Paramount Africa refuses to explain anything as BET Africa's cash-crashed Queendom from Clive Morris Productions restarts filming after shutdown and payment failure scandal.

by Thinus Ferreira

Paramount Africa's cash-crashed telenovela Queendom on BET Africa which was forced to shutter at the end of May has lurched back into filming while Paramount executives and producers refuse to come clean about the behind-the-scenes upheaval that left the telenovela's cast and crew unpaid for months.

Paramount Africa was forced to switch to repeats of Queendom from 22 July, just four months after its debut on BET Africa (DStv 129)  after Clive Morris Productions ran out of money to film and even to pay cast and crew.

New episodes of Queendom will now start on 23 September with no explanation from Paramount Africa or Clive Morris Productions where the money came from to restart the embattled production that saw cast and crew forced to sell possessions to buy food while a crew member couldn't pay for a parent's funeral after a funeral policy lapsed due to non-payment.

Paramount Africa and BET Africa boss Monde Twala are remaining silent on the unpaid crew and cast production scandal of Clive Morris Productions' Queendom.

Monde Twala, Paramount Africa senior vice president and general manager and BET International lead, didn't respond to an interview request made a week ago through Paramount's South African PR firm Total Exposure. 

A media query with questions to Paramount Africa, also made last Wednesday through Total Exposure has also been ignored.

Clarity was sought from Paramount Africa on when filming for Queendom restarted and until when filming will continue, where the bridge financing now came from, who sourced the financing, how many more episodes will be produced, as well as how many of the former and original cast and crew have been able to return and who are no longer available.

Natalie Mdladla, Paramount senior director of communications, likewise ignored a media query in August seeking answers on why Paramount Africa allowed filming to start on a production before the money to make a show for BET Africa was 100% secured. 

She was also asked who at Paramount authorised pre-production and principal photography to start, and why Paramount again worked with CMP after the same cash issue caused a shutdown of ISONO.

According to Paramount Africa "Queendom makes a regal return on 23 September at 18:30 with a royal showdown as Prince Andile finally confronts his brother King Banzi about the throne". 

The show that has been airing reruns in the timeslot will resume with four new episodes weekly from 23 September from Mondays to Thursdays.

Linda Mtoba in the role of Ntando is one of the cast returning to the show, noting in a press statement that she is "thrilled that Queendom is returning to screens this September, taking the drama and intrigue to a whole new level, and I can't wait for fans to see how these powerful storylines unfold."

Other crew and actors have quit and left like Sindi Dlathu and Themba Ndaba who signed up for e.tv's Isipetho produced by Black Brain Pictures, while Queendom cast and crew have still not been paid in full the overdue money they're owed. 

In the statement, Monde Twala, who was seen hosting a cocktail party for producers last week at the MIP Africa 2024 TV market in Cape Town, only notes that "Local content is an important pillar for our audiences and we are committed to meeting this demand with impactful storytelling that resonates on a global scale".

Cascade failure explained

After the Queendom implosion, MultiChoice has also taken away Empini – done for its Showmax video streaming service by Clive Morris Productions – where crew members also went unpaid and reassigned it to Crystal Pics and Nomusa Mzima to complete the 52-episode series.

Queendom started out as a co-production, with BET responsible for half of the investment, which was fulfilled by BET Africa and Clive Morris Productions responsible for the other 50%.

According to CMP, a backer pulled out that would have paid its 50% towards the production costs, but it's unclear why pre-production and filming started before the funding was fully paid over.

Insiders told TVwithThinus that the trifecta of MultiChoice, Paramount Africa and Clive Morris Productions (CMP) should all share the blame for what happened to Queendom and the dire and shocking financial situation it plunged the show's committed cast and crew into.

According to them, the Queendom cascade implosion happened like this: MultiChoice placed tremendous pressure on Paramount Africa to maintain a contractual local content quota for BET Africa whereby Paramount must produce and air a number of local hours per year on the channel.

Paramount Africa, under pressure to adhere to its local content contract with MultiChoice or face stiff penalities, went ahead to strip local hours of Queendom which it allowed CMP to start producing, even though CMP didn't have all the money for the production in the bank.

Clive Morris Productions, which wanted to retain a stake in the ownership of Queendom, started filming the series despite not having its share of co-funding in the bank account, after which a funder suddenly decided to no longer invest in the show.

This derailed and collapsed production of Queendom when Clive Morris Productions, after filming had already started, failed to get the money required when the investor no longer wanted to pay.

