by Thinus Ferreira
"Last night I really f* that Canadian p*."
My headphone-covered ears were ringing as I sat in a little tent, together with a few other media, behind TV monitors alongside stacked equipment cases, in the hurry-up-and-wait game so typical of set visits, waiting to watch a scene being filmed.
Visible on the grey screen monitor was one of the overseas co-stars in a South African filmed, international TV series, alongside one of the lead actors.
On full audio audible to everyone with a headset on channel 2, the two were making "bro-ley" banter about their sexual exploits in a crude, matter-of-fact way as if they were extras standing offside away from the boom discussing the day's lunch menu waiting at the craft table and waiting for "action" to be shouted so that they can mill about in the background.
Around the small group of journalists invited, were international publicists working for the international channel/distributor and its drama series, a publicist from the South African studio lot, as well as South African publicists from a PR agency working for the specific pay-TV channel carried on South African television.
All of them were apparently unperturbed that the journalists were not just listening to, hearing and seeing the actors and their dirty mouths but doing absolutely nothing to intervene in any way.
At the time of this TV tale - just a few years ago - I honestly thought that a publicist was either going to jump up and quickly switch the monitors off with some sort of apology - or usher the media out of the tent, or ask the media to take their headphones off, or tune the headphones to another channel, or do anything to stop the media from continuing to listen in on the salacious sex talk of the TV show's stars.
Make no mistake: The on-screen talent as well as the crew very well knew and were told beforehand that media would be and are visiting to do a set visit that day.
After casually saying "Last night I really f* that Canadian p*", fellow thesp laughs.
"Oh yeah, you've been pounding a lot of good p* the last few weeks," he remarks. "I haven't had a good f* in Cape Town since last week."
The rest of the lurid conversation isn't necessary to know, nor needed to elucidate the incident - suffice to say that the publicists completely ignored it and that there wasn't even the semblance of an acknowledgement that the minutes-long conversation happened, or any apology.
The words from that whole little episode of that part of this set visit and how it transpired has been so ingrained into my mind, that even before the whole #MeToo and #TimesUp movements began in the United States against sexual harassment, and especially within the film and TV industry, I just felt so ... disgusted and extremely put off.
Is this even akin to #MeToo? Is this a #TimesUp? I don't know to be honest.
I've never spoken about this incident publicly, and I've never written about it, although I have thought about it numerous times over the half a decade since it happened. It has been bothering me, and at times I do keep rethinking it and what I should have done and should have done differently in that moment.
Let's not kid ourselves: Much, much, much worse has happened on TV and film sets the world over and in South Africa in decades past.
Much, much worse have been and continue to be said on sets - including on-set arguments and fights between actors, and between actors and directors, and directors and crew, that are not part of the script.
Why am I even mentioning and talking about it now? Well, I just thought about it again this week.
I (still) don't know what to actually "do" about it.
I guess I don't want to go another few years and then mention that I'm aware of, and as a journalist was privy to something happening, that I don't know how to classify properly, but that as just a once-off, random, set-experience, I know was crass, bad, wrong and completely unacceptable.
As South Africa's TV and film industry slowly awakens to the need for intimacy coordinators on set, and evolves into a bigger and better understanding around the need for better rules and regulations regarding on-set conduct, it's important for everyone to speak up - even insouciant publicists - to say, when something happens: This is not okay.
If something like it ever happens again I will visibly kick up a fuss, make a scene and walk out. And then you're not going to hear the end of it from me.
Don't Bring Your Filth to Work Day should be Everyday. South Africa's film and TV industry can and should be better - and must do better.
