South Africa’s film and television industry is once again preparing to take to the streets. At the end of January, thousands of actors, writers, directors, producers, crew members and allied workers will march under the banner “Save SA Film Jobs”, demanding urgent reform of the department of trade, industry and competition’s (DTIC) film and TV incentive scheme. The protests, scheduled for Cape Town and Pretoria, come amid what industry bodies describe as an existential crisis.
At the centre of the mobilisation is a growing sense that government inaction has tipped a fragile creative ecosystem into freefall. For years, South Africa positioned itself as a globally competitive production hub, attracting international projects through skilled labour, favourable exchange rates and a rebate incentive designed to stimulate investment. But according to industry leaders, the system has ground to a halt, leaving productions stalled, workers unpaid and investor confidence badly shaken.
Jack Devnarain, the national chairperson of the South African Guild of Actors (Saga), describes the current moment as catastrophic, not only for performers, but for the entire value chain that sustains film and television production. In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, he argues that the collapse of the incentive has exposed deeper structural failures: a lack of political will, incoherent industrial policy and the continued exclusion of freelance creatives from South Africa’s otherwise progressive labour protections. When industry bodies say South Africa’s film and television sector has contracted by nearly 50%, Devnarain says this is not an abstract statistic; it is visible across every layer of production.
Read Full Article on Mail & Guardian
[paywall]
“It literally means there are fewer people doing production work and that the entire value chain is being affected,” he explains. A single film or television production typically employs a wide range of workers, from writers and actors to camera operators, costume designers, makeup artists and post-production specialists. Beyond the set, productions also support hotels, transport services, catering companies and drivers.
“As the production industry contracts,” Devnarain says, “so do all the other associated industries.” The immediate consequences are fewer shoots, shorter contracts and long periods of unemployment between projects. For an industry characterised by precarity, the contraction has pushed many workers to breaking point.
[/paywall]