In mid-April – by which time Paramount Africa was well aware that CMP had funding issues, that Queendom was struggling and that the cast and crew were not getting the paid – Paramount Africa and BET went ahead to launch Queendom with a splashy media event at Kings Kraal in Bryanston, Johannesburg for some media. 

Behind-the-scenes however, the Queendom cast and crew who were putting up a brave face, were already angry and distraught over the impossible production conditions, delayed payments, as well as Clive Morris Productions' ongoing promises that they would get paid.

"Typically shows like telenovelas and soaps are commissioned by TV channels and financed 100% by the channel. Queendom wasn't," a producer on the show explained.

"Clive Morris Productions entered into a deal where an onus was on them to raise a significant portion of the production costs, which are far too onerous for most producers. Very few production companies, if any, would be able to raise that capital for a show of this size like Queendom."

"I had never heard of such an arrangement in the context of a telenovela. They exist for films or a very short miniseries. Prior to any minute of any footage being filmed all the money should have been in the bank. That wasn't the case, hence we find ourselves in the position we're in."

ALSO READ: Paramount Africa's Queendom on BET shut down with cast and crew unpaid by Clive Morris Productions as MultiChoice's Showmax also gives Empini to another producer.

ALSO READ: Paramount Africa silent over unpaid Queendom crew and cast and why BET signed off for filming to start on Clive Morris Production show that didn't have production money fully in the bank.

Paramount Africa silent over unpaid Queendom crew and cast and why BET signed off for filming to start on Clive Morris Production show that didn't have production money fully in the bank.

by Thinus Ferreira

Paramount Africa and BET Africa boss Monde Twala are remaining silent on the unpaid crew and cast production scandal of Clive Morris Productions' Queendom without any answer on why Paramount Africa and BET for a second time signed off on filming to start on a South African series before all the funding was 100% secured.

A high-ranking crew member who worked on Queendom says it is unheard of and extremely unusual for a show to start filming, noting that "Prior to any minute of any footage being filmed all the money should have been in the bank".

Clive Morris Productions (CMP) entered into a deal where the production company had to come up with a very large part of the overall production cost to make Queendom - money it didn't have from the outset. 

This derailed and collapsed production of Queendom when Clive Morris Productions, after filming had already started, failed to get the money required when an investor no longer wanted to pay.

Neither Natalie Mdladla, Paramount senior director of communications, nor Kgaogelo Mohlala at the Total Exposure PR company responded to or acknowledged multiple emails, phone calls and messages after TVwithThinus made a media query on Queendom a week ago with questions for Paramount Africa and BET.  

The Queendom cast and crew are owed months of salaries after Clive Morris Productions abruptly stopped filming of the local telenovela at the beginning of June because it failed to pay the workers.

In mid-April, Paramount Africa and BET threw a splashy media launch bash at Kings Kraal in Bryanston for some media, while the cast and crew were already rumbling and angry behind-the-scenes among themselves about the challenging production conditions, delayed payments and Clive Morris Productions' ongoing promises that they would get paid.

On 26 April, just a week after Paramount Africa's Queendom media launch event, the show's crew and cast got paid the last time after they had already complained bitterly about not getting paid and delayed payments by Clive Morris Productions, with Paramount Africa that was aware of the issue.

The show's production crew and cast continued to work during May but when they were again not paid at the end of May, they decided in unison not to return for any further work from 3 June.

People within South Africa's TV and film industry now want to know why Monde Twala, senior vice president and general manager of Paramount Africa and BET International lead, signed off on Clive Morris Productions to start filming for Queendom when the production didn't have all of the money secured upfront.

Paramount Africa was asked on what date the last episode of Queendom will be shown on BET (DStv 129) and how many episodes there were supposed to be, but there's been no answer.

Paramount Africa and BET were also asked why Paramount Africa apparently allowed filming to start on a production before the money to make it, was 100% secured, and who at Paramount Africa and BET authorised pre-production and principal photography to start even though Clive Morris later admitted, after Queendom's shut down, that CMP didn't have their side of the money in the bank. 

So far this has also gone unanswered. 

This is the second time a production of Paramount Africa and BET suddenly shuttered - from the same production company - since Clive Morris Productions was also forced to suddenly shut down ISONO that it produced for BET, over exactly the same reasons when it didn't have the funding in place for it's side of the budget contract.

This also raises the question of why did Paramount Africa and BET for a second time enter into a similar type of contract with Clive Morris Productions after it saw what happened with ISONO. 

It's another one of the questions that were put to Paramount Africa last Thursday a week ago and not being answered.

