What do you do at work each day?
I wish I could give you a glamorous answer, but my day revolves around negotiating with private financiers regarding the recruitment schedules and explaining the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) recruitment schedule and why it is so important to adhere to.
The nature of filmmaking is very much “last in, first out”, meaning that the profitability of a film is influenced by how quickly it can be shot and produced to completion.
However, because we are primarily working in a grant-funding environment our government is crucial in financing our films. Often the independent financiers want to be first out and that is difficult because we often have to deal with public funds where every cent needs to be approved and accounted for.
How did you get involved in the film industry?
I was always a hyperactive kid. I loved being in front of people and performing plays for my family. My mother realised that this energy needed to be directed into something constructive and signed me up to my first agency.
At around 10 I had my first experience of a film set and the bug just bit. I loved the opportunity to tell people’s stories and to amplify the lived experience of South Africans.
How do you think the film industry can help to address SA’s sky-high unemployment rate?
This is probably the most important question that we as producers have been trying to get the government to acknowledge. Typically on a film set you can get anywhere from 100 to 350 people, and traditionally the film industry employs quite a young workforce.
The film industry is an incredible magnet for direct foreign investment and it encourages grassroots developments. I have met people and producers in Toronto and in Cannes who were talking positively about their South African experience.
The film industry is an incredible magnet for direct foreign investment and it encourages grassroots developments
— Wandile Molebatsi
What did you want to be when you were a child?
A storyteller, I always wanted to embody a story in one form or another. Being an actor is all about getting into the shoes of a character and making it come to life. It takes time to learn lines and discover the journey of how they became who they are, and to explain their motivations. As a producer, you just hear stories all around you and you have to learn what will and won’t work. If you believe in a story, you also have to stick to it.
What is your go-to career advice?
If you are starting in the industry you need to get a thick skin, be ready to be told no a lot and develop a skill to take on criticism. If you don’t, you are kind of sunk.
You have to keep at it. There is a saying: “You fall seven times, but you get up on the eighth” — that is where the magic happens. If you don’t, it may mean you don’t want it enough.
I also encourage filmmakers in SA to think outside the traditional funding model. Don’t just approach the traditional banks and Ster-Kinekor, Think about engaging the Gauteng Film Commission, the Development Bank, Absa, Puma and all relevant brands and show them a story that will be exciting.
