According to Denise Mwende, Showmax Content Specialist in East Africa, people need something to look forward to that will give them a brief break from their daily routine but also something current that they can chat to other people about. Telenovelas, she says, offer a sustained way of doing this.
“And if the success of the local MultiChoice telenovelas is anything to go by, then this is a tested and proven model,” Denise says.
Showmax is also seeking exciting movie proposals with a refreshing, creative take on the genres of mystery, thriller or crime. The English and Swahili feature film should be 90 minutes in duration and have a strong commercial edge.
With these two proposals, Denise says Showmax is looking for creativity, top-notch shooting and post-production quality and edginess.
“We're looking for people who are critical thinkers and able to evaluate their own work and structures,” she says. “We also want a team that is keen on collaboration, even if it means looking for talent beyond their own pool to create a masterpiece.”
This comes as Showmax continues to grow its ties with Kenyan creatives and filmmakers, working with different production companies, a decision that Denise says opens up the industry to more players.
“Showmax is dedicated to providing more opportunities for new and existing creatives to prove themselves, to create a diverse and rich local content slate, and to also increase our contribution in the creative economy in Kenya,” Denise says. “In return, we hope that Kenyan audiences will appreciate the time and investment put into these productions.”
In 2022 alone, Showmax is already working with production companies like Insignia Productions for Single Kiasi, Yare Productions for Igiza, which is just about to launch on 23 May, Kibanda Pictures for County 49, which will launch in the second half of the year, and CJ3 for Pepeta, the football-centred crime drama that will launch later in the year.
“All these production companies are new vendors to the company but we've been able to create successful working relationships through hard work and constant analysis,” Denise says. “Additionally, the commonality across these vendors is their spirit for collaboration and understanding that, beyond creating a great show, subscriber acquisition and retention is crucial. They all have phenomenal ideas about marketing and sustained audience engagement.”
For more information on how Kenyan creatives can submit their proposals for these new projects, please visit the official Showmax submissions portal here.
How to submit your pitches to Showmax
There are two kinds of submissions you will find on the Showmax submission portal here: https://submissions.mnetcorporate.co.za/channel/showmax
1) Open briefs
Like the two projects above, an open brief will detail the genre and the number of episodes and the running time.
Selection Process:
Technical and editorial standards required will be set out in the production agreement.
Showmax will have the final editorial and creative control over all aspects of the Commissioned Content.
Receipt of proposals will be acknowledged by email notification.
Only shortlisted applications will be invited for pitches.
Our selection process will take roughly 12 - 16 weeks. If you don’t hear from us within 75 days after the submission deadline, consider your application unsuccessful.
2) Unsolicited submissions
When you have a good content idea, and decide to share it with Showmax without anyone from the company requesting for it, this is referred to as unsolicited submission.
Please note: Showmax receives numerous television programming proposals that may be similar to the ideas you wish to present and it may already be considering ideas similar or identical to yours. The producer accepts that the ideas you present to us may also be similar to ideas which Showmax itself is currently developing or has previously developed and/or produced.
While for open briefs, Showmax will be in touch with you to pitch your idea if you’re shortlisted, selection of unsolicited submissions depends on the content gap. If Showmax decides to produce more comedies or a talk show, the commissioning editor will go through the unsolicited submissions to see if there’s an idea that could fill that gap.
On rare occasions, Showmax will head-hunt a company that specialises in a content gap but this will still involve a pitch process.
What to submit in your pitch deck for both open briefs and unsolicited submissions:
Showmax looks for experience in genre, creativity, budget lines, and to some extent, a marketing-orientated production.
The reason Showmax uses a submissions portal is to indemnify both parties from copyright claims. So that if two producers from the same company send the same idea, Showmax has a record of who submitted the idea and when.
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