Multichoice Sh500 million boost for local productions
Shymashis Bhattacharia (left) and Neelima Bajpai during the Maisha Magic East, Local Content summit held at Supersport Studios. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- In his speech, GOtv Kenya general manager Simon Kariithi said his company was committed to investing in local productions.
- As a leading funder of local productions in Kenya, we are proud to announce a half-a-billion-shilling investment in 14 original local shows to be produced and broadcast in the year 2017-2018.
- They will air exclusively on Maisha Magic East, which is the only show in the country with 100 per cent local content,” said Mr Kariithi.
Kenyan actors, rejoice! Pay TV service provider MultiChoice says it will commit Sh500 million to production of 14 original local productions this year.
During a summit held at Local Production Ltd studios in Nairobi on Tuesday — and attended by over 200 local producers, content developers and students — three productions were screened to whet the appetite of the audience.
Indigenous production dominated the discussions, as well as raising Kenya’s audio-visual production standards to international levels.
The summit also featured two of Bollywood’s renowned and award-winning producers, Neelima Bajpal and Shyamashis Bhattacharia, directors of Shakuntalam Telefilms in India.
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The Bollywood producers gave presentations on the drivers of success of the Indian ‘Telenovela’ productions, including budgeting for Bollywood films, script writing and casting.
In his speech, GOtv Kenya general manager Simon Kariithi said his company was committed to investing in local productions.
“MultiChoice is rooted in countries where our customers live. That means we are proud of the contribution we are making in our local communities. As a leading funder of local productions in Kenya, we are proud to announce a half-a-billion-shilling investment in 14 original local shows to be produced and broadcast in the year 2017-2018. They will air exclusively on Maisha Magic East, which is the only show in the country with 100 per cent local content,” said Mr Kariithi.
On his part, Bhattacharia acknowledged the role that TV plays in growing the Bollywood film industry. “TV appearances are as popular as film appearances in India. However, most revenue is generated from TV and not film, as most advertising and product placement happens on TV. This has worked in Hollywood and would also work well with local Kenyan film productions,” he said.
Other speakers at the event were Chris Foot, chairman of Kenya Film Commission; Dorothy Ghettuba, CEO of Spielworks Media; Timothy Okwaro, M-Net director of east and southern Africa channels; Mwaniki Mageria, CEO of Riverwood and Nkateko Mabaso, general manager of M-Net South Africa.
Topics discussed included issues on driving local content uptake and innovation in the Kenyan film sector.
