Screenwriter and indie storyteller, Tumelo Tladi advanced to the finals to be among those considered for the upcoming 2021 Film Independent Episodic Lab for her historical fiction television script, Exile. The lab, which will run virtually this year, is set to take place at the end of August 2021, with the reveal of the chosen six 2021 fellows expected in the coming weeks.

Having been awarded a scholarship by the National Film and Video Foundation to study abroad, Tumelo was able to obtain a masters degree in Television Writing and Producing. The South African-born storyteller has since been immersed in the independent filmmaking space and found purpose in constantly seeking new and challenging ways to bring to light those stories she's felt oftentimes fade into the background. Exile, one such story, is set in 1970s South Africa and follows a young woman's journey as she fights for the liberation of her people. 

Film Independent is well-known for advocating creative independence in storytelling and the community of artists they support embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision. “As someone who’s been trying to get a firm footing in the indie film space, Film Independent’s reach as an organization that supports independent creatives is immeasurable, so it really is an incredible achievement just to make it as a finalist for one of their artist development initiatives. It's good to know that stories from outside the United States are being seen and heard,” says the writer. 

While Tumelo’s work as screenwriter is garnering attention abroad, she also earns credits behind the scenes in unscripted storytelling. Recently, the 35-year-old was welcomed into the fold at Bunim/Murray Productions, which is based in Los Angeles, as an associate story producer on the world-renowned MTV competition series, The Challenge. Bunim/Murray Productions are recognized for being pioneers in the reality television space with their groundbreaking The Real World franchise.  

Now in its 37th season, filming of The Challenge takes place on location in often remote parts of the world. In a move to appeal to a global audience, The Real World/Road Rules spin-off series has in recent years made a move to include an international reality cast from other reality television shows, and not just the Real World/Road Rules franchise alums. 

Coming from South Africa, Tumelo’s role on the series brought a unique point of view to the storytelling process within the show’s story team, which also landed her the associate story producer role on The Challenge: All Stars, a spin-off of the show which has recently been renewed for a second season. 

Reality series fans in the United States can catch the new season premiere of The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies on MTV on 11 August 2021, while The Challenge: All Stars is also available for streaming in the United States on Paramount Plus.   

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Kagiso Media is pleased to announce the appointment of Calvin Sefala as Urban Brew Studios Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.

Sefala, who has been the acting Urban Brew Studios (UBS) CEO for the past year, has proven his ability to lead Urban Brew Studios during very trying times. Calvin has a financial and administrative background was previously employed as an auditor for KPMG South Africa and Canada, Chief Financial Officer for Endemol Shine, Group Financial Manager Kagiso Media and  Head of Finance at UBS.  

"We are excited to have Calvin Sefala as the UBS CEO. He complements our strong performance-oriented culture, and we believe his impressive ability for execution and achieving results makes him the right choice to lead Urban Brew Studios as we prepare the business for the next phase of profitable growth," said Tshepo Setshedi, Urban Brew Studios Chairman.   

About Urban Brew StudiosUrban Brew Studios is a leading facilities provider and a landmark of creativity for entertaining content. Our mission is to create technologically innovative content and provide facilities solutions that enable the production, distribution, and creation of inspiring content. 

Contact: Lulama Mqina
Urban Brew Studios
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(+27) 0834595094 

South African actress and model, Micharn Pollock, who has featured in international movies and TV programmes, gives aspiring actors and actresses in SA some advice on how to make it one of the toughest industries:

1. Take acting classes – part time workshops are also great if you’re unable to study full time.
2. Sign up to IMDb and keep it updated.
3. Have professional head-shots taken by a reputable head-shots photographer.
4. Audition as often as possible so that you become comfortable with the process.
5. Remember that rejection is part of the process so don’t let it crush your spirit!
6. Build your resume – short films and student films are a great start if you have no experience yet.
7. Practice daily to keep your skills sharp.
8. Make sure you can do both a British and American accent as many international productions filmed in South Africa require this.
9. Once you’re ready, get an agent.
10. Make sure that you feed your agent with new information about projects you’re involved with and new accents/training that you’ve done.

For more info on Micharn and what she is up to you can follow her on:

Facebook - @MicharnPollockActor
Instagram - @MicharnPollock

 

Everyone knows something that the next person doesn’t thus it is important that everyone shares their experiences with the world.

Spurred by a deep yearning for freedom of expression and for the African story to be told from the African perspective, Edzai Zvobwo, founder of NdiribhoTV set out to create a video hosting and distribution platform primarily geared for Africans to share their knowledge with world and stand a better chance at optimally monetizing their video assets.

Coming from Zimbabwe, a country that has seen its ruling elites trample upon basic liberties like freedom of speech and association, Edzai sought to correct the wrongs that have been committed by politicians in the country and the continent of Africa as a whole by facilitating p2p knowledge transfer through video. The name NdiribhoTV came out of need to proclaim that even as the people’s rights have been denied, people are still fine and live another day to fight for justice and development of the continent. “Ndiribho” is a Shona statement that translates to “I am fine”.

NdiribhoTV currently has offices in Johannesburg and will be opening up feeder offices across Sub-Saharan Africa during the course of 2018. The feeder offices will serve as client liaison centers for content developers. NdiribhoTV will strive to sign up all the influencers in the video content development space as anchor creators whilst also harnessing the power of the ordinary African citizen. As long as an African has a device with a camera then they are welcome onto the NdiribhoTV platform.

The platform is a user generated vehicle that connects video content creators and consumers by providing an easy to use live streaming and video on demand platform.NdiribhoTV lets anyone with a channel broadcast live videos and upload videos straight from their camera device. This allows African people to share or watch in real-time when news is breaking, visiting a new place, or meeting people and sharing interests - all in real-time.NdiribhoTV seeks to add value to Africans and differentiate itself from YouTube by:

• Focusing on African continent.
• Monetizing live video streams using a pay-per-view model which enables content creators to earn a living.
• Monetizing video on demand content on behalf of content creators through channel-centric micro-subscriptions.
• Integrating with ERP and CRM systems such that it is easier for corporate clients to integrate video into their workflow.

NdiribhoTV is currently in talks with several established platforms like Kwese play to help distribute content across the continent. 31 January 2018 is the date that NdiribhoTV will officially launch. "Once we solve the speed and latency issues with a reputable CDN and finalised our algorithms for our reccommender systems then it is a done deal", said Edzai Zvobwo.

Currently there is a beta version on https://ndiribho.tv which you can test out and give feedback on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{pp}Television and the Internet are two of the most dominant advertising mediums.

To advertise on television has become increasingly expensive. For many PR and brand management agencies including video productions in this year's budget is now out-of-scope and many companies have had to cut-back on their advertising budgets due to the current global recession.