What Buyers Want: Yolisa Phahle, CEO of Showmax & Connected Video, MultiChoice Group

With a flurry of markets, conferences & co-production-focused events taking place this month, Mark Layton speaks to key buyers about the shows they want and the models being used to pay for them

Yolisa Phahle, CEO of Showmax & Connected Video, MultiChoice Group

What’s on your commissioning wishlist at the moment?
We are always looking to surprise and delight our subscribers with new content that is hyperlocal, contemporary and fresh. Our portal is open for submissions at any time; this is also where we post specific briefs for content that we would like to see.

What about your financing models? Are you open to co-productions?
We commission the majority of our content, but we are also open to licensing if producers have already produced something great.

We are open to co-producing on a case-by-case basis. There are many factors that play into a co-production, which makes them unpredictable. They’re not our core focus but we’re doing a lot more of them, including Spinners with Canal+, which was the only African series at Canneseries this year, and Reyka with Fremantle, which was nominated for two International Emmys. We’ve also co-produced with the likes of HBO (Trackers), NBCUniversal (The Real Housewives franchises in Africa), BBC (Devil’s Peak), Banijay (Temptation Island South Africa), Night Train Media (Catch Me A Killer), and Acorn (Recipes For Love and Murder), among others.

What upcoming shows are you most looking forward to?
Set in the 1700s, Shaka iLembe tells the story of the iconic African king. The production has been six years in the making, consulting historians, academics, and family descendants, including the incumbent King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, as well as the late King Goodwill Zwelithini. Produced by Oscar and Emmy-nominated Bomb Productions, it’s launching on Mzansi Magic on 18 June 2023. MultiChoice Studios is handling international sales.

Outlaws is the first Showmax Original neo-western, an epic love story that plays out in the dangerous world of cattle theft syndicates, in the breathtaking mountains on the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal. It’s being produced by Tshedza Pictures, the South African production company behind the International Emmy-nominated telenovela The River and the recent Showmax #1, Adulting.

The first African series ever selected in competition at Cannes, Spinners (above) follows Ethan, a 17-year-old driver working for a local gang. Trying to support his younger brother but increasingly disgusted with gang life, Ethan discovers a possible way out via spinning, an extreme motorsport where he can put his driving skills to better use. But the looming gang war jeopardises that hope. Cantona James is a revelation in the lead role, and it’s beautifully directed by Jaco Bouwer. It’s a co-production between Showmax, Empreinte Digitale and CANAL+.

Charlotte Hope, who played Myranda in Game Of Thrones, stars in Catch Me A Killer as Micki Pistorius, South Africa’s first-ever serial-killer profiler. Adapted from Pistorius’ memoir, the harrowing true crime series is set in the mid-90s and traces Pistorius’ quest, as a newly qualified forensic psychologist, to track down South Africa’s most feared killers at a time when the country was gripped by an epidemic of rising crime and mass murder. It’s a co-production between Showmax and Germany’s Night Train Media.

Are you looking to acquire any particular content at the moment?
We are acquiring a wide range of major studio films and shows from the likes of NCBUniversal, Sky, HBO, Warner Bros, and Sony, but we are also always on the lookout for a great indie movie, documentary or series.

What kind of rights would you be looking to take
We look for exclusive Sub-Saharan Africa rights.

Any shows doing particularly well for you right now? 
Adulting (above) has been a phenomenal success with our subscribers. It’s a 18LSDVN bromance set in Johannesburg, about four university friends whose strong bond has held them together even as their journeys in life have taken them in very different directions. We’re happy and the fans are happy; that’s all that matters at the end of the day.

What does the year ahead look like for MultiChoice? 
We’re very excited about the pending relaunch of Showmax, in partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniveral and Sky, who will provide ongoing support through the licensing of both content and Peacock’s globally scaled technology.

Across MultiChoice, our investment in local content will grow substantially: we are all about giving our subscribers more of what they love. MultiChoice will continue to grow by adding new services, platforms and functions for our subscribers.

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