Why MasterChef SA's 5th season axed 5 contestants in the debut episode.

by Thinus Ferreira

Saturday evening's 5th season premiere of MasterChef South Africa on SABC3 ended with the unexpected axing of five contestants who all returned home after just one episode's cooking in the kitchen.

The rugby recruiter and coach Lucas (33) from Worcester, the Johannesburg video producer Andrew (42), the Boksburg content creator Lesego (26), the law firm manager Robyn (28) from Midrand, as well as the environmentalist Ella (39) from Johannesburg were all eliminated after their checked dishes were the lowest-rated out of the 20 contestants.

"It breaks my heart to say this, but your MasterChef SA journey ends here," MasterChef SA judge Katlego Mlambo told the five contestants.

"I'm a very competitive person, so this was pretty serious to me but you've got to be humble in victory and defeat," Lucas said. "It's reignited something in me. It's given me belief and hope. I'll always keep cooking." 

Andrew said that he feels "disappointed". "I didn't expect it to be this short. But we are in the MasterChef kitchen and I didn't perform to the standards".

Lesego said "I'm devastated to leave this early in the competition because I don't think I was able to really show myself. But this is not the end, this is just the start of something different".

Robyn who's lucky charm broke during the cooking challenge said she doesn't believe it had an impact. "I don't feel that my necklace breaking had any effect on the outcome. I choose to carry on in a positive way."

Ella who kept the apron of her dad who had passed away, on underneath her new white MasterChef SA apron, said "I'm quite happy not to have taken my one off. This one belonged to my dad. My dad had the biggest heart. His light shines through and that is the best gift you can give someone - share a bit of light. So I wear it with pride and I know I've done my family proud."

Fifteen contestants from across South Africa are left for the remaining 19 episodes of the Banijay format cooking competition reality show filmed by Homebrew Films at Atlantic Studios and done by Primedia Studios for SABC3.

"knew from the start that this season would only have 15 contestants, but in the pre-auditions, we found 20 really worthy candidates - it was just so difficult to choose only 15," Paul Venter, executive producer, tells TVwithThinus as he explained why the 5th season decided to axe five of them at the end of the first episode.

"We decided to give them all the privilege to come to the kitchen and cook for one episode in the MasterChef SA kitchen - a dream come true for many - but that would then be the last round of auditions, and what great jeopardy to have 5 people going home already in the first episode - drama from scene one, episode one and guaranteed for the whole series!"

According to Paul Venter, the biggest enemy in the MasterChef SA kitchen is and remains time.

"We hear screams and see tears when some candidates fail to make the final adjustments in the final minutes and then we will also have the curious case of the 'stolen pickles' ... which is eventually solved. But will karma send the pickle thief home? Viewers will have to wait and see!"

In Saturday's 5th season debut episode, one contestant told judge Justine Drake that she grew up watching her on the show, while another contestant watched her sister compete on the show in a previous season of the series that has over time become a South African television institution.

Kaye Anne Williams, vice president of content at Primedia Studios, tells TVwithThinus that MasterChef South Africa has become an institution because of two components: food and people.

"For those two reasons, it is not hard to find something that you can relate to and, therefore, incorporate in your own life. Our goal in driving awareness for the new season was to ensure that the average viewer understood that this show was for them and is about them, their food and their stories."

Paul Venter says the latest season of MasterChef SA has "contestants from all four corners of our country, from all walks of life and from as young as 20 and as 'young' as 65".

"Some contestants have roots deeper into the African continent, as far as Congo and as close as Zimbabwe, and some even as far as Taiwan. But one thing that equalises the playing field is the big food dream to win the coveted MasterChef SA title".

EbonyLife's Mo Abudu slams Amazon for axing African originals: 'shows a lack of respect for our continent'.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Nigerian producer and CEO of EbonyLife Group, Mo Abudu, is slamming Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios saying it shows "a lack of respect for our continent" after Amazon's shock decision to cull its Nigerian and South African content teams  and to abruptly cancel further African original content creation.

Amazon Prime Video has retrenched multiple content executives and staff it lured to join its video streaming service in Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa as for Nigeria, based in London, after it rapidly ramped up plans over the past two years to create, produce and roll-out localised African Prime Video Originals.

Gone is Gideon Khobane who officially joined Amazon Prime Video Africa 7 months ago in July 2023 as director of Prime Video Africa. The fate of other executives who all jumped from MultiChoice to join Amazon Prime Video in Africa is still unclear.

Amazon is not willing to confirm whether Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu (head of Nigerian originals), Kaye Ann Williams (head of scripted series and movies for South African originals), and Candice Fangueiro (head of planning and programming for Africa) have also been let go, although insiders said that is the case.

