TelkomONE to fund productions of local content creators

Through the #OpenUpTheIndustry competition: joint prize-winners Lisa Marie Pyanee and Gosiame Ntshole in the Comedy category; Brandon Olifant (Mobivela) and Patty Monroe (Lifestyle), will each receive a R100,000 cash injection to produce a full web-series. Final projects are to be screened on the TelkomONE platform as part of the AMP subscription offering.

The competition called for amateur and professional local content producers to submit clips/short films/webisode pilot ideas in one of three categories: Mobivela, Lifestyle or Comedy to stand a chance to be 1 of 3 to be awarded with the opportunity. Content submitted confirmed that South Africa has great talent and a number of unknown content producers. During a tough, but fun and entertaining process the jury came down to four winners instead of three and that is attributed to the quality and creativity in entries received.

“It was such an honour to be selected as part of the panel to judge these entries because of the remarkable talent that’s out there in our country and the quality of content we received is testament to this fact. Of course, this meant that judging wasn’t easy for us, however, that’s exactly the kind of challenge you look forward to as a judge,” said TV and radio personality Zizo Beda, one of three judges alongside media personality, Selby Mkhize and Wade Mouton, digital content strategist at Artifact Advertising and Taryn Uhlmann, executive head of content at Discover Digital.

Winning creators

Brandon Olifant won in the Mobivela category for his production, Crazy and Homless, said: “With Crazy and Homless we aim to bring a lot of laughter and entertainment; it will be about two crazy homless friends that worship avocados and go through different and funny obstacles to achieve their daily goals. TelkomONE really did the most on this one, giving us young creatives a platform to showcase and share our work is really applaudable.”

For joint winner in the comedy category, Gosiame Ntshole, it was his original series, Going Viral, that caught the eye of the judges. Going Viral was aimed at bringing a lighter side to an otherwise bleak topic, Covid-19 and has received a positive response online and garnered over 100,000 views on a popular social media app: “When I started doing my series I had this great vision for it. Now I have the perfect platform to expand it. I am going to up the game when it comes to what you can do with online content. My goal is simply to break the mould, the rules and pretty much the internet!”

Lisa Payne, joint winner in the comedy category and AFDA graduate in Multimedia Design, is focused on adding more experience to her already decorated CV which includes television editor, producer and videographer. Talking about her production and winning the competition she said: “The Final Line is a competition-based reality show, showcasing various upcoming comedians in the entertainment industry. You can expect a show that's fun, energetic, full of vibrancy and laughter. We aim to entertain, as well as give you something to talk about. I can’t wait for everyone to see it, and I’m excited because it’s easy to have a brilliant idea, but without funding or a platform, brilliant ideas will remain just that, a brilliant idea that never sees the light of day.”

South African producer and performing artist, Patty Monroe, won in the Lifestyle category for her submission called Keeping it 100. “This is going to show people a completely new side to Patty Monroe. I am a rapper/singer-songwriter that's moving into the television industry fast and heavy! I am super excited for the next part of my journey and looking forward to exploring this opportunity that come from Keeping it 100’. Viewers can expect to be directed to delicious cheap eat and cool restaurants while our cool guest unpack real and raw conversations that you don’t usually get to hear every day; really keeping it 100.” says Monroe.