Mpho Osei-Tutu

In a career spanning 20+ years, Mpho has worked as an actor and a writer with an array of
celebrated people including Disney’s RISE director, Akin Omotoso and Fox’s 9-1-1 director,
Jann Turner.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Dramatic Art from Wits University in Johannesburg, South
Africa where he majored in Writing, Television and Performance; and works across a variety
of genres with credits in comedy and drama series, films, sketch TV, late-night talk shows,
award ceremonies and theatre shows.

Mpho has been on the SAFTA winning writing teams for RHYTHM CITY (Best Soap 2009),
CHECK COAST (Best TV Comedy 2015), THULANI NO THULI (Best TV Comedy 2018) and
was on the writing team for the 2010 International Emmy Nominated Best TV
Movie/Miniseries HOPEVILLE. His foray into show running two seasons of the TV Comedy
KOTA LIFE CRISIS garnered 1 SAFTA win and 12 SAFTA nominations. He co-wrote the
short JOBURG which won at UCLA Director’s Spotlight in 2007 and gained
Official Selection at Sundance (2010), Seattle International (2008), Durban International
(2008), Brooklyn International (2008), Los Angeles (2007), Telluride (2007), Starz Denver
(2007) and Santa Fe (2007).

He is presently working on a number of pilots and is a writer on ETV’s THE BLACK DOOR.

Represented by David Kayser

Ari Kruger

Ari Kruger is the co-creator and director of the hugely popular web-series SUZELLE DIY which has garnered over 22 million views on YouTube and been broadcast nationally on Comedy Central. He is also the co-creator and director of the sensational mockumentary series TALI’S WEDDING DIARY, which was awarded five South African Film & Television Awards, including Best Director for a Comedy Series. Both productions epitomise his impeccable comic timing and talent for creating memorable characters. Ari has attracted notable attention with his short films, having been a finalist at the world’s largest short film festival Tropfest in 2011, in competition with the likes of filmmakers like Joel Edgerton. His films have screened in festivals across the globe with two of his short films having been selected as Vimeo Staff Picks. His latest short film WAITING FOR GOLDMAN is currently racking up awards on the festival circuit, winning Best Dark Comedy at IndieX Film Festival and Independent Short Awards in Los Angeles. Ari won best director for TALI’S BABY DIARY (the sequel to BABY DIARY) which also won Best Comedy series at the 2022 SAFTAS. The third installment of the hit series TALI’S JOBURG DIARY dropped on Showmax earlier this year and has been received with critical acclaim. Ari and his wife Julia Anastasopoulos are the co-owners of Sketchbook Studios, a production company in Cape Town where they produce original content, television series, features and commercials.

Represented by David Kayser

Chisanga Kabinga

Chisanga Kabinga is a Zambian born producer-writer-director living in South Africa, who began her television writing career in 2003 working on South Africa’s top performing soap, GENERATIONS and soon branched into writing for other formats, including John Hopkins/USAID funded educational dramas like TSHA TSHA, SOUL CITY, and the ground breaking Peabody Award winning INTERSEXIONS, for which she was also nominated for a South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA). Chisanga has worked on several top grossing South African and Zambian dramas and soaps as storyliner, script editor, script consultant and head writer for shows such as SOUL BUDDYZ, A PLACE CALLED HOME (both of which Chisanga also directed on as well as THE MATING GAME), NJILA, FEVER, MUVHANGO and 2021’s breakout THE ESTATE for Clive Morris Productions and SABC3. Together with Linda Bere Chisanga co-created, co-wrote and co-produced KOWETHU, a 13 part drama series that aired on SABC 1 in 2014 and has recently completed script editing on KINGS OF JOBURG Season 2 for Netflix. Chisanga’s extensive TV development work has taught her the power of television in shifting both perceptions and culture through compelling and entertaining drama. She continues to work as a writer, director and independent producer in Zambia and South Africa and under her company 20 Feet Tall, she has developed two Zambian television series for the Southern African regional channel, Zambezi Magic.

 

Represented by David Kayser

Karen Jeynes

Karen has worked extensively as a writer for stage and screen and is perhaps best known for her work with Both Worlds as the head writer for ZANEWS: PUPPET NATION. She was head writer and director on RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER starring Maria Doyle Kennedy for MNET/Acorn/AMC which TX in SA on Mnet in 2022 with its bow on Acorn internationally in September of the same year. Karen has worked with Pixel Perfect, writing Bioskop movies for Mzansi Magic and 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. In theatre, 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, which was nominated for 3 Fleur du Cap Awards. Karen was part of How Now Brown Cow’s inaugural Writer’s Collective for 2021 and 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 in August 2021 with Kwela. She is completing her MA in Writing for the Screen through Falmouth University whilst developing a handful of film and television projects with Both Worlds.

 

Represented by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie and David Kayser

Victoria Thomas

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 Rickards

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

Tertius Kapp

Tertius is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and producer working in both English and Afrikaans; he has degrees in laser physics, philosophy, archaeology and creative writing.