Stephen Barber, head of PR for Amazon in the UK, in response to a media query, said Amazon can't provide "names of team members who have left the company".

Meanwhile shocked and angry producers in Nigeria and South Africa who have been developing and producing content are furious with Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, saying "promises were made and not kept".

A longtime South African producer said Amazon "damaged producers' trust and trust in the streamer".

"Nobody will trust them when they come and present plans again in future about wanting local content. People sat through presentations in South Africa and Nigeria where Amazon laid out their plans and promised to be different; to do things better and differently. Turns out – not."  

While Amazon Prime Video is drastically reigning in content spend in Africa and on African original content, insiders said that Netflix as part of a global realignment has also quietly started to reign in its content budget for Africa. In contrast, MultiChoice has however massively ramped up content spending for its new Showmax done in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal's Peacock, which is rolling out from today in app stores as a new video streaming service.

For the relaunch of the new Showmax, MultiChoice has 21 Showmax Originals that will debut over the course of February to lure potential subscribers to the revamped streamer.

Meanwhile, Mo Abudu who has produced African content for Sony and Netflix over the past few years is slamming Amazon Prime Video for deserting Africa and reneging on promises to ramp up spending on African originals.

"In recent times, we have witnessed the unfortunate departure of several international organisations from Nigeria and Africa, some marked by press statements that have, regrettably, shown a lack of respect for our continent," Mo Abudu says.

"In the face of these challenges, it is imperative that we, as Nigerians and Africans, rise above and build our own infrastructure, creating and serving our markets with pride and resilience. I firmly believe in the potential within us, and in the face of challenges, see opportunities for growth and self-reliance."

She's also praising video streamers and global players who have decided to stay in Africa and continue to invest in Africa's film and TV industry.

"To the international organisations that recognise our worth, we extend our heartfelt appreciation. Your decision to stay, partner, and collaborate with us is a testament to the shared commitment to not only growing the continent today but also for the generations that will follow."

"Let us embrace the challenges, celebrate the opportunities, and collectively contribute to the thriving and resilient future of our beloved continent. With hope and determination, we move!"

ALSO READ: Amazon slashing content funding for Prime Video Africa, retrenching staff including Prime Video Africa director Gideon Khobane with no new South African series or films to be commissioned.

ALSO READ: 'Promises were made and not kept' and 'a very sad day for the industry': South African producers devastated and dismayed in Amazon Prime Video Africa over canning original content creation.

ALSO READ: Amazon cutting hundreds of staff at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.

Former M-Net exec Kaye Ann Williams now heading up Amazon Prime Video South Africa's scripted series and movies division.

by Thinus Ferreira

Kaye Ann Williams who was the head of M-Net's local productions and independent films is now the head of scripted series and movies at Amazon Prime Video in South Africa.

Kaye Ann Williams already exited M-Net in the latter part of 2022, jumping to Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Studios in Cape Town but MultiChoice made no statement at the time, and neither did Amazon Prime Video Africa issue any press announcement about her hiring.

Amazon Prime Video Africa's headhunting of Kaye Ann Williams and subsequent braindrain of MultiChoice is part of an ongoing trend of high-level MultiChoice staffers and executive who continue to jump to streaming services focused on the Africa and South African region - specifically Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Showmax.

The highly respected Kay Ann Williams joined Amazon Prime Video in October 2022 after 7 years at M-Net where she was commissioning editor and for the last five years of her tenure there, head of local productions.

Kaye Ann Williams joins Candice Fangueiro who jumped from MultiChoice's Showmax to Amazon Prime Video where she is now planning and programming senior manager for Africa since October 2022, with Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu as Amazon Prime Video's head of originals for Africa.   

Brendan Gabriel is now Amazon Studios' senior unscripted creative executive in South Africa, with Lala Akindoju who joined as senior movies creative executive, based in Nigeria. 

2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 3: 'You're not going to work with that hair' - South African women in film share their stories.

by Thinus Ferreira 

Women working in South Africa's film and TV industry shared their shocking anecdotes, challenges and suggestions during a panel session about women in film at the 10th Silwerskermfees - with one producer revealing how a male Canadian cinematographer literally had to be fired recently because he refused to listen or take orders from the female director.  

Kaye Ann Williams, senior manager: M-Net 101 script, reality, films, co-productions, was the moderator of a Women in Film panel discussion at kykNET's 10th Silwerskermfees taking place at The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town, where female panellists in film and TV production shared their experiences of the local industry and how to foster opportunities and embrace challenges.

