In what has come to be known as the second ‘Golden Age’ of television, audiences
around the world are spoilt like they have never been before for quality drama.
American cable networks like HBO, AMC and Starz have long since become
household names giving the traditional purveyors of quality drama like the BBC and the
US majors a run for a share of audience. And just when you thought the battle lines
were drawn, a whole new host of online players entered the fray bringing brands
like Netflix, Hulu, Vimeo, Yahoo, Microsoft and online retailer Amazon as taste
makers for quality drama. It seems as though the golden age of television is being
replaced by the ‘Streaming-TV Gold Rush’.
The South African television industry is part of this global trend with over two
thousand hours of new local television drama having been produced and broadcast in the last
year. To serve this demand for original drama however, it requires a deep ocean of
original writing talent which to a large extent seems to blossom in the US and
European markets. South Africa however, currently struggles to meet the demand
for screen writers whose talents have been developed and honed to sufficient
standards of expertise and professionalism. Ochre Moving Pictures, a subsidiary of
Times Media, is addressing this challenge by investing in skills development in the
field of narrative screen writing. The skills programmes, are funded through a grant
from Times Media’s The Argus Trust. Writing talent that participate in the
programme will also have the opportunity to become part of Ochre Moving Pictures’
new writers’ hub, known as the Writers’ Table.
The initiative incudes screen writing for soap, novela and drama genres as well as a
feature film writing programme and it will be rolled out over the course of the
coming year. The programme is backed up by a script development fund and a
production investment fund by the Times Media Group which will enable the best
ideas and talent coming out of this initiative to make it to the big or small screen.
The first intervention of this broad ranging initiative kicks off on 25 July with an
eight week screen writing course in Johannesburg. Focusing on soap opera,
training and mentoring for this course will be provided by leading industry players
with track records of excellence in their fields, who are also experts in skills
transference and development. These include multi award winning writer / director
/ educators Ilse van Hemert and Mark Graham Wilson, currently show runner and
story editor of Ochre’s daily soap opera Scandal!; and leading television and stage
writer Bongi Ndaba.
The trainees, who will receive their mentoring free of charge, are being chosen
through rigorous selection processes from the ranks of writers countrywide who
have seen at least one of their works published or produced in the public domain.
The course is experiential and outcomes based and will deliver trained, original
thinking screen writers to the industry.
For more information on this course and details on how to apply, click here.
Ochre Moving Pictures will shortly be announcing the details of its feature film
writing programme linked to a script development fund and a production finance
initiative for the best projects that make it through the programme. This initiative is
in collaboration with Indigenous Films independent producer, writer and director,
Robbie Thorpe.
For more information contact info@ochre.co.za