His best-known plays are ROOILAND, OORSEE and LIEWER, the first two earning him the highest accolade in Afrikaans literature, the Hertzog prize. In 2016 he won the South African Film and Television Award for his adaptation of DIS EK, ANNA which dominated the ceremony with five more awards. He also wrote GRIEKWASTAD, starring Arnold Vosloo, which was awarded the SAFTA for Best Feature Film of 2020.

In television he created the supernatural series DIE SPREEUS, which was SAFTA-nominated as Best Drama Series in 2020 and recently sold internationally. He is the writer of quirky family comedy SOMERKERSFEES and teen horror RAGE, and creator of the domestic noir series SIENDE BLIND, as well as the acclaimed 4 MURE.

Most recently, the original horror GAIA, which Tertius wrote and produced made the official selection of the SXSW/South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. GAIA is distributed by NEON and Bleecker Street’s Decal in the US, and several other distributors worldwide. It was listed on the top horror lists of 2021 by Variety, IGN.com and Forbes.

Represented by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie

Brett Michael Innes

Brett Michael Innes is an alum of the Oscar-winning South African film school AFDA, on a scholarship from the National Film & Video Foundation (NFVF). His debut as writer/director/producer SINK premiered In Competition at the Atlanta Film Festival in 2016 and has been heralded by local critics as a ‘breakout film that sets a new standard for South African cinema’. This saw him win the SAFTA for Best Film and Best Screenplay as well as Best Edit with co-editor Nicolas Costaras. His second feature, an adaptation of the iconic novel, FIELA SE KIND, premiered In Competition at Tallinn Black Nights and was awarded the SAFTA for Best Film and Best Screenplay in 2020. It has also been nominated for Best Film in an African Language at the 2020 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA). FIVE TIGER, a short that he produced and edited, was official selection at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival while his third feature, the mockumentary comedy DARYN’S GYM, was selected for IFFR 2022. He is currently in development on several original film and television projects and financing a handful of features THE DAM, PONTE, and BLUE DRESS. Brett has just wrapped his first television project CATCH ME A KILLER – an 8 part series for producer Simon Kowalski and Night Train Media/M-Net.

 

Represented by David Kayser

Kudi Maradzika

Kudi is a television producer with eleven years of local, regional and international experience producing long-form scripted and non-scripted formats as well as short form content. She is a multi-SAFTA, Promax, African Film Academy Award, Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice and Loerie-winning executive producer. Notable productions include ISONO(260 x 24), BLACK TAX S1 and S2 (13 x 24), COMEDY ROAST OF AKA, of Somizi, and SAFTA nominated SAVANNA VIRTUAL COMEDY BAR 2.0. Kudi is also a screenwriter with two feature scripts shortlisted for the 2018 & 2022 Sundance Feature Film Writer’s Lab, a winner of the 2021 Realness Institute Netflix Episodic Lab and recently selected by the Durban FilmMart Institute 2023 Programme for her feature film, NJUZU. A SAFTA-Award-winning director Kudi’s repertoire includes producing and directing reality and factual formats such as AFRICA’S BIGGEST BRAGS and TLC’s NEXT GREAT PRESENTER SEARCH. A screenwriter with a penchant for comedy-drama, notable productions include SQWIZAS and MY PERFECT FAMILY. Kudi’s comedy drama selected for the Realness Institute Netflix lab is currently in development with co-head writer Daniel Zimbler and Sydney Dire also writing.

 

Represented by David Kayser 

Angeli Macfarlane

Angeli is a writer, producer and story editor – she has worked in commissioning for Pathé, Film4 and Film London and recently was the Development Producer on six first features as part of the Microwave scheme, financed by BBC Film and the BFI. As story editor Angeli has supported new and established talent working with many top production companies and funding bodies worldwide. She is known for her nurturing support of emerging talent and has been instrumental in the careers of many young writers and directors who have become award-winning filmmakers. In recent years Angeli has begun creating her own slate of projects: co-writing Screen Ireland feature LOLA, which premiered in Locarno in 2022 and which opens in the UK in 2023. She is co-writer on SISTERS – produced by Sleeper Films and Cineman (Angeli worked with Sleeper on THE FAVOURITE), Angeli is writing an adaptation of the Clare Chambers best seller SMALL PLEASURES and has written a TV series WATCHING BIRDS – an original idea about birding and predatory love.  She is producing two projects – a feature by writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz (SHE SAID, IDA), which is set in 10th century Norway and a Trinidad-set epic drama based on the novel THE WHITE WOMAN ON A GREEN BICYCLE by Costa award winning writer Monique Roffey. This very recent move into creating her own projects and with talented people she admires, Angeli is able to focus on the stories that express her passionate commitment to diverse and inclusive storytelling, especially highlighting women’s voices.

 

Represented by David Kayser