Kaye Ann Williams said women in South Africa's film and TV industry "often find themselves in a room where you're meant to get a project off the ground and you need to convince everyone that you're credible, that you know what you're talking about".

"Often women think 'Do I belong here? Am I being too bitchy? Am I too loud? How can I be more assertive?' There are all these questions that men don't ask themselves in these spaces, they just go and talk and do what they need to do."

"Female to female mentorship is so extremely important to me in the film industry."

Layla Swart, co-owner and producer of Yellowbone Entertainment doing Blood Psalms for MultiChoice's streamer Showmax, said "my biggest challenge has always been to try and not get into a mindset of being a victim. And often it's hard because often you are - often you are judged, often you are looked at differently, often you are not as trusted as your older or male counterparts."

"I've cried in meetings against my better judgment, fighting against who I actually am all the time until I got to a point where I said to myself I've got to live in the power of being a woman, of being the feminine and knowing what I can contribute to a space or environment or a project."

Screenwriter and director Amy Jephta said if she were to ever write a memoir about her career the title would probably be "Three white men and me". 

"That has always, almost always been the ratio of the spaces and places I find myself in - me and two white guys, me and three white guys".

"The spaces where it's been equal, who look like me - who are black and women - are spaces usually that I've created, it's rooms where I've consciously tried to diversify that. You can never forget your positionality in that room, you can never forget your politics and the politics of your body in that space."

Creating a space for women

Thandi Davids, executive producer at StoryScope and co-chairperson of the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO) said that "at our last big feature doc we had to fire a director of photography who came in from Canada because he refused to take direction from a director. He literally would not listen to her; it was completely astounding."

"It's really important for us to create an enabling environment on every level, and look at bringing women in on every level," she said and noted that on a recent project "We've just tried to find a female composer - you can't find a female composer."

"If you pitch a project, knowing you're going with women, and pitch with a female writer, or pitch with a female director - if this is what your vision is for the project, say you're not going to change that. [Someone says] a male writer will be better. No. No, I want a female writer, I want that voice in the room."

Thandi Davids also shared with delegates a story of how sometimes it's also women - not men - bringing the women down, telling delegates a story dating back to her time when she was working as an executive at FOX and National Geographic now part of Disney, but then still FOX International Channels.

"I went to a meeting with 17 people in the room and I was the only black person and one of only two females."

"And I went to the bathroom and she follows me into the bathroom and she says to me 'I don't think you're going to work with that hair. The hair doesn't work on a global level.' And I said my hair? And she said 'Yes, yes. You're not going to get far in this organisation with your hair like that."

"And I literally had to go at her. Why is my physicality and the way I look such an issue for you? Why are you coming in here and not having a discussion about the difficulty we are having inside that room? You're coming in here to tell me the problem is the way that I look and my hair? What's that about?"

She said it's also important that women don't just open the door for other women but create and change a team to move things forward. "If you're out the door, that idea is out the door. If you're trying to change something, take a team with you, bring people with you so that when you're gone that vision remains."

Vlokkie Gordon, owner and producer of Advantage Entertainment said "I often say the hardest thing is your first three no's."

About getting more women into the industry Kaye Anne Williams said "It can't just be the producers thinking 'I need a female DOP', it needs to be the broadcasters, it needs to be the government institutions, it needs to be training platforms."

"We should all be intentional about filling up those spaces or at least equalising and balancing them out. That's a responsibility we should all bear - it doesn't just lay with AFDA or just the broadcaster."

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees - Day 1: Programme director Ricky Human on the growing need to tell authentic local stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskerm Film Festival - Day 2: Showcasing the tenacity of South Africa's film industry.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: With South Africa's global co-productions still in infancy, MultiChoice to announce Afrikaans series with Canal+.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Not a white napkin to be found - how South Africa's event industry is starting to bounce back.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: M-Net boss Jan du Plessis: 'We're fully committed to growing local film.'

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: Number of South Africa's cinema screens to remain flat post-Covid.

ALSO READ: 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees awards: Barakat and Gaia the big winners.  

2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: With South Africa's global co-productions still in infancy, MultiChoice to announce Afrikaans series with Canal+.

by Thinus Ferreira 

While South Africa's film and TV co-productions market is still in its infancy, the future for series shot in the country with international partners attached looks promising, with the MultiChoice Group that is set to announce soon that it will be doing a new Afrikaans TV series as a global co-production with France's Canal+.

Nomsa Philiso, the MultiChoice Group's new executive head of programming, who was one of the panellist at 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees in a panel discussion on fostering co-productions, told attendees that while South Africa's film and TV co-productions with other countries are still in its infancy, there is a lot of scope to expand on new partnerships and in new parts of the world.

