TBI Weekly: Shifting targets in South Africa amid Hollywood shutdown

Reyka

With Hollywood closed for business, Arrested Industries CEO & TBI’s resident scripted expert Anthony Kimble leaves LA and finds a new place in the sun for scripted projects.

With the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and actors union SAG-AFTRA strikes still in full swing, Hollywood’s ‘summer of discontent’ seems set to continue into autumn.

Will there be a breakthrough before the gingerbread lattes arrive at Starbucks and Halloween decorations go up?

Anthony Kimble

If we’re lucky, we may have a resolution before Christmas, but there are plenty of commentators saying we won’t be able to get back to work before 2024 comes knocking.

Strike repercussions are rapidly gaining momentum, with the bravado of the initial months starting to wane.

The conversations I’m having with studio and network buyers indicate that they are finally starting to worry about their fall schedules; high profile launches of both movies and TV shows are being postponed; festivals and awards shows, notably the Emmy’s, are being pushed; and big agency CAA has just let a lot of people go.

It all now feels very real…

US holy grail & City of Gold

Add to this the bottom falling out of the domestic market, a haemorrhaging subscriber base and share prices in need of serious triage, US network commissions are almost non-existent and don’t represent the holy grail they once did.

A decade ago, every successful British producer lusted after a prime-time US network show and the inevitable payday that it would represent. But, as the avarice of media conglomerates has chipped away at the back end of these deals, some savvy and entrepreneurial British and American producers are, by necessity, looking to new markets for opportunities further afield… and I’m joining them!

Don’t regard this as a bit ‘small fry’ or ‘meh’ – a few short years ago who would have thought that we’d be holding up series such as Call My Agent, My Brilliant Friend or Fauda – in French, Italian or Hebrew – as universal, award-winning hits

With the enforced hiatus on my US slate, I’m spending a few weeks in Johannesburg to work on a couple of projects that will be filmed in South Africa once the casting and financing packages come together. And before anyone comes after me, we have a waiver and there’s no studio money attached!

The mood in Johannesburg couldn’t be more different than LA. Things are booming in this emerging entertainment market and there’s a real sense of optimism in the air, following success with shows such as the well-travelled Reyka. Budgets are smaller and production can require guerilla tactics, but there’s a real impetus to get things done.

The city of gold is experiencing a new gold rush as international streamers – with plateauing subscriptions in more established territories – take advantage of massive populations all desperate for great local content.

A study from Digital TV Research this month says the African SVOD market is set to see plenty of growth in the coming years with 18 million paid subscriptions by 2029, up from eight million in 2023.

Credits & treaties

Add to this a slew of local tax credits and treaty co-production deals in place with most of the major creative markets, plus the near perfect light and sunshine, even in winter, it’s a producer’s and director’s dream.

Most people I know in the industry are primarily motivated by creating great work that gets seen by lots of people. So, I guess that I’m saying if you are passionate about making a series or film, there’s no need to sit there twiddling thumbs, waiting for the strikes to resolve themselves.

There is a big creative world outside of America, bursting with original stories, great talent and interesting opportunities, if you know where and how to look.

Elsewhere in Africa, Nigeria is a hotbed of creative talent and is starting to punch above its weight on the world stage, and I’m also currently collaborating with talent from India, where there’s huge interest in international opportunities.

South-East Asia is also increasingly receptive to international co-production – with lots of enticing tax incentives. And remember, many partners in these territories are happy to produce in English too, if that’s important.

Fauda

And please don’t regard this as a bit ‘small fry’ or ‘meh’. Just think back a few short years…who would have thought that we’d be holding up series such as Call My Agent, My Brilliant Friend or Fauda – in French, Italian or Hebrew – as universal, award-winning hits that we would all be proud to have had on our slates.

Each ended up finding sizeable audiences in the US too – despite not being commissioned or made there!

So, while the current market malaise is challenging, there is definitely life beyond Hollywood’s vast shadow, with plenty of opportunities for new content to shine.

Indeed, if the strikes continue for a long time, the great re-set I’ve talked about before may see Hollywood becoming just a.n.other planet in the entertainment solar system, rather than the life-giving and shade-providing sun that everyone once depended upon.

For now, we producers should seize the moment, open our minds, find great collaborators on the ground in under-explored markets – and get there before the rush! Because it will happen.