by Thinus Ferreira
M-Net is still collecting ratings and
data points on the eye-popping and just-concluded 8th season of Survivor South
Africa: Immunity Island before it will make a decision on a 9th season, but
Kaye-Ann Williams, M-Net’s local content boss, sat down with TVwithThinus for a
wide-ranging post-show discussion about the incredible season that adjusted to
film at the Wild Coast as a Covid-19 safe bubble.
Kaye-Ann Williams talks about the
factors that decides Survivor SA's renewal, how M-Net decides what a next
season might be like if there is to be one, the challenges that the black swan
event of Covid-19 suddenly caused and when M-Net realised it had a season that
would make for extremely compelling viewing.
Why does she think the castaways were better in
their gameplay and dramatic actions that even before, what what did M-Net learn from
this season? And what does "trending" on social as second-screen viewing mean for a show like Survivor SA?
Will there be a season 9 of Survivor SA?
Kaye-Ann Williams: We really love this format, I think that's obvious and it's always done very well for our brand and also for the DStv brand just in terms of viewership and love for the programme, so we really love the show all-around.
We would always want t consider next seasons but these considerations are based on budgets, and timing - Survivor SA is not a cheap show, you really have to plan for it, you have to make sure that you have the money for it. Also where do we do it? Do we do it internationally, do we do it locally? That also affects the budget.
We have to look at the ratings and we only get a proper view on that about a month after its aired.
Then we get more conclusive ratings and we do a whole research on it as well. That process we go through with every show but especially a show like Survivor South Africa that is more expensive than your average reality show.
Once we go through that process then we have to negotiate the format licence agreement, and then we can only we say "Yes, we're doing it".
Some years we've gotten it right to do it sooner and approved sooner and not wait on certain things like research, but in this climate we've had to be slightly more cautious and so we're going through that process now. We really love the format.
If there's a next season, would be be a fans vs favourites, or all-stars, or would there ever be returnee players? What kind of season would you do if you do do it?
Kaye-Ann Williams: These producers are absolute fanatics, they're Survivor freaks, so Handrie Basson and Leroux Botha and Darren Lindsay and their whole team - even commissioning editor Terja Beney here at M-Net who also previously produced Survivor SA - obviously always have different iterations of what we could do next.
So yes, we've got a plan A, B and C and we're always looking at, should we go ahead, what would that creative approach be.
We're discussing all of that with internal and external partners at the moment. Probably in the next couple of weeks to two months or so we will better know where we stand.
Survivor SA: Immunity Island would have happened "before" Covid but then the global pandemic shut down everything. What surprised M-Net the most about doing a season of Survivor SA in South Africa and despite Covid?
Kaye-Ann Williams: We had already planned to do Survivor SA season 8 overseas, we had cast, we had finished our casting at the end of 2019.
So we were definitely going overseas, we had a budget for that, we did a recce, we we're on our way in February 2020. And then ... because of Handrie Basson's connections with the different content hubs, the news about Covid-19 hit him sooner and us sooner than everyone else.
In February already he was saying, "People, something is up, we might not be able to film overseas".
At that point we didn't yet have a case in South Africa. Then we immediately started planning on what if there are lockdowns and shutdowns, what if, what if.
Everyone said "no we're being premature" but then March arrived - not even a few weeks later - and countries started shutting down, airports started shutting down and then because we had already put money into the pre-production and the reccing, and we had already invested time and energy into the season, what we decided to do was just to hold course and hold pause and see where things are going to get past the crisis point of Lockdown Level 5.
We very quickly realised that the world was not going to open back up very quickly. We started to look at local locations and where the best possible location would be to film at and that's where the exploration came.
I think Handrie Basson and his team explored two or three different options. So they had to do another recce but locally, and then we decided on the location of the Wild Coast.
Then, after lockdown restrictions were slightly lifted and we were able to go to restaurants again, we had a coffee with the guys from the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC).
We known them very well - M-Net works with them on series and films filming in the Eastern Cape like the Kaalgat Karel film. I mentioned that we're actually planning to do Survivor SA in the Eastern Cape. They said "What! Why are you not partnering with us? We should work together." But I haven't even considered it as an option because we've only done scripted shows, never a format reality show with them before.