"Typically shows like telenovelas and soaps are commissioned by TV channels and financed 100% by the channel. Queendom wasn't," the insider who worked on the show, explained.

"Clive Morris Productions entered into a deal where an onus was on them to raise a significant portion of the production costs, which are far too onerous for most producers."

"The fact that we haven't been paid is a testament to exactly how overly onerous those conditions were. Very few production companies, if any, would be able to raise that capital for a show of this size like Queendom."

"I had never heard of such an arrangement in the context of a telenovela. They exist for films or a very short miniseries. Prior to any minute of any footage being filmed all the money should have been in the bank. That wasn't the case, hence we find ourselves in the position we're in."

ALSO READ: Paramount Africa's Queendom on BET shut down with cast and crew unpaid by Clive Morris Productions as MultiChoice's Showmax also gives Empini to another producer.

Paramount Africa's Queendom on BET shut down with cast and crew unpaid by Clive Morris Productions as MultiChoice's Showmax also gives Empini to another producer.

by Thinus Ferreira

With the casts and crews who went unpaid for months, filming has abruptly ended on Paramount Africa's Queendom produced by Clive Morris Productions which is out of money for it, with MultiChoice that has now also taken away Empini done for its Showmax streamer from the same production company over the same issues.

In recent years Clive Morris Productions struggled to pay the cast and crew of the now-cancelled The Estate on SABC3 which led to production shutdowns, as well as the cast and crew of the now-cancelled Isono telenovela for Paramount Africa's BET (DStv 129) channel.

Earlier this year the cast and crew of the new Empini telenovela for MultiChoice's Showmax streamer, as well as the cast and crew of Paramount Africa's Queendom telenovela, also for the BET channel, first went unpaid, and then got paid late by executive producers Khayelihle Dominique and Clive Morris.

In April, Natalie Mdladla, Paramount senior director of communications, said that the Queendom cast and crew were eventually paid but confirmed that the payments were late.

April was however the last time Clive Morris Productions paid the cast and crew, with TVwithThinus that established that the non-payment eventually led to an entire production shutdown of Queendom a month ago.

With no money available to continue the film the show, or to pay the cast and crew what they're owed, the future of Queendom is now in complete limbo.

While BET Africa is broadcasting new episodes on weekdays of Queendom, the last time the show's cast and crew got paid was 26 April. 

According to insiders "sitting cold" at home, production and filming of Queendom stopped over a month ago. Neither Paramount Africa nor Clive Morris Productions decided to make any announcement in order to try and keep the production shutdown and the reason for it under wraps to limit reputational damage.

Natalie Mdladla on Tuesday, in response to a media query, admitted that "BET is aware of payment delays by Clive Morris Productions to cast and crew of Queendom".

"Queendom is a co-production, with BET responsible for half of the investment, which has been fulfilled by BET Africa."

"However, Clive Morris Productions (CMP) has encountered difficulties in securing their share of the co-funding, resulting in the delayed payments to our valued cast and crew. We are engaging with CMP, including cast and crew, to urgently resolve the matter," she said.

The last time Clive Morris Productions paid the Queendom cast was 26 April. 

According to insiders who worked on the show, they then continued to work during May, expecting payment at the end of May. When that didn't happen, early in June, the cast and crew collectively decided not to report for work from Monday 3 June, which led to the complete production shutdown of Queendom.

The cast and crew are all however all still under contract, have not been released and while they're not getting paid and waiting for months of unpaid salaries to be deposited into their bank accounts to settle their own debts they had to make to buy food and pay bills, they can't accept other work.

BET and Clive Morris Productions owe the Queendom cast and crew at least a May salary and a June salary, with this month's July salary which is also contractually due since Paramount Africa and CMP have signed agreements with the workers.

Clive Morris Productions sent the cast and crew three letters promising payments which never materialised.

"It's been a long time [since we were paid]," a producer said. 

"1 June was a Saturday. Collectively the decision was made that nobody will be reporting for work from 3 June. The status quo at the moment is that we are expecting that the May salary and June salary and how every many days in July that we work until termination of the contract, are still due to be paid," he said.

"It's a precarious situation that we find ourselves in. The heartbreaking part of this is that there are real people at the end of this crisis. One of our crew members has lost a parent and is now unable to participate meaningfully in the burial of the parent because funeral policies have lapsed through no fault of their own."

'Little breathing room' not accepted as rent

Earlier this month Clive Morris sent a message to the Queendom cast and crew, saying "I understand everyone is angry, and deservedly so".

"We have let you down and whatever the reason, doesn't help to put things right or make you feel better. I am happy to take it on the chin and accept the rocks thrown at me."

