MultiChoice's global co-productions for M-Net are in English, crime stories and in beautiful South African settings.

by Thinus Ferreira

When four upcoming drama series on DStv, all done as co-productions with international partners, unspool in the coming months on M-Net, they'll have three things in common: They're crime stories, they're in English and they're in beautiful South Africa settings.

These three factors are what's in vogue right now for South African co-productions, what works, what viewers in South Africa and worldwide want to see when they watch a South African series, and what MultiChoice and international partners are looking for when doing South African co-prods together.

Devil's Peak, launching on 29 October on M-Net (DStv 101), is a 5-episode crime thriller set in Cape Town - an international co-production from Lookout Point and Expanded Media Productions together with MultiChoice Studios and BBC Studios Distribution distributing it internationally.

Spinners - launching on 8 November on MultiChoice's streamer Showmax and 13 November on Canal+ in Africa - is an 8-episode drama set in the crime-infested Cape Flats resembling Paris' banlieue and Brazil's favelas where a 17-year-old gang getaway-driver dreams of escape through an eclectic motorsport subculture called spinning.

Spinners is a co-production between Showmax and Canal+ with SutdioCanal handling international sales.

Meanwhile filming is underway in KwaZulu-Natal on the second season of the crime drama series Reyka for M-Net - a co-production between Quizzical Pictures and Fremantle - and the two companies are also working together and are filming the crime thriller White Lies also done in scenic Cape Town.

Popular South African co-productions on M-Net and for DStv premium subscribers generally now have three things in common, Nicola van Niekerk, MultiChoice's head of content for premium channels and co-productions, says: "It's crime, it's English and it's in a beautiful setting. We can tell that those work the best".

Nicola van Niekerk was a panellist this week at a MIP Africa session in Cape Town about how TV and film producers in Africa can work with MultiChoice to unlock co-production opportunities with international companies interested in telling and showcasing South African and African stories.

Waldimar Pelser, channel director for premium channels at MultiChoice, was also a panellist and said "The most productive conversations we have are with producers that consume our content and on a visceral level know who our audience is. Our partners have to understand who they're making content for."

He mentioned that content that can only be made locally in South Africa - and that viewers would not be able to find elsewhere - reap the most success.

Tebogo Matlawa, head of scripted content for the middle and mass market for South Africa at MultiChoice, said "producers should also look outside the bubble of their own existence" when working on content but cautioned that while action and dramas have seen success "there isn't much of an appetite for violence".

"Always think, would you watch this with your grandmother?" he advised when considering pitches for scripted content for middle and mass markets.

Victor Sanchez Aghahowa, head of production for MultiChoice West Africa, said "Compelling characters in compelling situations that anybody can relate to – that's what we're looking for. Anything inauthentic will immediately be sniffed out by our younger audience".

Nicola van Niekerk's advice to production companies are for producers to have an in-depth understanding of both the local and the international audience before pitching a project.

"As a producer, you need to assess your story and say, 'Where will this story work?' Will it work in a very specific demographic hyper-locally in South Africa, but where else will it work? Which other broadcaster will like that? And to know that you need to understand all of the broadcaster's strategies on a global level."

Lerato Moruti, senior manager for reality and entertainment for the middle and mass market at M-Net, said that successful reality TV shows provide a sense of "tabloid voyeurism, with family-based reality shows that rate high with viewers".

"South Africans look for meaning in content, and respond well to 'help TV', like the Mzansi Magic reality show Abandoned about orphaned children that seek out family members later in life."

NASTY. A press release about M-Net, Quizzical Pictures and Fremantle was given to The Hollywood Reporter 'exclusively' before South Africa's media about the casting for its new drama series White Lies.

by Thinus Ferreira

In a very nasty and extremely insulting move, a press release about South Africa's M-Net (DStv 101), Quizzical Pictures and Fremantle with a general announcement (that it will only be send to South Africa's media on Wednesday morning) has been given to America's The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday evening about the new 8-episode local South African series White Lies which will soon start filming in Cape Town with British actor Natalie Dormer.

Utterly dissing South Africa's publications, journalists and media who are good enough to constantly report on M-Net's news and convey its information to the local TV and film industry, the general press release about M-Net was sent to The Hollywood Reporter to appear as an "exclusive".

In this general press release published as an "exclusive" - although the exact same information will be sent to other media - M-Net "announces" that the Game of Thrones starlet Natalie Dormer is in Cape Town for White Lies which will start principal photography on 6 March together with South African actor Brendon Daniels as detective Forty Bell.

In a big middle finger to South Africa's own media - although MultiChoice and M-Net continue to do lip service about how it supports local - M-Net will send the same general press release out to South Africa's media but only on Wednesday morning. 

Meanwhile an American media outlet had already published it - with South African media getting it half a day after giving it was already given to foreign media first.

It appears as if M-Net and Quizzical Pictures have a lack of understanding about why South African journalists and publications won't bother covering White Lies later, why they find this type of behaviours offensive within a media environment, and why local South African media will be resistant to give the show any actual exposure in print and otherwise, later.

What is really happening and being communicated, is that PR people are actively and directly angering and disrespecting local South African media, editors and journalists - upfront showing them that they presumably matter "less" than American media when it comes to M-Net getting a press release "exclusives" in overseas media.

Besides Natalie Dormer, The White Lies cast of the M-Net series will also star Langley Kirkwood, Morgan Santo, Daniel Schultz, Jane de Wet, Katlego Lebogang, Robert Hobbs and Athenkosi Mfamela.

M-Net in the press release describes White Lies as a "murder mystery series" which was created by Sean Steinberg and written by Darrel Bristow-Bovey. The series will purportedly "explore race, privilege, and inequality".

According to the M-Net general press release which M-Net will only send to South African media on Wednesday, "White Lies is set in the wealthy neighbourhood of Bishopscourt, Cape Town and sees Dormer taking on the role of an investigative journalist Edie Hansen, who gets caught up in the ugly underbelly that lies beneath the picturesque beauty of the city".

"Following her estranged brother's murder in his luxury home, Edie's world plunges deeper into chaos when her brother's teenage children become prime suspects for the crime."

"As Edie investigates, she finds herself at loggerheads with veteran detective Forty Bell, and grapples with the crumbling local police force, a corrupt political system, and the secretive world of extreme Cape wealth," M-Net says.

In a prepared quote in M-Net's press release, Natalie Dormer says she is apparently "thrilled to be in Cape Town and begin this beautiful, gripping show. South Africa has so much to offer an international audience in its storytelling".

"I'm truly excited to bring Darrel''s 8-episode page-turner to life with such a group of talented directors, led by John, and a superb ensemble cast," Natalie Dormer says in the general press release that M-Net didn't want to send to South African media on Tuesday.

There is also a prepared quote from Harriet Gavshon, Quizzical Pictures creative director and White Lies producer, in the press release.

She says "We are very happy to be working again with our partners at M-Net and Fremantle, and especially delighted to have Natalie Dormer join our South African cast. Once again, we are happy to showcase the wealth of South African talent both behind and in front of the camera".

M-Net also has a prepared quote in the general press release from Waldimar Pelser, M-Net's director of premium channels.

"White Lies brings together an exceptional creative team and stellar cast in a riveting story set in Cape Town, an iconic city with great natural beauty but also hidden undercurrents."

"We believe White Lies will resonate with series lovers locally and globally. Partnerships such as this one with Quizzical Pictures and Fremantle give shows the best shot at reaching their full potential, and cements M-Net's reputation as the home of world-class entertainment."

Unfortunately, and ironically, what is actively getting damaged here is M-Net's reputation with local media through very disingenuous PR general press release distribution decisions.