Netflix announces 7 new European scripted series; says it will increase its EMEA region output - although Netflix has nothing from Africa yet.

There's been no announcement from Netflix South Africa about this, but the global streamer on Wednesday said that it is set to do more series produced in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, although Africa was conspicuously left out when it came to Netflix's content announcement today.

While Netflix didn't issue any press releases about its annual What's Next Netflix event for the EMEA region held today in Rome, Italy, it announced that it will be doing several scripted series, with more to come specifically for the EMEA region.

Part of the newly unveiled Netflix content for Europe and the Middle East - and with Africa conspicuously absent despite Netflix saying it will be doing content from Africa - is an original, 6-episode series entitled The English Game, written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes.

The English Game will revolve around the invention of football and how those involved in its creation reached across the class divide to establish the game as the world's most popular sport. The English Game will be produced by the British production company 42.

Also included as part of Netflix new Europe content and announced at What's Next Netflix is Netflix's first Dutch original series.

The untitled project, created by production company Pupkin and starting in 2019 will be about Dutch students living in Amsterdam who open a portal to a demonic world from the 17th century.

Mortel will be Netflix’s 5th original series from France and tell the story of teenagers bound together by a supernatural force. The series will be created by Frédéric Garcia and produced by Mandarin Television.

The Wave will be Netflix's 3rd original series from Germany and is based on the film The Wave, produced by Rat Pack in association with Sony Pictures Television Germany.

Luna Nera from Italy is a series about women suspected of witchcraft in the 17th century and produced by Fandango, while the Spanish heist series La Casa de Papel will get a third season in 2019.

Idris Elba will appear in the Netflix comedy series Turn Up Charlie that will have 8 episodes.

An as yet untitled documentary series will be based on the murder of Grégory Villemin in 1984 in France.

The documentary series The Staircase will tell the story of Michael Peterson, a crime novelist accused of killing his wife Kathleen after she is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home.

Netflix also announced its first Italian original film, Rimetti a Noi i Nostri Debiti (Forgive Us Our Debts).

"Our belief is that great storytelling transcends borders. When stories from different countries, languages and cultures find a worldwide platform where the only limitation is the creator’s imagination, then unique, yet universal, stories emerge that are embraced by a global audience," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer.

"With over 100 European projects launching this year, we are committed to being a voice for European entertainment, giving passionate local content creators a worldwide platform to share their vision, and offering consumers around the world unique and diverse stories they can discover and enjoy, anywhere, anytime and at the same time, no matter their place or language of origin. And this is just the beginning of our journey."

New British miniseries, Guerilla, with Freida Pinto and Babou Ceesay and set during London's Black Power movement in the 1970's, starting on 1Magic on 31 January.

The new British miniseries, Guerilla, will start on 1 Magic (Dstv 103) on Wednesday 31 January at 21:30, telling the story of two young artists involved in London's Black Power movement in the 1970's.

Guerilla is a 6-episode drama series co-produced by Sky's Sky Atlantic channel and Showtime and was broadcast in April 2017.

Created by John Ridley, the Oscar-winning writer of 12 Years a Slave, Guerrilla is set against the evocative backdrop of 1970's London and follows two young activists involved in London's Black Power movement, whose relationship falls under intense pressure when they clash with racist elements within the police.

Sky says "Guerilla is a fictional exploration of a thought-provoking moment in history, which asks what might have happened if Black Power groups in the United Kingdom had turned to violence in their fight for equal rights".

Freida Pinto and Babou Ceesay play the central couple Jas and Marcus, with Rory Kinnear as Special Branch policeman Pence. Idris Elba who co-executive produced Guerilla, also appears.

In the first episode of Guerilla, Marcus and Jas go to a rally protesting the 1971 Immigration Act, with their friends Fallon and Julian. Jas encourages her former lover Kent Fue (Idris Elba) to come along – but he has a different plan for overcoming oppression.

During the rally, a tragedy spurs Marcus and Jas to liberate a political prisoner – Dhari Bishop - in order to form a radical underground cell.

John Ridley says Guerilla "is a story that is both timely and timeless. We started working on it long before the recent referendums and elections that took place in the United Kingdom and America".

