Part of the DISCOP Africa content market is an annual pitching competition, which runs under the DISCOPRO workshop programme and offers producers an opportunity to pitch their projects to an audience and a panel of potential industry buyers.
At DISCOP Africa this year for the first time there were six pitching categories for the following content genres: TV series (two), formats, documentaries, animation, and a combined category of comedy and web series. Only five competition entries were selected to pitch in each category, and each producer was given only a few minutes to present their project idea to the audience. The judges then selected three final nominees, who were awarded another eight minutes to present a more detailed idea, after which a winner and runner up were announced.
During their pitches, some key points which were put to participants by the judges were surrounding target audience, the use of archive footage, narrative structure and the level of experience encompassed by the production team.
Winners and runners up received market badges for DISCOP Africa Abidjan and DISCOP Africa Johannesburg 2016, as well as consultations with professional filmmakers on developing their projects. Winners were each awarded US$2 000 and received commitments from selected African broadcasters to air produced content in accordance with their channel requirements and licensing agreements, while runners up received US$1 000.
DISCOPRO 2015 winners:
- AnimationWINNER: Abel N’guessan Koume Project title: Roi KeitaCountry: Côte d’IvoireRUNNER UP: Khanyisa MfekaProject title: Modern MadnessCountry: South Africa
- TV SeriesWINNER: Skay MandoselaProject title: Team StacyCountry: South AfricaRUNNER UP: Angela AquereburuProject title: The Blood of NigeriaCountry: Togo
- DocumentaryWINNER: Lisa WickhamProject title: Hero: The Life and Time of Ulric Cross Country: Trinidad and TobagoRUNNER UP: Michael LeeProject title: Vigilante Road TripCountry: South Africa
- FormatsWINNER: Jason CorderProject title: Yolo PoloCountry: KenyaRUNNER UP: Patrick WaltonProject title: Cheese CultureCountry: South Africa
- TV Series 2WINNER: Anna BalloProject title: Ablaha PokouCountry: Côte d’Ivoire RUNNER UP: Gugulethu MaqetukaProject title: Ithwasa – The RookieCountry: South Africa
- Comedy and web series WINNER: Kaizer MokgoboProject title: TV LoversCountry: South AfricaRUNNER UP: Gregory SheppardProject title: The Geek and The FreakCountry: South Africa.
