Hi compulsive1... My partner and i are in a unique position in SA. We both attended film school and recieved batchelor degrees in film, directing/writing for me and ediing for my wife... We son realized that nobody cared what degree we had and that, in fact, in ws your showreel that was more important. Film has and must operate as a meritocracy. We have then been working in the industry for around 15 years, generating a body of work, contacts, networks and capital. I've always thought that our training was suffiecient but neglected many key areas like film business, client relations, pitching and proposals, creative budgeting, marketing your reel and many other things and i've, over the last 8 years, harboured the desire to set things straight, from a training point of view, in SA... But life, as it so often does, happens... Around two years ago my wife, who is the Chairman of SAGE - The South African Guild of Editors and regarded as one of the best, if not the best, editor in the country as well as an emmy awrad winning editor - was invited to do mentor a class of underpriveleged kids at an NGO film school in Johannesburg, the school actually pays the students to attend and there are no tuition fees. She suggested to them that i might be interesed in tutoring some students and they invited me to tutor a class. I accepted and went in for a morning - I Loved it! it was incredbly satisfying but i figured that was that, i wouldn't be asked back. I recieved a phone call from the founder the following day saying that the students learnt more from me in one morning than they had for the entire 6 months they had been there and asked me to finish up as their head mentor - i accepted. Since then i, in between making short films and commercials - gotta feed my family, have been the head mentor for 4 classes. I not only teach the technical and narrative but also the businss side. many of these students, almost 85%, have gone on to great jobs in the industry and all their employers are stunned at their understanding of the industry and their knowledge of film making.
However, the NGO jas issues - their mandate is to right the wrongs of SA's aparthied past and i don't have a problem with that but they only want the students to make socially concious documentaries. The students have a deep desire to do drama but are not allowed, in the last 2 months we have the school has produced 28 documentaries.
i just decided, enough is enough, at the beginning of this year and have branched out on my own... We have the backing of many advertising agencies in SA including the biggest in SA, DraftFCB and we have industry leading professionals as our mentors and they include Oscar nominated, Emmy award winning, Cannes Lion winning, Clio Winning and loerie winning individuals. We also have the top Grips and Gaffers on hand to teach the students.
I have just purchased a ton of equipment from panasonic SD HD cameras, for 1st year students, Red cameras, for Second and Third years plus dollies, jibs, a full lighting package and full post production sweets in n effortto change the face of the South African Film Industry - One damned movie at a time....
that was a really long answer to a relatively simple question - hope i didn't bore you!!