"But I do think it says something when you can take a story that is set 40 years ago and it’s very easy for other people to draw conclusions from it about race, about immigration now. Clearly those are issues that have not only not gone away, but that have become more potent and more politicised in
the present".

What you don't know about the messy and called-off media day of A+E Networks UK in South Africa for Idris Alba and the History channel on DStv.

I know the rest of the press brigade have remained silent but I need to weigh in on A+E Networks UK and their Africa's office hysterical History hufflepuff with Idris Elba that set back relationships with the media and broke trust - something that I have no idea how long it will take to repair or build up again.

It's the second time (and the second time in a row) that a documentary made in South Africa and also specifically about Nelson Mandela for, and on, A+E Networks UK's History channel on MultiChoice's DStv ends up being more in the news for the scandal and drama around it, than for the actual programme and its contents.

It's no accident.

By now the media intelligentsia and every South African TV critic will know how Idris Elba was on his way to South Africa for work and a "secret" A+E Networks UK press junket for its South Africa office at the end of November to promote a documentary shown on History (DStv 186).

I say "secret" since A+E Networks UK's South African office and its PR company deliberately chose not to tell all the press who they do lip-service to as having a so-called real media relationship with, about it.

It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but of course Idris Elba who didn't want to continue to do his/the work he agreed to as a professional artist, abruptly left Heathrow airport at the very last minute and went back home when he discovered his daughter wouldn't be allowed into the country without an unabridged birth certificate.

The turnaround, visit cancellation and scuppered press jaunt of course flung A+E Networks UK, A+E Networks' office in South Africa and Idris Elba into the national and international headlines - but for all the wrong reasons.

Dear Idris suddenly became the latest poster child of the South Africa's cause célèbre around the controversial visa regulations damaging tourism, travel, the economy and making overseas visitors no longer wanting to fly to South Africa.

It's presumably not the type of hard news, banner headline type stories A+E Networks UK, A+E Networks in Africa, the History channel or MultiChoice wanted to see their names and brands mentioned in who work hard to bring TV viewers entertainment.

What most people won't know is how A+E Networks UK, A+E Networks' South Africa office headed up by Anthea Petersen as regional director, and its PR agency JAG Communications actually damaged its standing, relationships and what trust there was with the South African media and TV critics because of this incident.

A+E Networks in Africa and JAG Communications didn't bother to tell all the journalists and TV critics they work with and supposedly have a relationship with, about the impending Idris Elba visit to Johannesburg and media day to screen the Mandela documentary and do interviews.

The irony in A+E Networks UK and JAG Communications' lack of proper and expected communication and media relations was however twofold.

Firstly a lot of media knew about it beforehand anyway even though they were not even shown the common courtesy of just being told (and they were miffed, felt dissed and decided to deliberately not give exposure to the programme and focus on other programming).

Secondly, while A+E Networks and JAG worked on "secretly" bringing press in to Johannesburg, almost all of South Africa's journalists and TV critics from Cape Town and Durban, but hilariously kept in the dark, were already in Johannesburg anyway for M-Net and Mzansi Magic's Idols finale on Sunday 22 November.

Since A+E Networks in South Africa and its PR company couldn't bother to reach out and talk and have conversations with the media beforehand (it's called having and building public relations), they were apparently clueless that press would and were already present, and that they knew about the impending Idris Alba presser. 

I can't repeat most of what the contingent of media from across South Africa - all together and waiting for the live finale of Idols - had to say for hours on Sunday afternoon when the news broke that the (selfish?) Idris Elba turned around at Heathrow and decided to no longer come and work in South Africa to promote a documentary film for History.

What I will say is that the sentiment was extremely negative, and I suppose still is: towards Idris Elba ("Why if his holiday plans are no longer working out does he not continue to come to South Africa to do his work?") - as well as towards the History channel and by implication A+E Networks in Africa.

"Silly" and "Why don't they properly communicate?" and "They [meaning History/ A+E Networks] clearly showed who doesn't matter to them, so they and their show doesn't matter to me" were some of the things I heard from various journalists who were - and I'm sure remain - extremely unhappy with History and A+E Networks UK.

