ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK: A new golden age for making movies in and about SA?
When the Netflix Original movie Roma was nominated for 10 Oscars this week, it marked the end of the beginning of the golden age of streaming entertainment. The video-on-demand service was already the biggest movie producer in the world, making more movies — and more money — last year than any of the “Big Six” Hollywood studios. Roma marks its arrival as a serious movie-maker. Its content budget last year, projected at $8bn, was estimated to have shot past the $12bn mark by the end of the year. For moviemakers, prospects have never looked better, especially as other streaming video services scramble to catch up. On Thursday, MultiChoice video-streaming service Showmax will debut its first original drama, an eight-part series called The Girl from St Agnes. It's the second commissioned production from Showmax, following the comedy series Tali's Wedding Diary. However, Netflix is not sitting on its budget. It has a string of South African productions lined up, starting with Queen Sono,...
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