Showmax's first real own, original local South African production, Tali's Wedding Diary, available from 14 December, is the result of a content strategy shift at the video streaming service that realised that it had to be different from competitors like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and had to start making its own local South African stories.
Tali's Wedding Diary, filmed in Cape Town, is rolling out from 14 December 2017 on Naspers' subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming service as a quirky, 8-episode mockumentary show starring comedian Julia Anastasopoulos, produced by Sketchbook Studios.
Besides being Showmax's first real local and original South African production not co-produced and cross-financed with one of MultiChoice's DStv TV channels, Tali's Wedding Diary is also the very first local South African mockumentary-style show with a main character acting as a first person, straight-to-camera narrator.
While Netflix already has several of these American-made mockumentary styled shows with a few that have also been made for linear broadcast channels in recent years in countries like Australia, the genre is very new and still largely unfamiliar to South African viewing audiences, with Tali's Wedding Diary breaking new ground for South Africa's TV industry.
Tali's Wedding Diary is created by Julia Anastasopoulos and Ari Kruger, and executive produced by Akash Bhatia, Candice Fangueiro and Shaamila Fataar.
"Tali's Wedding Diary is our first, first real Showmax Original production, says Candice Fangueiro, Showmax's head of content for Africa.
"We launched Showmax two years ago and this year we saw a fundamental shift in our content strategy where we knew we needed to be different."
"We needed to be different. We had to start creating content; producing local stories that South Africans would come to fall in love with and the passion and dedication of Julia Anastasopoulos is testament to that."
"Just by her Instagram following you can see that South Africans love her. So I think we're heading in the right direction."
Candice Fangueiro says Showmax is starting to give "writers and directors a canvass for their visions, and an opportunity to showcase all of the amazing South African talent we have in the country".
"We have to start acquiring new and different shows that have never been seen before and we had to start pushing the boundaries of putting our customers first."
About possible further seasons for Tali's Wedding Diary, Candice Fangueiro says "there's no looking back and there's only looking forward now. We're looking forward to possibly a Tali's Baby Diary. And a Tali's Travel Diary."
About the commissioning and production process Candice Fangueiro says "we've had our ups and our downs; we've learnt lessons, but we've come out on the other side with something really cool, really unique, something different and something that we've seen that South Africans really connect with at this point in time."
Showmax is looking at possibly dubbing Tali's Wedding Diary and also making it available in Poland where the streaming service also has a presence.
"We're so proud of Tali's Wedding Diary," says Chris Savides, Showmax head of Africa.
ALSO READ: REVIEW: Tali's Wedding Diary on Showmax a funny, cringe-filled mock-doc series for our self-obsessed age.