After the blow-up and after reporting the news of the media event's cancellation, I asked if Idris Elba is doing interviews for the History documentary. 

Even at this late stage, A+E Networks UK by proxy of their PR agency couldn't sense that what was needed was to reach out to all relevant media and to provide something usable to everyone.

The flat response back was: "He did do telephonic interviews with those media who were scheduled to meet him in Johannesburg".

Since silence is golden, I doubt if A+E Networks UK's South African office and JAG Communications have the faintest idea of just how many journalists and TV critics were and are pissed off by what is perceived as a diss. 

What's interesting is how everyone from the press corps who were together on Sunday 22 November and who talked about the Idris Elba media day and the spoke in the plan, shared the same negative remarks and sentiment towards History.

What I also now by now is that people - especially journalists - don't forget these things. 

Inadequate reputation management has seared a certain (very negative) perception and feeling and attitude towards History, Idris Elba and A+E Networks in South Africa into the minds of several journalists covering television - something that will be difficult to change or lessen over time.

I always think a TV channel or a show or broadcaster and the intermediaries like their marketers, publicists or PR agencies want to build and maintain and grow real relationship and above cultivate a bigger degree of mutual trust and respect. 

Obviously in this case not - where the exact opposite happened.

Gladly choose the "select" press you want to work with, the ones you want and will bother to communicate with, and then those you won't tell anything, or keep informed, or be as open and honest with. Continue to run your "tiered" system of press management and see if and how well that works.

Just then don't ever complain about media or TV critics not liking you, or sit and wonder why there are not more and deeper media relationships, a lack of trust from journalists, a lingering negative media perception about your brand(s) and general journo disinterest.

The answer is that bad public relations actually caused it.

British actor Idris Elba dumps South Africa and History channel on DStv over visa drama with daughter; media screening of new documentary ruined.

Actor Idris Elba has dumped South Africa and a History (DStv 186) channel event, and will no longer be flying here for the scrapped media launch for a new documentary after drama over an unabridged birth certificate for his daughter.

The British actor who had visited South Africa several times before and famously portrayed Nelson Mandela in 2013's Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom has now become the latest high-profile star to jettison South Africa over the country’s controversial and unresolved visa regulations requiring unabridged birth certificates for minors.

The extremely confusing and cumbersome unabridged birth certificate requirement has hammered South Africa's tourism industry the past few months, inflicting massive damage on the already dwindling number of overseas visitors.

It's estimated that South Africa's tourism industry will incur an estimated loss of R16 billion in 2015 alone as people who wanted to visit the country with their children opt for less onerous administrative and visa requirements and fly somewhere else for holiday.

According to sources I spoke to, A+E Networks UK that runs channels like History on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform, invited some media for a special screening of a new Mandela documentary in which Elba pays homage to Nelson Mandela and his dad.

A+E Networks together with Elba would have screened and watched the new documentary, Mandela, My Dad and Me with some media in Johannesburg on Monday and Tuesday and Idris Elba would have done interviews before the documentary's broadcast later this month on History.

This will now no longer happen after the star at the last minute discovered he couldn't bring his daughter, Isan, along because of a lack of an unabridged birth certificate and decided not to fly to South Africa.

Already inside the airport in London, he decided to make a U-turn and go back home with his daughter.

A+E Networks Africa's screening for some members of the press has been abruptly cancelled as well as a press conference and interviews. 

"A huge mess. It's highly embarrassing for A+E Networks and the History channel in South Africa," a source told TVwithThinus on Sunday.

"Idris was travelling with his daughter and only at the last minute it came to light she did not have the correct paperwork to enter South Africa," Anthea Petersen, A+E Networks regional director for Africa told TVwithThinus in response to a media enquiry.

"The trip to South Africa had to be cancelled as a result. We apologise for the inconvenience and disappointment caused."

Mandela, My Dad and Me is a Green Door Pictures, Shine North, Woodcut Media, Bob & Co production and is distributed by Content Media. In a statement Elba said that that he is "thrilled to bring the film to Africa".