But the ECDC were very keen and so besides that we found a location that we liked, found a venue that we liked, we found a hotel group that we liked, we loved that we could also partner with the ECDC. Everything just worked out and we were very happy.
The only challenge visually is that you're not "on" an actual island, right; you're definitely not on an island. It was also very cold at night even though it was warm during the day. It was super cold at night because of the weather conditions so the castaways were not in their traditional bikinis and shorts.
So visually Survivor SA was different, visually it was felt South African, but the response we got from viewers saying "We live in this country, does this place actually exist in South Africa?" was overwhelming.
We don't always realise the beauty we have in our own country. We got so much love from our subscribers because of making that choice and showcasing the Eastern Cape in a way that you don't often see it on television.
I feel like it was a hectic compromise. It took a lot of time, energy and money to secure a location location and to find partners and to make that work, but at the end of the day it all melded together and we had the support of the province and a hotel group it worked out beautifully.
It was a closed set, no-one was allowed to go in or out, but it was still a big crew and a strong team who worked closely and excellently together.
As a closed set, obviously not even M-Net executives were allowed to visit where executives travelled globally in the past to visit every season physically. How did it make it more challenging and how did the modus operandi changed in terms of doing oversight during production but remotely?
Kaye-Ann Williams: We're very fortunate in that we have very good relationships with the producers we work with and who we trust.
Even last year already the first show that we produced as a Covid-19 safe bubble production was The Bachelorette SA.
What we did there, and with Survivor SA and now with the new season of My Kitchen Rules SA is that we no longer physically go to set like we used to but we get a Zoom link and we get to watch what's happening on set through a Zoom link, especially if it's something important.
Then what the Afrokaans production team did is that they would data dump all of their important things and dailies like tribal councils and we'd check in on the digital platform.
The relationship is still very close and we still managed to see things as they happened very close to real filming. We've continued that way of working.
When did M-Net realise that this season of Survivor SA: Immunity Island would be so great and make for such incredibly compelling viewing?
Kaye-Ann Williams: When we cast in 2019 what happened was, as a result of season 6 and season 7 I think, a lot of die-hard fans - a lot of fanatics entered - people who are strategists and die-hard Survivor fans of the Australian and American versions.
What organically came through our casting process was really hyper-invested cast members. Not one person wanted to check out. Not one person wanted to leave and go back home. Everyone had a lot of endurance and staying power.
Then when we contacted then to say "guys we got a green light, we're going to film locally", I think the fact that they were all on lockdown for so long and had been thinking and dreaming and wondering when the show was going to happen, by the time they got to set they were so invested.
I think the minute we hit green and we hit go, already I knew. Handrie Basson knew. We had this conversation. These people are on another level. They were so ready for the adventure and so ready for the experience that they gave it their all.
I think the combination of being in lockdown whilst knowing there is a possibility of the season happening, really hyped everyone up.
What new did M-Net learn from this season and doing it during a Covid-pandemic?
Kaye-Ann Williams: The learnings were around Covid-safe operations.
Unlike a scripted show like a drama series, if someone gets sick - like cast or crew - you either give those people time off if they're crew, but if they're cast then you shut down the production for 8 days, 10 days, or however long and you start up again.
It's not the same with a reality show because it's not scripted. You can't pick up the script again.
We were extremely strict about our protocols and we were very fortunate that there wasn't even one case of Covid on Survivor SA or even on The Bachelorette SA or even My Kitchen Rules SA because we have a very tight, restricted set.
We're very strict about our testing and our protocols and the head of departments (HODs) have to be very vigilant about enforcing that with crew members.
Our main learnings were around how to film these kinds of shows under these kinds of restrictions and limitations that are really hard to do; it's really tough to do.
I just want to push people to please get vaccinated against Covid-19 because our South African TV and film industry suffered so much in the last 2 years. We've lost so many people - on a personal side but also colleagues and people we've worked with.
Our learnings and education is literally around Covid. We've spent weeks working out how we're going to do it and talking with doctors, with health organisations. I think we've also set the standard in a lot of ways.