"What I can tell you is that we're not sitting on the money and deciding not to pay people, we are actively working non-stop to get the funding to pay everyone."

"We may have paid late in the past for various reasons out of our control, but we have never not paid anyone. Everyone will be paid and we are asking for a little breathing room so we can focus on finding the funds as soon as possible."

A Queendom cast member said "unfortunately a little breathing room isn't accepted as rent or as car payments".

Another insider said: "In all my years it's something I've never encountered".

"Typically shows like telenovelas and soaps are commissioned by TV channels and financed 100% by the channel. Queendom wasn't."

"Clive Morris Productions entered into a deal where an onus was on them to raise a significant portion of the production costs, which are far too onerous for most producers."

"The fact that we haven't been paid is a testament to exactly how overly onerous those conditions were. Very few production companies, if any, would be able to raise that capital for a show of this size like Queendom."

"I had never heard of such an arrangement in the context of a telenovela. They exist for films or a very short miniseries. Prior to any minute of any footage being filmed all the money should have been in the bank. That wasn't the case, hence we find ourselves in the position we're in."

Empini that Clive Morris Productions produced for MultiChoice's Showmax has now also been ripped away and reallocated to another production company. 

Showmax confirmed to me on Tuesday that all Empini staff have been paid and that Clive Morris Productions is no longer producing Empini for the streaming service.

"Empini is one of Showmax's most-watched series at the moment," the video streaming service told TVwithThinus on Tuesday in response to a media query.

"We place a high value on the welfare of cast and crew in all our productions. MultiChoice has been in ongoing communication with Clive Morris Productions following production challenges being raised with us."

"To ensure the continuation of Empini, especially given its huge popularity with our subscribers, a new production house is in the process of being appointed. We can confirm that all cast and crew have been paid."

Besides the Queendom cast waiting for payment from BET and Clive Morris Productions, the cast and crew of e.tv's cancelled Nikiwe are also still waiting for payment from the producers of Parental Advisory Productions who have gone to ground. 

Production for the cast and crew of SABC2's Muvhango also abruptly ended on 15 June after the SABC failed to renew the Word of Mouth Productions contract for a 26th season.

ALSO READ: BET Africa's Queendom crew and cast paid late by Clive Morris Productions.

ALSO READ: SABC says it has fully paid and has 'great concern' about the non-payment of crew and cast of Clive Morris Productions' struggling The Estate on SABC3.

BET Africa's Queendom crew and cast paid late by Clive Morris Productions.

by Thinus Ferreira

The crew and cast of Paramount Africa's upcoming Queendom series were forced to stay home due to non-payment even before the first episode of the upcoming new telenovela starts airing next week, once again due to non-payment by Clive Morris Productions.

Queendom is set to start on BET Africa (DStv 129) on 22 April.

Natalie Mdladla, Paramount senior director of communications, told IOL that the Queendom cast and crew were eventually paid but confirmed that the payments were late. 

According to the Zimoja online publication, work on Queendom recently came to a standstill over non-payment of the show's cast and crew.

The publication quotes insiders who said that executive producers Khayelihle Dominique and Clive Morris visited the Queendom set and that "Clive was crying there. But we don't understand the story. We last got paid before Easter and we are relying on the weekly salaries for our families".

The cast and crew on another show, Empini for MultiChoice and M-Net's Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channel, reportedly similarly went unpaid by Clive Morris Productions. 

It's also Clive Morris that in the past failed to pay the cast and crew of shows like SABC3's The Estate and Paramount Africa and BET Africa's Isono on time.

Khayelihle Dominique told Zimoja that payment delays were being sorted out and that "MultiChoice is in very good standing, they paid us. Empini specifically had nothing to do with the broadcaster".

The Queendom cast includes Linda Mtoba, Sindi Dlathu, Hamilton Dlamini, Mduduzi Mabaso, Pallance Dladla, Dawn Thandeka King, as well as Jabulani Hadebe known as Sjava.

Queendom revolves around the character of Nthandokayise Mthombeni, portrayed by Linda Mtoba, who is a community leader in Tsakane who discovers that she is the rightful heir to the throne of the Khahlamba kingdom.

Paramount Africa and BET Africa have an in-person media launch event on Tuesday for Queendom for Johannesburg media. No virtual roundtable interviews with the cast and crew have been organised for media by Paramount Africa and its PR company with no digital screeners issued.

ALSO READ: SABC says it has fully paid and has 'great concern' about the non-payment of crew and cast of Clive Morris Productions' struggling The Estate on SABC3.