by Thinus Ferreira
MultiChoice's Showmax has renewed Julia Anastasopoulos' Tali's Wedding Diary for a second season entitled Tali's Baby Diary, will launch a new reality series with Kelly Khumalo and has commissioned two new local drama series to be released in 2021 as the video streaming service ramps up local productions to add to its content carousel.
"We’ve deliberately ramped up emphasis on local content," says Candice Fangueiro, Showmax’s head of content.
"If you look at something like the first view metric, which asks what’s the first show someone watches after signing up for Showmax under the assumption this is probably what convinced them to join, three out of the top 5 first view pieces of content are now local."
As expected, the award-winning Tali's Wedding Diary has been renewed for a second season, Tali's Baby Diary, produced by Sketchbook Studios.
The second season of this first-ever Showmax Original when it launched in December 2017, will be released in 2021.
In Tali’s Baby Diary an unexpected pregnancy forces Tali into a desperate pivot from Insta-influencer to "momfluencer", as Darren (Anton Taylor) and Rael (Glen Biderman-Pam) navigate the choppy waters of the Cape Town property game.
As the 9-month clock ticks down, Tali and the boys are forced to face the bigger questions about life, love and parenthood.
Showmax will release the reality series Life With Kelly Khumalo, on 6 August that will revolve around the South Africa singer. It's produced by BarLeader.
Showmax says Life with Kelly Khumalo will offer viewers "an intimate glimpse at the woman behind the headlines: a single mother of two who is juggling parenting with the build-up to the release of not just her new album, Undithatha Kancinci, but also her first gin".
Showmax also commissioned two new drama series that will be released in 2021.
Skemerdans, from Nagvlug Films is described as "a Cape Flats neo-noir set at The Oasis, a jazz club and after-dark entertainment venue that becomes the centre of a power struggle between two brothers, a scorned widow and an organised crime syndicate".
"As opposing forces fight to gain control of Glenn Fortune’s legacy, an ongoing murder investigation gets closer to the inconvenient truth." Amy Jephta serves as executive producer and showrunner on the 13-episode Skemerdans, co-directing alongside Ephraim Gordon.
In Dam, a prodigal daughter returns home to the Eastern Cape to bury her father, only to be tormented by spirits in the house as she wonders whether they are real or imaginary.
Dam is being written and directed by Alex Yazbek, with Picture Tree producing.
