Karen Jeynes has worked extensively as a writer and director for stage and screen, and is perhaps best known for her work with Both Worlds as the head writer for ZANEWS: PUPPET NATION (winner of 29 SAFTAs including Best TV Comedy 6 years in a row, Best Comedy Writing, two WGSA awards for Best TV Comedy, and two time International Emmy Nominee for Best TV Comedy). She is head writer, director, and producer of RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER, a drama series produced by Mnet and Acorn/AMC, as well as THE MORNING AFTER in development for Showmax. Other productions she has developed and overseen are POINT OF ORDER (SAFTA winner for Best Game Show in 2017), COMEDY CENTRAL NEWS, and PARLEMENT PARLEMENT (SAFTA nominee for Best Game Show in 2019). Karen has worked with Pixel Perfect, writing Bioskop movies for Mzansi Magic – INGOZI LO THANDO, UMHLOLOKAZI, UKUPHILA KABILI and LAND OF MILK AND HONEY. She served as head writer for 90 PLEIN STREET season 5 for SABC, as well as writing for shows like VAYA MZANSI and MOFEREFERE LENYALONG as well as work in children’s television writing such as THABANG THABONG and SUPASTRIKAS.

Karen also has extensive theatre writing experience. Her plays include the multi award-winning EVERYBODY ELSE (IS F*CKING PERFECT) (Best Comedy 2005), KISS KISS, I’LL HAVE WHAT SHE’S HAVING, and LAYING BLAME (translated into 7 languages), as well as VASLAV, nominated for 3 Fleur du Cap Awards. She’s part of How Now Brown Cow’s inaugural Writer’s Collective for 2021.

She is in demand as a script consultant and advisor, working with local and international production companies and individual writers. She worked with Kyknet as a mentor on their GRAPKAS project, is a juror for the International Emmys’ Peter Ustinov Award, and is an evaluator for the KZN Film Commission. Her satirical self-help book THE KAREN BOOK OF RULES, co-authored with Karin Schimke, was published in 2020 by Tafelberg, and her co-authored book FLOW: THE BOOK ABOUT MENSTRUATION was published by NB publishers in 2021. She has MA in Writing for the Screen from Falmouth University.

You can find her on twitter @karenjeynes.

Represented by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie and David Kayser

Victoria trained as a lawyer before moving into producing, specialising in international co-productions between Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. She is now focused on developing work as a Writer/Director and recently completed her debut film The Birthday Party backed by the BFI, Screen Scotland and First Flights and as a Producer/Director on Season 1 of the Untitled African Queens series exec produced by Jada Pinkett Smith for Netflix. She is a regular speaker/moderator of panels at major film festivals and on the jury for the BIFA’s and the Athena List. She sits on the board of Film Africa and the steering committee for ARTEF (The Anti-Racism Taskforce for European Film). She is an alumnus of Filmonomics, Jihlava’s Emerging Producers Program, Berlinale Talents, EAVE, IFP, The AttaGirl Lab and the UK’s National Film and Television School. She is a voting member of BAFTA Scotland and BAFTA UK. Victoria has been selected to develop an original project with Statement Films and Topic as part of their inaugural African Women writers initiative. Her debut feature film is currently financing and is aiming for a Q1 2023 shoot with producer Cati Weineck.

Represented by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie and David Kayser

Meg began her longform career with the feature documentary (co-directed with Bert Haitsma) 1994: the bloody miracle (2014). This much talked-about documentary, which counts down to South Africa’s first democratic elections, was broadcast multiple times by eNCA and eTV as well as by the Netherlands’ national broadcaster VPRO. It won the Audience Award at the Durban International Film Festival and the Writers’ Guild award for Best Documentary Script. The film opened the Nobel Peace Laureate Youth Summit as well as the Watch Africa Festival in Wales, and showed in several UK cities as part of the Freedom Tour. Her debut fiction feature, Tess, was released theatrically in South Africa in February 2017 and won a number of awards, including the Best South African Film Award at the Durban International Film Festival. It screened at the BRICS International Film Festival in New Delhi, and at the Brussels and Gothenburg International Film Festivals to name a few. Meg’s most recent film Kaalgat Karel, a romantic comedy which Meg also co-wrote and produced with Paul Egan, was released in cinemas in 2021 and is currently playing on DSTV Box Office and Showmax. The film has been selected for a number of international film festivals including the Phoenix International Genre Film Festival in the US and Boden International Film Festival in Sweden. The film won Best Film awards at the Poor Life Choices Comedy Film Festival in Los Angeles, the Gelos Comedy Film Festival in Moscow, the Lit Laughs Festival in the UK, as well as Best Feature Screenplay at Writers Guild of South Africa Muse Awards. Concurrent to shooting Kaalgat Karel, Meg helped to run a training programme for young filmmakers in the Eastern Cape where the film shot. In 2021 I Meg also directed Atlantis, a television feature produced by Known Entertainment Associates and Moonlighting Films for eTV’s streaming platform eVOD. It remains to date the most streamed film on that platform. Meg is currently in development on several original and adapted films and TV ideas with producers at home and in the UK. She holds a PHD in Film Studies, has taught extensively at the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape, SAE, the Forward Fund Academy and ACT.

Represented by David Kayser