South African Great Movies Production, a film and television production company based in the South African capital Pretoria, has devised what it describes as a solution to the major problem faced by South African filmmakers (as well as those from elsewhere on the continent). “What’s the point of spending the time and money to make a film,” says CEO John Wani, “if there are no distribution channels in place that enable you to make your money back?”
Wani makes a point that many local filmmakers can surely relate to. While television offers some opportunities for a return on investment – mostly in the micro-budget stratum – cinema releases are, with some exceptions, such as Afrikaans films, entirely unprofitable for the filmmaker.
Wani attempted to look outside the box for a solution. Congolese by birth, he has been resident in South Africa for several years and is now a firmly established player in the local industry, working with micro-budgets and producing work for platforms such as Mzansi Magic. He has long noted the shortcomings of the South African industry, not from the point of view of the quality of work being produced but from the general lack of viable business models for filmmakers to make a decent living from their work. He looks to Nigeria’s Nollywood as the best of example in this regard. He lists four points on which he believes South Africa could best learn from its west African neighbour.
Firstly, film is a business – reliance on soft funding needs to end as it is unsustainable and does not bring real growth. The private sector needs to have a deeper involvement in the industry and in order for that to happen, the industry needs to be provably able to make a return on investment.
Secondly, Nollywood is successfully able to find ways to stimulate local audiences, something the local film industry struggles to do.
Thirdly, effective measures must be taken to work with the rest of the world. That means employing co-production measures in ways that will benefit the local market, not only the foreign partner.
Finally, as a starting point at least, while the industry goes through its initial growth, it is best to operate in the microbudget realm, working with manageable costs and therefore more realistic profit and cost recoupment goals, rather than inflating budgets with soft funding without any effort to strategise a return on investment.
With these in mind, Wani has been negotiating with a partner in the United States, Donald Rabinovitch of CINEMAflix Distribution. The deal is intended to enable South African filmmakers to find profitable sales and distribution strategies for their work overseas. The US partner would essentially offer a marketing and distribution package to the filmmaker that would start with a strategically placed US premiere that would act as a test screening for the territory. The film would then get a three-week cinematic run, followed by sales negotiations for home video, television and digital platforms. The package costs US$9000 – about R128 000 at the current exchange rate, which Wani says, is a more than reasonable cost for marketing purposes.
When it comes to what kind of content these agents are looking for, Wani offers a few general tips: “Firstly remember that English is preferred if you want to break this market. Dubbing and subtitling will not only incur additional costs, but will also lessen your chances with the American market. Secondly, be flexible about making your work more appealing to the US market. Cast actors from the target country in your film. There’s no reason why a film can’t include Nigerians, South Africans and Americans. And then you are able to reach all three of those territories. Thirdly, as far as content is concerned, love stories and comedies seem to travel best, and you should keep your market as broad as possible by producing a film that can cater to all ages.”