Because of our us shooting in the Eastern Cape there are now other foreign territories looking at filming in South Africa because they realise that it could possibly be a filming hub. So there's been a lot of benefits that came from it.
Obviously the appeal of a show like Survivor SA is that you're going to an island in a foreign, exotic place. But at the end of the day what I've taken out of this season, and even previous seasons, is that it comes down to characters, it comes down to casting a mixture of really die-hard fans and strategist and social players and making sure that the story comes from those people and not the location.
As much as this location really worked for us, what really made this season work is that we had a really excellent cast and a really good castaway team of participants.
I also think that some of our players were really star strategists and that really influences your story and it influences how other people responded.
The minute you have really active players, everyone reacts to that and step up to that. I think casting people who are engaging and who love the format and want to push the format - it really boils down to that.
You said you try to weed out possible docile castaways. Do you think South Africans are changing?
We're quick to "skinder" behind someone's back but will almost never tell people what we think of someone in their face, especially something bad and the Survivor SA: Immunity Island castaways simply went there and said outrageous things to each other. Are we changing in terms of politeness or was it a result of castaways who've watched a lot of the show?
Kaye-Ann Williams: I think we're evolving and I think it's because of exposure to the format on an international front.
You understand as a viewer, the tentpoles of the format; you understand this is what strategy is about, it's not a personal thing, I have to make this work, I have to engage all of my skills to make this work.
As the South African seasons of Survivor SA went on from season 6 to 7 to 8, it became more and more accepted and more and more tolerated.
Where Chappies stealing the tribe's food, people would have gone "Oh what a terrible human being" maybe three years ago, now viewers are going, "Yes, that's what you have to do". I think we're evolving as viewers and going: This is my understanding of the format, this is how I have to push it and some people handle it better than others. Some people took it more personally, some people are fine and sees it as strategy.
That evolution happened from season 6 to 7 and you can see through those season that the contestants became stronger throughout the seasons. It's almost as if our viewers gave our castaways permissions to really go for it.
My husband is a die-hard Survivor fan and one of the things he said around 3 or 4 years ago before I started on Survivor SA is that the Australians and the Americans drag each other out by their ankles and we still think about it twice as South Africans.
But he told me when we watched the Survivor SA: Immunity Island finale together "Wow, this was hectic. This was good." Then I knew that it's fine, I've managed to win him over.
We've been giving ourselves permission to go there as South Africans because the format allows us to go there if you push it.
It was striking how Survivor SA would "trend" on social media as DStv subscribers watched M-net and the show as live linear viewing.
When M-Net sees that - what does that strong ongoing engagement means, and that parallel conversation on a second screen, and does that also factor into renewing or is it just a nice-to-have? What does it mean if a show doesn't just make for great viewing but is also great as a second-screen conversation companion?
Kaye-Ann Williams: It does make a huge impact because you want your shows to be watched live.
You want people to rush home and to their TVs and you want that kind of urgency, so it's definitely fantastic when a show has a strong live viewing and then Catch Up is part of our live, and delayed viewing is part of our live because what some people want to do is not watch watch for 3 weeks and then watch 3 episodes in a row.
Our viewing habits have changed; we're accustomed to both but we love live viewing.
Survivor SA, before it even started filming, sold to an Australian network, so the agreement was that we would air on a Thursday and they would air on a Friday. So they would have a day-after viewing.
So what we saw was that we had Australian viewers in the mix as well talking about the contestants and what happened.
From a Twitter point of view we started trending on two days because people would watch it in South Africa, and then watch it in Australia.
That's just a testament to the quality of the show and the amazing producers that we have because the deal was that they bought season 7 and then they bought season 8 but they wanted to show episodes the day after M-Net's broadcast. It was fantastic and we really enjoyed it and it a massive feather in the cap of the producers.
It matters when it comes to talkability, it matters because your viewers are engaging with your content.
In an age where viewers are binge-watching and they have a delayed-viewing habit, especially the DStv Premium audience whose content habitat has evolved to no longer watching everything necessarily live but watching it in their own time, it really is a massive complement and it's the reason why we love this show because the show and its format urges you to watch it.
It urges you to watch it and you can't miss it. Survivor SA gives you that connection and immediate engagement with the audience.
