Netflix has kicked off a training program aimed at professionals in Africa.
The three-month programme will train film and television professionals in the act of story writing and post-production.
According to The PUNCH, the training is sub-divided into a three-month training program with 12 African participants and an APost Lab post-production workshop for film and TV professionals.
The training would be mainly focused on Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya and would be run in partnership with Realness Institute, a South Africa-based Centre for African filmmakers. A selection process held last year with over 500 applications from candidates across Sub-Saharan Africa. With a lucky twelve creatives chosen from Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
The training will run until September 2021.
A statement from Netflix read in part,
“There’s an African humanist philosophy called ‘Ubuntu’, which broadly means, ‘I am, because you are’. This idea that ‘we are, because of others’ aptly captures the essence of Netflix’s approach to its partnership with Africa’s creative industries because, without the existence of our storytellers, our favorite Netflix stories wouldn’t be possible.
“Africa has an amazing pool of talent — both in front and behind the camera — and we are committed to investing in African stories and talent long-term. We also recognize that being part of the creative communities comes with responsibilities, in particular, the need to develop the talent pipeline and give new voices a chance to be heard.”
The training would apparently be in two phases — the Episodic Lab (EPL) and the Development Executive Traineeship (DET).
About the Episodic Lab
Writers were selected based on their story ideas and would develop their concepts alongside expert story consultants and creative producers. The writers would also undergo creative training and receive feedback from the Netflix team.
Each writer would pitch their concept to Netflix in a bid to have their ideas developed for production.
The participants include Ayoade Adeyanju, Kehinde Joseph, Andile Ngcizela, Dominique Jossie, Kudakwashe Maradzika and Mary Waireri.
For the Development Executive Traineeship
This part of the programme aims to bolster the technical skills of participants. They’ll be partnered with the EPL writers to develop the story concepts into quality productions.
Participants here are Ololade Okedare, Anneke Villet, Antionette Engel, Thandeka Zwane, Damaris Irungu Ochieng and, Lara Sousa.