She said that the idea is to make sure that South Africans go out there and tell their stories as good as anybody else on the world stage.

In terms of what MultiChoice and M-Net are looking for in terms of international co-productions, she says "people tend to bring what they think we like - because it worked last year - but we want to evolve. We don't have all the ideas as the broadcaster - the ideas live in the minds of the people who supply us with content."

"It is them who must take us to the next level in terms of what is out there, what stories are we not telling." 

She said "our stories haven't been told in the manner that we want and we see now that the opportunities exist to leverage on that in a much stronger way."

Kaye Ann Williams, M-Net's head of local content and independent films, said the blue ribbon pay-TV broadcaster is "from a genre perspective definitely looking for crime content but don't get stuck in that - look at sub-genres that could be married to that like comedy, like psychological thrillers, like action".

"The other opportunity for pitching is definitely in the factual space. We know that our premium audience loves documentaries."

"We know that they view them elsewhere and they enjoy it and consume it on our platform as well, so there's definitely an opportunity to go into the high-end factual documentary space, but again it must be very compelling and it must sell."

Allan Sperling, the MultiChoice Group's executive head of physical production, said "an Afrikaans co-production that has been signed and we're going into production within the next few months".

"It is also possible to do Afrikaans international co-productions. We're in partnership with Canal+ who are taking the French rights and the rest of the world will be up for sales and this is where we're looking to recoup and the producer also gets proceeds from that. So it is also possible for Afrikaans shows to become co-productions," he said.

As passionate as possible

Panellist and producer Layla Swart, co-owner of Yellowbone Entertainment producing the fantasy drama series Blood Psalms for MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax as a co-production with Canal+, said packaging a show for co-production is extremely important.

"Because we're existing in an industry that is in its infancy, we're also trying to figure out what our audiences want, we're trying to figure out what our partners want from us as South African content creators, and often there's an unknown. Everything relies very heavily on how you present yourself and your product."

"It's exhausting and I know it's very difficult at the moment to be a producer. It's a privilege to be able to sit here and to say I've done a co-production," she said.

"I'm acutely aware of how difficult it is to put something together and how difficult also is with co-productions because they take long - bringing partners on, and then aligning a vision, and also aligning finance and business models are not a quick strategy."

"It definitely pays off at the end because your project has scope but it's not an easy process. We can only be as passionate as possible about what we're making, finding the right people to make it, and then package it as well as we can."

With Yellowbone Entertainment which has been struggling with getting the department of trade and industry to pay the promised film rebates for Blood Psalms, Layla Swart said "every producer will say they've been having struggles with the South African government specifically with film rebates and tax incentives".

"Why that is so crucial is because producers are emerging producers."

"Many of us don't have a lot of capital and resources behind us. What the government instruments are there for, is for you as a producer to be able to bring something to the partnership, for you to be able to entice international people to want to work with you, and want to shoot here and want to use our crews and actors and our stories."

"That is the biggest struggle. It's killing our industry to be honest and we're heavily reliant on our broadcasters to such an extent that we feel we can't mobilise anything on our own and I think with the broadcasters being inundated, there's only so much broadcasters can greenlit."

"Our biggest challenge is how do we empower producers and production companies through incentives, that are supposed to be there, to sustain the industry."

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees - Day 1: Programme director Ricky Human on the growing need to tell authentic local stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Showcasing the tenacity of South Africa's film industry.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Not a white napkin to be found - how South Africa's event industry is starting to bounce back.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 3: 'You're not going to work with that hair' - South African women in film share their stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: M-Net boss Jan du Plessis: 'We're fully committed to growing local film.'

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: Number of South Africa's cinema screens to remain flat post-Covid.

ALSO READ: 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees awards: Barakat and Gaia the big winners.  

2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Showcasing the tenacity of South Africa's film industry.

by Thinus Ferreira 

As 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees launched as a hybrid-event - the year's first major film festival of the calendar as South Africa starts to return to a semblance of what once was - there's a collective sigh of relief under attendees from across the local film and TV industry who had to survive the past two years under unimaginable circumstances.

With both in-person screenings and panels, as well as virtual streaming taking place, the individually QR-coded, proven double-vaxxed and lanyard-clad crowd - smaller and more subdued than in previous years - are darting since Wednesday from Rotunda sessions and short films screenings to feature film discussions and breakaway catch-up coffee dates. 

A sense of relief permeates The Bay Hotel as attendees - ranging from the country's top TV and film execs to producers, directors, actors, distributors, film commissions and industry bodies are allowing themselves to slowly exhale. 

