Ten30 Pictures’ Head on Netflix Series’ Go!, ‘Building’ A24 or Africa ‘

The South African producer Kutlwano Ditele’s Ten30 Pictures is developing a series of projects to follow on the heels of the Netflix original series “Go!”, Which is launched worldwide on March 21.

Spend against Variety In Johannesburg, where the streamer will organize the premiere of the show on March 16, Ditsele said that this is only the first step for his young production outfit, and it urges that he is planning to change ten30 in ‘the A24 of Africa’.

“The biggest thing is to have an identity that says these stories are different from what [already out there]”He said. “Now our job is to scale up and watch the country for filmmakers who make interesting things and filmmakers who have an interesting voice.”

“TO GO!” Stars Thandolwethu Zondi as Siya “Bolt” Gumede, a young sprinter who has given a life -changing grant to a prestigious school in Johannesburg, but to find that although it is one thing to achieve success on the circuit, it is much more difficult to avoid the past. The six -part series was made by Ditele and main writer Thuli Zuma, whose credits the Hit Showmax original ‘The Wife’ include. The show is directed by Tristan Holmes, who won an Academy Award for his student film ‘Elalini’ in 2006.

The series marks the return from the veteran producer to TV after a short break, with ditele – whose credits the HIT multichaice dramas “gomora” and “the herd” include ” – emphasizes his determination to” find a way to make the company work for me. “

His earlier work, including a Stint in the top of the production house of Johannesburg, the bomb area, was almost entirely built on a commissioning model that was increasingly challenging in the difficult economic climate of South Africa. Instead, Ditele said that he was wondering: “How do we start to change what I can do and do we start getting some ownership in it?”

To do this, the buy-in of private investors, instead of pre-licing, required agreements with broadcasters or streaming platforms that would remove both ownership and creative control. With “Go!,” Ditele set a $ 1 million budget for the six episodes, an amount that would enable his backers to make a neat profit if a buyer came to call Netflix. (It did it – literally, when Ditele says that the former Contenthead of the Streamer in Africa picked up the phone and told him: “Talk to anyone else. We want this show.”)

It is just as important that Ditele knew that he could pitch that budget to investors in the bank and mining sector whose portfolios regularly include investments in the millions – if not billions – edge. “The budget level I am talking about does not necessarily scar them,” he said.

Have sold “go!” Netflix in what he described as the ‘pilot phase’ of his long -term project, Ditele and his investors are now focusing on a 250 million edge ($ 13.7 million) financing round with which TEN30 could drastically increase its activities.

The company’s slate currently includes the medical drama ‘Clinical’, which follows six young trainees who navigate through personal and professional dramas in the high-stakes world of the most prestigious public hospital in South Africa; And the road drama ‘Imbali Ne Bekabi’, a story of romance, redemption and survival that follows a contract killer sent to eliminate his childhood love. A second season of “Go!” Is also developing.

When building the slate on Ten30 – what his goal is to have a catalog of 30 titles in the next 10 years – Ditele said that he is looking for filmmakers who are willing to take risks and tell them: “The first thing I want you to send me are all the projects that said the networks” no. ”

It is a model that again gets inspiration from the leading Indie shop of America. “All things that would probably not have been enlightened by someone else are enlightened green by A24. You start to find interesting voices that way, “he said.

Ditele, who is represented by Talitha Watkins, a co-founder of Issa Rae and Deniese Davis of the management and production company ColorCreative, does not limit his creative scope to South Africa: he is currently attached to a “massive show” with an American studio, alongside “Go!” Co-maker Zuma.

Working in the Hollywood system, he said, enabled him to think and create on “a completely different scale” than what he can achieve at home. “You can do something much bigger, much more worldwide.” It also means that it works with a non-under-consinable American checkbook attached.

For the time being, however, Ditele said that Ten30 “takes up a little space that can make networks in contact with us in a space that could be exciting. And I think “go!” Is the perfect example, “he added. “We believe that we can make a good job. We take the risk. ”

The Joburg film festival runs on 11 – 16 March.