By Sharlene Versfeld
Published March 29, 2023
Screenwriters from Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Nigeria have pitched their new projects to a standing-room-only international audience of broadcasters, video-on-demand platforms, and potential producers at the Series Mania Forum, a film industry market aimed specifically at TV series in Lille, France.
Angela Wamai of Kenya, Chantel Clark of South Africa, Jessica Hagan of Ghana and Tony Sebastian Ukpo of Nigeria were at the market after a rigorous six months of being mentored, coached, and supported in a South African film industry development initiative, AuthenticA Series Lab that is presented by Realness Institute in partnership with The Storyboard Collective, a Swiss philanthropic organization, which aims to develop transformative and authentic stories, and the Series Mania Forum of France.
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The dynamic cohort began their work within the Lab at the Coot Club, Stanford in the Western Cape, South Africa, with a 10-day in-person mentorship programme, followed by 2 ½ months of online mentorship in a programme designed by Elias Ribeiro (Realness Institute Executive Director) with Story Expert, Selina Ukwuoma, and Creative Producer, Mehret Mandefro (Realness Institute co-founder).
After this, they went into a residency in Geneva Switzerland for 2 months, where they worked full-time on their pilot scripts and pitch decks which are now ready for market.
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Speaking from France, Ribeiro said that the response was encouraging and promising.
“After two years of running the Episodic Lab in partnership with Netflix (for SA, Nigeria, and Kenyan projects) we could not be prouder to have expanded our offering across all African countries through this AuthenticA Series lab,” he says. “ We learned so much from that experience and fine-tuned the programme so writers complete their six-month incubation with a pitch deck and a pilot script ready for the market. It was so exciting to see all four pitch their work, and we now wait for a response from the market.”
Creative Producer, Mehret Mandefro, says, “We are all so proud of the work these writers have done in the Lab because it reflects a standard of excellence that is possible when African writers get the right resources and support.”
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“StoryBoard is convinced of the power TV series have in shaping new cultural narratives, as well as bringing politically and geographically diverse people together,” expands David Rimer, Founder of The Storyboard Collective. “We believe that broadening the funding sources for these talented scriptwriters will increase the chances of powerful and authentic TV series to be produced.”
Ghanaian-British writer, Jessica Hagan’s project, Coup is a thriller about power, elitism, and privilege, and what happens when power is placed in the hands of the unexpected. Coup is a gripping story of six passengers travelling to Ghana who, after a series of orchestrated events, are successfully recruited to join a coup d’etat against the Government of Ghana.
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Nigerian Filmmaker and photographer, Tony Sebastian Ukpo pitched his horror genre series, Masquerade. His story is about 13-year-old Nigerian-American teenager, Aduni, who after losing her father, finds herself feeling trapped in the harsh, remote boarding school in Nigeria, a country still struggling to escape the shadow of its colonial history, where spurned local spiritual practice and folklore remain strong and very real. Her grief manifests in the form of a malevolent spirit, and she realises that not facing her grief can have monstrous consequences.
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Kenyan Angela Wanjiku Wamai is an award-winning film editor who lives and works in Nairobi, Kenya. Her project titled Enkop (Soil), is a Western-styled series focused on a woman left devastated by the death of her husband, and the ensuing aftermath of his debt taken to purchase contested ranch land connected to political violence and Kenya’s colonial past.
South African Crime Story is the title of South African director and screenwriter, Chantel Clark’s project. This is billed as a compelling supernatural crime drama, set in South Africa’s transition years from apartheid. The show explores themes of white fear and paranoia, as South Africa transitions from an oppressive regime to a land of freedom. The past and future collide in this character-driven examination of what happens to a country when it is trapped between hope and fear.