Waldimar Pelser, M-Net director for kykNET channels, says he's immensely looking forward to "what the lockdown period released in filmmakers".

"I'm also looking forward to take a guess as to which of the short film filmmakers within a few years will end up as the producers of big feature films and which of them will achieve success in television".

"The Silwerskermfees film festival remains an incubator of new talent and people who go on to achieve breakthroughs on the small screen on kykNET, and on the big screen- and you never know who they'll be."

The 10th Silwerskermfees is also the first time that Nomsa Philiso, the MultiChoice Group's new executive head of programming is attending.

"For me, as long as I've been in the industry I have been, I've not been to the Silwerskermfees - my first interaction with it was during Covid, it was remote; so I'm really looking forward to be interacting with everybody, and from a partnership point of view to reassure our providers that we're here and we're looking forward to working with them."

She says local South African film festivals like the Silwerskermfees are crucial to grow and maintain the country's film and TV industry. "It's part of our industry development because it's a platform to showcase some of the content that we would ordinarily not see".

"As a broadcaster you're often focused on certain things and sometimes you might miss the gems. Forums like these allow you to tap into spaces where you wouldn't ordinarily. And it's also the interaction with people and networking and building our industry."

'Boere-Cannes'

The veteran South African film critic Leon van Nierop who has been part of the Silwerskermfees since the very first edition with just 18 people that started in Prins Albert screening 6 older films in the Jan Rautenbach Schouburg, says the Silwerskermfees has morphed in the "Boere-Cannes", taking place the past few years at The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town a bit like the Cannes Film Festival.

"It's for Afrikaans people but also South African people and Karen Meiring [former kykNET director] had the insight and vision to bring the Silwerskermfees to this fantastic setting. The short film initiative is also fantastic: You first learn, and you're mentored. And some of those short films then become feature films."

"That's why the festival is important because it's also a learning school - with all different kinds of conference sessions and workshops."

Leon says he's looking forward to watch a movie with a cinema audience. 

"Not a lot of films have been produced the past two years. So, to suddenly see what was made like Gaia, made in 2020 for the big screen and waiting since then for a release date - I'm looking forward to seeing that."

"And just the atmosphere that is here - it's a networking atmosphere, so you can network with the people who you couldn't see and was impossible to do the past two years. It's great to see all of the familiar faces."

Seeing people in person

Paul Venter, manager director and producer at Homebrew Films, says "I think what we're all looking forward to the most is seeing people in person".

" It's about sitting down and making connections because you can Zoom and you can email and you can do what you want, but there's no substitute for grabbing someone by the shoulder after a film and saying 'Let's quickly catch up' and the next minute you're going to make another film."

"So it's that kind of energy and dynamics that we miss and which is the advantage of a film festival".

He says it's important for something like the Silwerskermfees to exist because "it's a decade later and they've done 50 feature films, they've done more than 100 short films - it's just a boon for the industry as whole; it gives jobs, it helps develop new talent, it makes people excited, especially if you look around you and see the diversity and age: The young people coming in - that's why film festivals happen." 

SA's film industry is stronger together

Kaye Ann Williams, M-Net's head of local content and independent films, says she's also looking forward to seeing everyone in person and "connecting with people and chatting with them. It's been sorely missed".

"Why something like the Silwerskermfees is important is the networking - this is how people make deals and form partnerships and build relationships and think of their next big story. We've all missed this. You don't get the same vibe with a virtual event."

Nicola van Niekerk, M-Net senior manager for scripted content and factual entertainment at kykNET, says "the most important thing about this year's Silwerskermfees is that it really showcases the tenacity of the South African film industry".

"While many other countries saw their film industries shut down completely for Covid our producers did not and our crews worked and we all invested in getting these films out. The films here - while they are slightly smaller and filmed under very difficult conditions - show just the absolute willpower and the growth of our industry and how strong we are together".

She says she's looking forward to seeing the audience reaction to Indemnity, the Travis Taute Gambit-produced film starring Jarrid Geduld as a proudly South African action film, as well as Stiekyt set in the world of drag artists and produced by Homebrew Films.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees - Day 1: Programme director Ricky Human on the growing need to tell authentic local stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: With South Africa's global co-productions still in infancy, MultiChoice to announce Afrikaans series with Canal+.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Not a white napkin to be found - how South Africa's event industry is starting to bounce back.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 3: 'You're not going to work with that hair' - South African women in film share their stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: M-Net boss Jan du Plessis: 'We're fully committed to growing local film.'

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: Number of South Africa's cinema screens to remain flat post-Covid.

ALSO READ: 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees awards: Barakat and Gaia the big winners.