by Thinus Ferreira

The MultiChoice Talent Factory’s (MTF) first Scriptwriwting Incubator has delivered its first 11 interns who graduated with a graduation ceremony that took place at The Capital on the Park in Johannesburg.

Besides running the usual MultiChoice Talent Factory film school in both South Africa, as well as across the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, the South African version of the MTF started a Scriptwriting Incubator programme as an African first, offering practical workplace experience and mentorship from experienced South African producers and scriptwriters.

The MultiChoice Talent Factory has been running the scriptwriting programme since February 2021 in partnership with the University of the Witwatersrand’s Film and Television department, as well as Tshedza Pictures which produced Legacy for M-Net (DStv 101), The River for Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) and Giyani: Land of Blood for SABC2.

“We set out to create learnership programmes that are not only informative but also provide candidates with insightful practical experience for ease of entry into the workplace,” says Collen Dlamini, MultiChoice corporate affairs executive.

“We honour our African roots through the stories we tell. It’s important that MultiChoice continues to build on this narrative in everything we do.”

“We are incredibly proud of our graduates. One of them has written an episode of The River (season 4, episode 147), 5 have been offered employment by Tshedza Pictures, while other graduates already have jobs lined up.”

MultiChoice is looking to expand South Africa’s Scriptwriting Incubator to the MultiChoice Talent Factory setup run in the rest of Africa.