M-Net's head of local productions, Helen Smit left the Randburg building after a decade heading for a Middle Eastern desert oasis - leaving M-Net with a big hole and industry insiders wondering: who will succeed her as the new head of local productions at the pay broadcaster . . . if anyone?
Will M-Net make a new appointment to replace Helen Smit who left for greener pastures in Abu Dhabi, according to sources, or will her pivotal position go unfilled? M-Net didn't exactly keep the news about Helen Smit's departure quiet or under wraps, but didn't exactly advertise it to the press either who's all still in the dark about the position actually being vacant since the end of May. Helen Smit's sudden and unexpected resignation from the highly influential and highly coveted position as head of local productions at M-Net wasn't followed by the big hoo-haa and fanfare M-Net made when her predecessor, Carl Fischer – then called the head of original productions - stepped down in March 2009 after also spending a decade at M-Net just like Helen Smit. ''If this was America, Helen Smit would actually have been running a network by now,'' a veteran TV executive at a rival broadcaster told me, who spoke of her with grudging, yet big respect and only had nice things to say about the woman who started her television career at the SABC's TV news desk in the early eighties.
The jovial, globally well traveled and ever energetic Helen Smit, previously the general manager of KTV and youth channel GO (before it was relaunched as Vuzu on DStv in July last year) took over from Carl Fischer just over a year and a half ago in the newly minted position as ''head of local productions''. She's widely regarded as one of the most influential women within the South African television industry and several producers who's worked with her in the past described her to me as ''brilliant'', someone ''with a wonderful sense of humour'', and ''someone . . . all-round so wonderfully passionate about her work and TV''.
Helen Smit joined M-Net in 2000 as a commissioning editor and rose up the ranks at M-Net bringing dedication and an immense passion for television to her work. Besides being extremely well connected in the industry, well read and with a wide understanding and perspective on the back-end mechanics of making television, Helen Smit truly loves the medium. Over the past decade she's shown a knack for knowing what especially the youth audience is and what they want to watch, eventually residing and making pivotal choices regarding local TV content on a myriad of M-Net channels during a time in which the pay broadcaster is producing more local programmes than ever before in its pay TV history. Stars like All Access' Jason Greer got the chance to shine on television and show what he can really do when she cast him as the presenter of the GO reality show The Loot.
For more on Helen Smit and what industry insiders are saying about her, click on READ MORE below.
During M-Net's latest and last big TV event – the live finale of Survivor SA Santa Carolina in April this year, Helen Smit opted to rather be in the final control room just outside studio 6 at M-Net than be a part of the studio audience. That's exactly who she is. When I remarked on her phenomenal and ever-involved hands-on approach just minutes before going live to air, Helen Smit's bubbly and characteristic chuckle was followed by her words: ''Ag, you know, skattie, that's me. If you want to make good television you have to be right where the action is. And I love to be where the TV action is.''
On-air talent talk with as much respect of her. '' I first met Helen Smit after I was cast as presenter for The Loot,'' Jason Greer told me. ''Helen Smit was lovely. Of course - immediately - I loved her right back. Since then, we've always had a great relationship,'' he says. ''I've always felt I could go to her with any questions. Helen Smit is a top, top dog – yet she's always made me feel that I can ask her anything or call her directly, which is exactly what I did. She's always been really, so incredibly nice to me. She knew what she wanted, and she knew how she wanted to get things done. I have incredible respect for Helen Smit. She would give you an answer, but she would always explain why the answer is ''no'', or why she chose you, or why she made certain decisions. I'm very sad that Helen's left and I think her departure is a loss for M-Net.''
''Then Helen Smit was also a bit intimidating,'' says the ex employee and laughs. ''You know, Helen is incredibly TV literate and a TV expert. She truly knows her stuff. There would not be a small little TV show in Japan that she hasn't heard of. She knows her story. And she's positive. She is one of the most positive people I know. When things are unpleasant and looks hopeless, Helen Smit has a way of putting a pragmatic spin on things that makes you feel that you can cope again. She's an incredible motivator.''
On a personal note as as a disclaimer, I can (and have to say) that I have come to know Helen Smit over the past decade as well as it was probably possible as a journalist and writer covering TV and the television industry. Personally, I really like(ed) Helen Smit. She always made time for me. She always answered my questions and I got the sense that she did so truthfully. Because of that I liked her a lot. When she couldn't talk to me, she said so. I never asked her for off the record information. In turn she never ran away (like so many TV people do) when I spot them at TV functions.
Earlier this year I visited M-Net in Randburg for other business. Yet it was Helen Smit who invited me into her office (always a colourful place) simply to hear how I'm doing. Once I walked down a corridor at M-Net for a Randburg set visit, oblivious in my own thoughts. Helen Smit saw me first, obviously waited for me (although TV exec time is money), and then suddenly said ''Hi Thinus''. I looked up. She laughed and lingered. We had a short chat. I felt seen. Helen Smit completely understood how everything worked in TV land but more than that she understood people. She knew how they thought and she knew why they watch television. For her television matters a great deal. People too. And their feelings – and that's something that's not a combination in abundant supply in the mostly vapid factory world of moving pictures.
Responding to my media enquiry about Helen Smit's departure, the pay broadcaster reacted swiftly, with M-Net saying ''Helen Smit got a fantastic offer to go and work in Abu Dhabi (Dubai) as the head of local productions for a local TV station. It is not only a feather in Helen's cap, but also for M-Net since it seems as if our staff are sought after internationally.'' M-Net tells me that Anne Davis is currently heading up the broadcaster's department in an acting capacity, and that ''M-Net will decide during the upcoming budget cycle as to whether to fill the position again''.
''Helen Smit is one of the most hard working people I have come across,'' says Theo Erasmus, channel director: general entertainment (South Africa) at M-Net. ''She made a huge contribution to the local content output of M-Net by launching new shows and taking existing ones to the next level.''
Eventually though, Helen Smit had bigger aspirations for her life and career and what she still wants to accomplish in this magical world of television. Sadly, Helen Smit's loss to M-Net is our loss - for the South Africa TV industry; and for every one of us as viewers. (For now.)
