The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe : Leisure Correspondent
“ZIMBABWEAN producers always want money upfront as they cannot create content with their own resources because of high production costs. Also, their need for much higher payments than other countries makes acquisition of Zimbabwean content expensive. We have met and heard from producers who have pitched some great concepts, which we simply cannot afford at this stage. But we will continue to work with the producers in Zimbabwe to source content and we hope the coming year will see substantial progress in this regard.”
These were the sentiments of Zambezi Magic channel head Addiel Dzinoreva as he highlighted some of the challenges they faced as they engaged with local filmmakers in the channel’s first year of operations.
Zambezi Magic was launched on July 1, 2015 on DStv’s channel 160 to promote content from Southern Africa, excluding South Africa.
The channel was received by local filmmakers with excitement as they had finally found an alternative to ZBC-TV and an opportunity for them to reach out to a broader audience.
However, most had their bubbles burst as the channel did not give cash to producers to create content but rather opted to buy already made products.
Despite this challenge, in the year gone by over a dozen local shows such as “Cooking with Tumi Moleko”, “Zambezi News”, “Tonight with Zororo”, “Makosi Today” and the weekly “Zim Top 10” musical were screened and Zimbabwean content got to be beamed across Africa.
“We must acknowledge that the tough economic conditions in Zimbabwe have affected the production industry negatively.
“However, Zimbabwe has a reason to be proud and we will meet expectations with increased coverage of Zimbabwean content, so we look forward to more regional people recognising this channel as their own platform for continental viewership.
“Sourcing of programmes will not only involve existing produced material but also specific programming that we can commission, and it is our intention to do this in coming months and years,” said Dzinoreva.
Poor marketing has been a major setback to such an extent that even local businesses did not advertise on the platform as there is just not enough talk on the streets about Zambezi Magic.
Reacting to this, Dzinoreva said, “This is a point well understood and in future will be having marketing designed to create greater awareness of the platform available for showcasing Zimbabwean products and services by having Zambezi Magic participating in local events in Zimbabwe, such as film festivals.”
Another setback was that when the channel was launched a lot of dated South African soaps were being screened and yet they could have used golden oldies from Zimbabwe and other countries in the region that would have made more sense and cemented the ideology of having the platform as the region’s go to channel.
To this Dzinoreva said: “Programming does not only have to be current shows, but also golden oldies from Zimbabwe and it is still our intention to source these shows.
“Unfortunately, negotiations with the rights owners have not gone as fast as we would like, but our intention and interest is still the same and we look forward to screening some really good Zimbabwean drama series that we feel the rest of the region will also enjoy.
Some of the creatives who had their productions showcased on the platform in the past year have shared the benefits and some of the challenges they experienced with Zambezi Magic.
“Any platform that introduces a new audience for any filmmaker is good. The challenge is in measuring the reach and how many people are actually watching the channel,” said the director and producer of “Tonight With Zororo”, Nqobizitha Mlilo, who added: “I also think there is need for the channel to ensure filmmakers have a clear understanding of internal policies and regulations because it enables one to create content that works best for the platform.”
Commenting on if payment for content was without hassles, Mlilo said, “For the most part the channel settled, albeit very late. Working with a company in South Africa meant we needed their tax clearance certificate, which we are yet to receive and this impacts our bottom line as content creators.”
From comedy show “Zambezi News”, Farai Monroe said, “Zambezi Magic is a great platform as it means Zimbabwean productions reach millions of households across Southern Africa. However, it would help if there was more investment available from Zambezi Magic into the production of Zimbabwean television and film products.”
“Our Zambezi Magic experience has been great so far. It has taught us a lot and demanded a great deal of attention and raising the quality of the content we produce,” said producer of “Wine & Dine with Tumi Moleko” and “Wedding Diaries”, Blessing Chinanga.
“Zambezi Magic is just a year-old and the impact will grow with time as more local players create content of great quality, commercial viability and television friendly. The responsibility is on us the content creators to step up to the plate and make television shows and productions that appeal to the Sub-Saharan region.
“It would be great for Zambezi to have channels decentralised to market countries and have local offices that handle the administration of content as this will ensure that there would be operational and environment understanding between the broadcaster and the content creators,” added Chinanga.
