As February 2017 gets underway, Johannesburg’s newest complete production facility, SkyRink Studios, officially begins its operations, with productions taking up residence in the studio spaces in the city centre’s Carlton precinct. At the facility’s grand opening, SkyRink’s major funders explained how the launch of the new complex represents so much more than just a bolstering of the city’s studio space.
Taking to the podium to deliver the keynote address, Ebrahim Patel, minister of economic development, noted that the date of the launch coincided with the birthday of former African National Congress president and struggle hero, OR Tambo. “If you had to choose a day to launch something new and something for the future, you could not choose a more auspicious day than the birthday of Oliver Reginald Tambo,” the minister said at the opening of his address.
Tying the launch of SkyRink to the birthday of one of South Africa’s most beloved political and liberation leaders, the minister set the tone for the evening’s speeches, all of which pointed towards the fact that the existence of the new facility is more far-reaching and significant than the film industry and the citizens of Johannesburg may realise.
“I am here today because we, as government, have backed this project. The IDC (Industrial Development Corporation) was prepared to back talent. What this studio is about is claiming our culture and our stories. It’s about claiming our city, it’s about creating jobs and it’s about showcasing South Africa,” the minister said.
SkyRink received the backing of national government through the financial support of the IDC and the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), the former contributing about R180 million and the latter another R40 million. The project also received the support of the provincial (Gauteng Growth and Development Agency) under MEC of Economic Development and municipal tiers of government, with the Gauteng Film Commission (GFC) and the City of Johannesburg (Economic Development Department and City Film Unit) seeing the value that SkyRink could offer both the province’s film industry and the city itself. Minister Patel explained the value government had seen in the new facility under his opening points of claiming South Africa’s culture and stories, claiming the city, creating jobs and showcasing the country.
Claiming culture and stories
“We live in a globalised age where the dominant culture is that which we all watch on television, we see it in the movies, and it is a culture that originates from elsewhere,” the minister said. “Yet right here is where we should be telling our stories with confidence, with boldness, with passion and pride. To do that we need the production capability and a film studio is a critical part of that. But this film studio is not only about telling our stories, as important as that is. It’s also about claiming our city. This film studio decided its location will be here, not in Sandton. It is about balanced development, it is saying we will take this part of our city and bring investment and bring jobs and bring excitement and ideas, passion and young people and turn it into a centre of development.”
The three directors of SkyRink – Frank Mohapi, Marvin Mathibe and Miles Britton – had affirmed content and talent development as a vital aspect of SkyRink’s ethos and operations, going right back to the initial design of their business model. Speaking later in the evening, Mohapi explained that the next phase in their facility’s set-up would be to set aside two floors for the housing and collaboration of Johannesburg’s young, up-and-coming producers, writers and directors, where they can develop their content together, supported by the SkyRink infrastructure.
Creating jobs
The minister explained how, for the Department of Economic Development, the film industry offers great opportunities for the creation of employment and for economic growth. The department, as well as others in the Economic Sectors, Employment and Infrastructure Development cluster of government, have been pushing for the diversification of the economy; the film industry is an area that offers this. “We started as a mining economy,” the minister explained, “Joburg itself was the premium mining city. Over a number of years we recognised that if we are to create the kind of inclusive economy that we want to make a better life for our people, we must diversify, diversify, diversify.”
The IDC’s investment in SkyRink forms part of a much broader drive to fund development in the film and television industries. The state-owned financial institution has invested somewhere in the region of R1 billion over the past decade, including funding contributions to individual productions and to the building of other studio facilities, such as Cape Town Film Studios.
“We do not make these investments as an act of charity; we do it because it is a legitimate economic activity that’s going to develop this country. Across government there is an effort to empower our people, to give us the facilities, to tell our stories, to claim our cities and bring with urban regeneration, to create jobs, but also to showcase this beautiful country and its enormously interesting history to the rest of the world,” the minister concluded.
Claiming the city and showcasing SA
As the owner of the Carlton Centre and thus landlord to SkyRink Studios, Transnet is another major backer of the new enterprise. At the launch, COO Mlamuli Buthelezi explained that initiatives such as this benefit, not only the film industry but also the city as a whole, including, but not limited to, commerce and industry in the surrounding precinct.
“We are confident that the opening of this facility will contribute significantly to making the Carlton Centre a preferred shopping and entertainment destination in the Joburg CBD, just like in the old days when it was the place to be for the socialites and high flyers of Johannesburg,” Buthelezi said. “We will continue to do our bit to bring back the vibrancy that was once associated with the Carlton precinct. It goes without saying that there will be more socioeconomic benefits created in the centre and surrounding areas. This opening coincides with our plans to relook the viability of the long mothballed Carlton Hotel and the redevelopment of the shopping centre to link with the Maboneng Precinct and greater Joburg. The SkyRink development is the first phase in our redevelopment of the precinct.”
Speaking after the launch, Andile Mbeki, CEO of the GFC, explained that the commission’s interest in the facility comes both from its being the first fully black-owned studio in the country and its expansion of the province’s production capacity as a means towards the ultimate end of increasing local content production. “The timing was perfect,” he said. “Digital migration is going to offer a whole range of opportunities in terms of the number of channels available for the distribution of content. Those channels will need a lot more content to fill them. If we do not have enough facilities like this one, those channels will look elsewhere and we will continue to be a dumping site for foreign content. With a facility of this magnitude, we are going to make sure that we produce a lot more of our own stories, our way and flood the channels with our own content.”
Productions will begin at SkyRink in February 2017.
