Similar in tone to American British co-production Strike Back filming in Cape Town, The Message which will be a mini-series, also revolves around an ultra-team of Special Forces Operators.
They return after a risky mission in the Congo to "find an even greater threat waiting for them back home". The National Intelligence Agency finds a video showing a man threatening the nuclear explosion of Soweto. Cue a gun battle in the streets of Hillbrow and an evil right wing organisation called "The Brotherhood of the Seventh Seal" demanding their own state.
The Message's cast includes Carl Beukes, Arno Carstens, Thandi Puren, Garth Breytenbach, Vuyo Dabula, Pallance Dladla, Tom Fairfoot and Greg Mellville-Smith.
The mini-series is trying to be a game-changer for South Africa's TV market with the show which asked fans and the public for donations and help to raise R1 million. The production also didn't follow the usual pitch and commissioning horse and pony show usually playing out between South African broadcasters on the one hand, and with writers, production companies and producers on the other.
The Message is now trying to create "South African TV history" by pulling off the mini-series - complete with an ensemble main cast, a crew and pyrotechnics - with a much smaller budget than what's usual for a television production of this scope and by being more innovative in terms of the process of how television is made in the country.
The first day of filming of The Message - 6 June 2013 - was not co-incidental. It was chosen because it corresponds with 6 June 1944 - known as "D-Day" when the Allied forced invaded Nazi occupied Europe and changed the course of history.
The mini-series is trying to be a game-changer for South Africa's TV market with the show which asked fans and the public for donations and help to raise R1 million. The production also didn't follow the usual pitch and commissioning horse and pony show usually playing out between South African broadcasters on the one hand, and with writers, production companies and producers on the other.
The Message is now trying to create "South African TV history" by pulling off the mini-series - complete with an ensemble main cast, a crew and pyrotechnics - with a much smaller budget than what's usual for a television production of this scope and by being more innovative in terms of the process of how television is made in the country.
The first day of filming of The Message - 6 June 2013 - was not co-incidental. It was chosen because it corresponds with 6 June 1944 - known as "D-Day" when the Allied forced invaded Nazi occupied Europe and changed the course of history.
The independent film producer and director David Golden and the production company Reel Edge Studios are behind The Message which will do principal photography over the next three weeks in and around Johannesburg on the mini-series which is written, directed and produced by David Golden.
"The Message will thrill and entertain on an unparalleled level in South Africa," says David Golden.
