I know it’s all terribly pc to be ‘proudly South African’ these days, but I wonder if we still secretly harbour, deep down in our national subconscious, that itchy little feeling that local is not really so lekker. More like second-class second-cousin lekker perhaps?
Everything north of the continent just seems that much more smarter/sophisticated/slick – just that much better than home-grown has to offer. Well, the advocates of local television production disagree and they have the audience ratings and the argument to prove that locally scripted and produced television dramas and soaps have captivated the nation by being precisely that — proudly indigenous.
“Local production has definitely improved in recent years with the local industry becoming more skilled in most areas of production,” says Bessie Tugwana, channel head for SABC 2. “SABC 2 has positioned itself as the channel for the South African family. This year the intention is to consolidate our positioning and to become a catalyst to help South Africans understand their relationship with their neighbours, their role as citizens of South Africa and in finding a sense of common identity.”
The industry agrees that the best programmes are the ones that have both the ability to entertain and remain authentic. From an airtime point of view, SABC 2 has the highest level of local content with just over 75% of prime time dedicated to local programming. Recent research indicates that the complexity of the channel – that is, serving both Afrikaans and Sotho audiences – is seen by viewers as having something for everyone.
Top show Muvhango, including two weekly repeats, generated more than R44-million from the beginning of January to the end of December 2005. The Afrikaans show 7de Laan, including repeats, generated more than R187-million over the same period. Tugwana says 7de Laan and Muvhango are vying for first position as far as ratings are concerned. “Both talk directly to and reflect the daily lives of so many of our viewers which is why they work so well,” she says. The channel has also had some success with the re-run of the Sotho drama, Masakeng. Local sitcom works well on SABC 2 and Stokvel, Mazinyo Dot Q and Mponeng have all done well in the past year. Other top drama/soaps in the SABC stable are SABC 1’s Generations, Home Affairs, Mzansi and Mtunzini.com and SABC 3’s Isidingo and Hard Copy.
Theo Erasmus, the general manager of M-Net’s dedicated Afrikaans channel kykNET, says local content achieves higher ratings in the South African market, on average, than international content. “Due to more and more players in the local industry, better and slicker technology and more experienced producers, the quality of local productions is improving every year,” he says.
Erasmus says the Afrikaans market in particular is very critical of bad quality programmes. “All of our producers are aware that their product should be of a high standard. Notwithstanding the fact that we are a nation that is quick to self criticise, the commission and/or acquisition process surrounding local production is detailed, costly and time consuming.”
M-Net’s director of local productions, Carl Fischer, says marketing, research and sales teams go through a process of analysing what worked and did not work the previous year, observing trends in viewer habits both locally and internationally.
“Once we have assessed the trends, we put out a fairly general brief,” Fischer says. “Something like Binnelanders may have been a bit more specific – Afrikaans, family content – whereas Known Gods was a bit broader. We’ve just put out a brief for a comedy that is quite narrow in that we’ve asked creators to consider themes that are current issues in South Africa.”
Fischer says relevant content is what gives local production the edge. “Take a programme like Seinfeld. It’s funny and it’s comedy that’s full of international truisms. But in South Africa, Orkney Snork Nie did better because it is local and relevant to our culture, our sense of humour and our sense of self.”
Currently Binnelanders and Villa Rosa are the top performing shows in the soap/drama genre and for 2006 two new dramas are currently in post production phase. These factor into a big cost for kykNet as all the channel’s product is obviously locally produced due to the language concern.
“Drama is 20 to 25 times more costly to make locally than to purchase internationally,” Fischer says. “We therefore need to be more critical in the development phase as we can’t afford to ‘dump’ bad material that easily.” This is one of the reasons why it’s important to maintain a mix of local and international offerings – it’s quite simply too expensive to broadcast only local drama.
Is this because our local drama simply doesn’t match the quality of international offerings? Fischer says not at all – we are simply spoilt in terms of seeing the absolute best of international programming. “In South Africa we don’t see bad international material because nobody here buys it. If you dig deeper you would be horrified by some of their local stuff. I don’t think we are any better or worse as a percentage of production facilities with the rest of the world. Basically, ones’ schedule should be a mix of local and international material – the best of the best on both counts,” he says.
Kutloano Skosana, one of the founders of hot new production company Black Rage, says people want to see themselves and their stories reflected on television. “Dramas have to resonate at some level with the audience,” he says. “Copying international formats won’t necessarily work. Yizo Yizo for example got it so very right, from characters to humour to story line to directing to actors to producer. That was probably the most perfect combination in local television in modern history. People don’t like to be patronised, so if you keep it real, then you’ve got a winner.”
With a market this small though, one wonders if there is enough of both a talent pool and a financial ocean to support the local television industry.
“We definitely have the talent,” says Skosana. “I don’t think it’s fair to compare ourselves with the US and the UK and yes, we do have a way to go, but as proven by greats like Yizo Yizo, we have great potential. Invest in local product and believe me, the industry will rise to the occasion.”
While stations such as M-Net and SABC 3 tend to stick to licence conditions that stipulate that a minimum of four hours of local drama must be flighted per week, e.tv allocates 45% of programming, translated as five hours a week to local programming. “Local drama used to only appeal to particular audiences but over the past few years we have noticed a trend where local programming is preferred across the board by viewers across most demographics,” says e.tv channel director Bronwyn Keene-Young.
Keene-Young won’t spill the beans on revenue generation, but it is clear that the focus is on appealing to audiences and generating meaningful revenue. “Local drama is a powerful audience driver and offers opportunities for revenue generation, for example product placement and sponsorship. International programmes don’t necessarily provide this opportunity.”
“Local drama, depending on the genre, is so much more costly than international drama that its return on investment is by definition lower,” says Keene-Young. “Our industry has not yet developed to the point where we can recoup any significant revenue from the distribution of local material.”
The value of a loyal audience is a vital ingredient, and M-Net read the ‘taal’ well when they developed kykNet in late 1999. “The Afrikaans audience is very loyal to their language and culture and has huge disposable income,” explains Erasmus. “kykNet has become one of the most popular channels on the bouquet and was the forerunner in re-introducing Afrikaans drama to television after an absence of nearly 12 years.”
Keene-Young says that across all channels the quality of local shows, more specifically with regard to scripting and performance, has improved significantly. “The more local dramas that are produced, the greater the competition and the better the quality of the programming,” she says.
It could just be that we are on the edge of some prime quality home grown material.