Netflix adds Shaka Zulu before Mzansi Magic’s Shaka iLembe debut.

by Thinus Ferreira

Netflix has acquired and added 1986's iconic 10-episode Shaka Zulu drama series just before MultiChoice and M-Net's new 12-episode Shaka iLembe drama series will make its debut on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) this Sunday night at 20:00.

A rising tide lifts all boats and Netflix appears to be betting that a surge in interest and online Shaka searches might channel some viewers to the video streaming service to sample the Harmony Gold and SABC co-production from William C. Faure that starred Henry Cele in the iconic warrior role.

On Tuesday Netflix SA, through its Eclipse Communications PR agency, was asked why Shaka Zulu was added now to the streamer's catalogue of content but it didn't respond with an answer.

Adding Shaka Zulu to Netflix just before the debut of Shaka iLembe on Mzansi Magic is the clearest move of so-called "counter-programming" yet by the streamer within the South African market.

It's a technique long-employed by rival American TV networks that would directly schedule a similar type of competitive content in the same timeslot as a first-announced original, hoping to dull some of its shine or dent ratings and lure over some viewers.

While the gaze of the 1986 series in English, told through flashbacks by the Irish Dr Henry Fynn is decidedly from a European settler perspective, the new Bomb Productions 2022 series done in isiZulu with a stellar ensemble cast and Lemogang Tsipa in the title role, flips the story to a South African gaze - telling the story of Shaka's rise to Zulu king from an insider's perspective. 

While the 1986 Shaka series has nudity and violence, Shaka iLembe ups the ante for the modern sensibilities of the HBO-sensitised audience, with more nudity, sex, violence and blood splatterings in service of the story, for a show definitely not meant for younger viewers.

Shaka iLembe was filmed in four locations across KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in Gauteng around Johannesburg and the Cradle of Humankind, employing one of the biggest cast and crews in South African television history at 9 150 people who contributed to the sprawling project.

While Shaka Zulu is a limited series of 10 episodes, MultiChoice and M-Net envision Shaka iLembe to run for three seasons.

America's Showtime commissions rival Shaka Zulu drama series to MultiChoice and M-Net's long-gestating Shaka Ilembe; says its show is 'going to rock the world'.

by Thinus Ferreira

America's Showtime TV channel is producing a brand-new Shaka Zulu drama series that will rival MultiChoice and M-Net's long-gestating Shaka Ilembe drama series planned for DStv's Mzansi Magic channel, with Showtime saying its version of the Zulu leader is "going to rock the world".

Showtime in a press release announced that its new drama series, Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation - produced by CBS Studios, Propagate and Fuqua Films and executive produced and directed by Antoine Fuqua - will be "rooted in actual events".

The series will tell "the story of the Zulu empire chief Shake and his unlikely rise to power, uniting multiple tribes across vast stretches of Africa in the early 19th century to transform his power into legend, on par with history's most seminal figures".

Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation as an hourlong drama series is written by Olu Odebunmi and Tolu Awosika.

Showtime says that Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation will be "an epic drama centred around one man's personal journey from stigmatised childhood to warrior king".

"Olu and Tolu have written such an exciting and emotional origin story of an African warrior hero and Antoine's passion for this project, coupled with his formidable talent, promises an epic series unlike any other on television," says Gary Levine, co-president of entertainment at Showtime Networks Inc.

Antoine Fuqua says "This project offers a gateway to our past that is so critical to our global history and yet so often marginalised. Through Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation, we hope to bring this saga to life - all the tears, sweat and blood, all the joy and sorrow, all the intimacy and intensity and humanity. In short, we're going to rock the world with this one".

After almost 3 years M-Net and Bomb Productions are still in pre-production for its own 12-episode Shaka Ilembe drama series for Mzansi Magic (Dstv 161) that it announced in May 2018 to tell the story of King Shaka kaSenzangakhona. 

M-Net said that this black historical drama series will explore the precolonial South African kingdoms that influenced and gave rise to Shaka Zulu and that it would depict the kingdoms of the AmaThethwa, the AmaNdwandwe, AmaQwabe, AmaHlubi and AmaZulu, amongst others, and how they all gave rise to the creation of the heroic leader.

South Africans and viewers worldwide are familiar with the 10-episode, 1986-series Shaka Zulu from the SABC and Harmony Gold USA that was directed by William C. Faure, starring the iconic, late Henry Cele in the adult Shaka role and based on Joshua Sinclair's 1985-novel of the same name.

ALSO READ: 2020 DStv Showcase: The most important announcements and revelations from this year's MultiChoice media event.

ALSO READ: Location scouting underway, casting starting soon, for MultiChoice and M-Net's iconic new Shaka drama series.

ALSO READ: M-Net adds another black historical drama series, Shaka-Ilembe, from Bomb Productions that will explore the precolonial South African kingdoms that influenced and gave rise to Shaka Zulu.

Netflix to finally commission some original series from Africa in 2019.

Netflix says it will finally commission some original series from Africa in 2019, with the global video streaming service confirming that it is looking at opportunities in Africa.

Erik Barmack, Netflix vice-president of international originals, at last week's Content London conference, said Netflix is continuing to expand it original slate of series made across Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Variety reported about Netflix's Africa ambitions on Friday.

"There's going to come a time when half of the top 10 of most-watched shows on Netflix in a given year are going to come from outside of the United States," Erik Barmack said.

Meanwhile South African producers and production companies in Africa's most developed TV market have expressed ongoing frustration about not being able to reach out to Netflix to pitch TV and film projects for possible consideration, saying they don't know who to contact, who to talk to, or how to reach Netflix.

In October 2017 Netflix told TVwithThinus that it has "a pretty strong content team that is travelling to every country to talk to local producers" and is "talking to South African producers".

When Netflix was asked how South African and African producers can get in contact with Netflix, the service said it doesn't give out details and that it makes contact with producers. It's not clear how Netflix will know of producers or reach them that its not aware of.

Meanwhile the MultiChoice Group, planning to list on the JSE during the first half of 2019, continues to ramp up content spend and the production of local originals to buffer the growing so-called "Netflix threat".

It's local streaming service Showmax will invest in more local series like the Girl from St Agnes, while M-Net is pumping money into shows hunting for an African version of Game of Thrones.

M-Net is doing an international co-production, the crime thriller series Reyka with Fremantle distributing internationally, while M-Net commissioned Shaka-Ilembe from Bomb Productions that will explore the precolonial South African kingdoms that influenced and gave rise to Shaka Zulu.

The M-Net (DStv 101) channel's 2019 slate will have a new 7th season of Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets, a first season of The Bachelor South Africa, and a third season of The Voice SA, while Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) will have a 15th season of Idols.

MobileTV taps old SABC archive shows; acquire rights to Shaka Zulu, Yizo-Yizo, Generations, Isidingo and 7de Laan for cellphones.

MobileTV, one of the successful applicants for a new pay-TV licence in South Africa, has signed a deal with the South African public broadcaster for the broadcasting rights to some of its library titles.

MobileTV gets the rights to broadcast on South African cellphones some of the SABC's library content which it will introduce in phases, and which includes reruns of dramas Shaka Zulu and Yizo-Yizo.

MobileTV also acquired soaps Generations, Isidingo and 7de Laan, but its not clear whether it will be older episodes and seasons, or current episodes.

"The SABC's impressive catalogue has been creatively re-purposed, repackaged and realigned on a single channel, enhanced by the familiarity and popularity of the content on offer," says Mothobi Mutloatse, the chairperson of MobileTV.