by Thinus Ferreira
MultiChoice Africa plans to expand the cooperation and skills transfer between its MultiChoice Talent Factory Africa film academy running in Southern, East and West Africa, and TV channels in various African countries to try and improve the television content being produced and production quality.
The MultiChoice Talent Factory Africa hopes to initially help a further 300 broadcast workers in television in various African TV markets with customised masterclasses which will be developed for specific African countries.
MultiChoice's African offshoot of its South African MultiChoice Talent Factory has been running successfully for a few years now, with the African film academy emulating the programme of the MultiChoice Talent Factory South Africa.
Now the MultiChoice Talent Factory Africa which has been doing industry masterclasses and other educational efforts in various African countries going beyond the training of just a specific year's students on-site in Lusaka, Nairobi and Lagos, plans to expand its support, cooperation and training programme with local TV channels in various countries.
The MultiChoice Talent Factory Africa wants to expand the skill transfer programme it offers to help TV channels with online learning courses, masterclasses, as well as practical training.
It will be done through certified short courses in critical production skills such as post-production, sound, screenwriting, 3D animation and cinematography and MultiChoice will try to initially help 300 broadcast workers in various local African TV markets.
"Our vision is to upskill production professionals, and to raise the standard of productions right across Africa," says Fhulufhelo Badugela, MultiChoice Africa CEO.
"This will boost Africa's film and television industry exponentially, because as you capacitate more people, more people are motivated to start projects, and everybody benefits, including the viewers."
"This is an investment in the future of our industry, and investment goes beyond financial investment it also requires skills, time and a core understanding of the consumer needs but the most immediate impact will be to raise the standard of productions across Africa."
"Local broadcasters are the grassroots of the TV industry in every country. By building the industry we are enabling local job creation, enabling an industry to contribute to the economy and responding to the ongoing consumer demand for quality local entertainment."
"The people on the programme will gain skills relevant to their own field of expertise – so their knowledge will be immediately applicable. We are also able to reach more people by doing the training in-country," says Fhulufhelo Badugela.
"We have seen the impact investments can have. In Zimbabwe, we ran a training programme to support the launch of new local entertainment channels. The standard of the new channels is excellent, and the market has really opened up in terms of the productions being launched and the calibre of Zimbabwe's filmmakers."
"Improving the skills of our TV professionals will give audiences more choice and more chance to see themselves reflected in the content they consume. It's about quality African content for African viewers."
