Blogging @ joziewood.com

Hi all

Apologies for not uploading anything in ages. My focus has been on my company - Joziewood Films. We've just rebuilt the website and it includes a built in blog where I'm spending most of my blogging time. please visit the website and have a look. USOYA will continue soon, but for now it's all about Joziewood baby.

Teeto

This is Teeto, a rapper from Lagos, Nigeria. He grew up with 12 siblings, went to a federal government school and finished a university education in Lagos. Right now he co. owns Freshboy entertainment, a music production co. and focuses on the rapping side of things.

His advice to people trying to get into his industry, “go to school and have a backup plan, if you cant go to school, get ready to adapt, it’s not an easy road”. That said, if you’ve made a start for yourself and think you're good enough to start recording, try and mail freshboy.entertainment@gmail.com, see if you can make a deal. So what’s Teeto saying say on African Politics...?

Senter, Teeto’s manager and partner of Freshboy entertainment, shot the interview with a cell phone and mailed me the footage, shot guys. It’s that easy to get content from across the continent. Anyone out there who’s interested in being spotlighted and think they’re the ish, please send me a mail and we’ll figure out the easiest way to get you uploaded. Lastly here’s the man with a poem on Africa...

Kgomotso Matsunyane

Kgomotso Matsunyane – producer, writer, talk show host and partner of T.O.M Pictures. Born and raised in Zone 9 Meadowlands, Soweto, Kgomotso first attended boarding school in Botswana, then went to college in the U.S.. She is easily the most talkative person in Africa, hence her talk show, but less text from me and more video from her…

OK, so despite this s*#ty recession and our current state of affairs, Kgomotso is managing to stay afloat, producing seasons 9 & 10 of Soul City. Her talk show is our own special flavour Letterman, Leno or O’Brien – the wonderfully african Late Night With Kgomotso, T.O.M. Pictures, of which she is partner, have completed another fantastic season of A Place Called Home, AND they're working on a number of local feature films, just go to T.O.M’s website, it’s all there. BUT it was bad timing when I asked her to share some advice to budding filmmakers as this interview was shot just before the TVIEC marched against our local broadcaster, led amongst others by yes - Kgomotso, here it is…

At first her advice to was “get a real job” followed by lungs of laughter, but second time round she hammered it…

I like that, lungs of laughter, that's my first alliteration since high school ;) Things are undergoing change at the SABC, 9 of 10 board members have resigned, the government will now have to bail out their debt, if you want to know more then either google "TVIEC" or try chat to Kgomotso on Facebook, she’s in the know. OK, so, politics…

If you ever do want to get back into politics girl, you got my vote. Last one, Africa rocks because…

Kgomotso, you rock J

Reggie Makhetha

Reggie Makhetha - born & bred in Soweto, owner of The Roots Restaurant & Gallery. Entrepreneurs run deep in his blood, the family have owned and run hardware stores to shopping centers and Reggie was involved since he was 10. 

At first he would sell sweets and firecrackers from outside the stores, now he’s got his own spot, hear him out…

Reggie recons that if anyone wants to get into hospitality, you gotta have the passion, it’s no 9-5 job, the hours are long and you gotta enjoy people cause you're gonna deal with a lot of personalities.  As far as the gallery is concerned, you must have an eye for good art, more on that…

The restaurant side sells township food - tripe, chicken feet, smileys and also your basic burgers and ribs. The clientele during the week is mainly tourists, but on weekends its guys from the suburbs who miss the township life, hence the name – Roots. As we do on USOYA, here’s the man with his view on African politix...

Thanks Reggie, the food was great and the art selection – dope, only thing missing was the firecrackers ;) Check out the facebook group or call 011 912 0000 if you wanna book.

Thandi Davids

Thandi grew up in a township on the outskirts of Joburg, down the line she moved to a Northen suburbs school called Woodmead, a very alternative and art focused school. After matric she started a law degree, but only because her mother was an advocate and insisted she do so. She soon dropped out and settled on a Bachelor of Arts or as Thandi puts is, “bugger all”. Upon completion she tried to get a job in the advertising world as a copywriter, “but in those days they didn’t hire black copywriters, so I ended up in PR”. Fast forward to today and she owns and runs her own experiential marketing agency called The Collective. So what is The Collective and this “experiential” marketing is all about?

Thandi is another knowledge bank that I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing, I’m sure she’s an assassin at games like trivial pursuit and 30 seconds, here she is on African economics…

I must mention that trying to write down anything Thandi said in the interview is only going to be watered down with my intellect, so I’m sticking to video, here she is on a United States of Africa…

Thank you Thandi J

Walter Ndou

Walter is founder of the clothing label called Ek Se, a multiracial South African brand that is tailored in his own factory. Walter is originally from Venda in Limpopo but has moved around considerably. After matric he studied business in fashion design at the Tshwane university of Technology, he got his diploma and started from scratch. A break came his way when the SAB appealed to his funding application to start his business. Today he owns a factory, employs five people, has his own label and also designs a private range for the group - Rhythmic Elements. Here’s how it started…

His advice to upcoming fashion designers is to go for main market casual clothing, look at fashion as a business and not an art, and if anyone is trying to start up their own business, here’s more advice…

Good one, if you know what your doing but don’t have money to start your business, use the internet to search for government grants, corporate sponsorships or other available funding out there, you’re the man Walter.

Woolworths, YDE, Big Blue and Y Shop are all stores that are busy stocking Ek Se, and if you want a good price on your own custom made shirts, get in touch with the man at walter-ndou@webmail.co.za

Africa Rocks because…

Hlubi Mboya

Hlubi is, in my opinion, one of South Africas best actresses, in fact to hell with that, one of the worlds best. Amongst other roles, she’s on a hit television soapie called Isidingo and plays the role of Nandipha, an HIV positive woman. Hlubi also does loads of charity work for the world food program and for reach for a dream. She grew up with a big family in Cape Town, loved school and did extremely well, but adds that she “never made it to head girl”. After high school she studied at UCT and majored in third world politics and labour law. Then in her fourth year and to her parent’s scepticism, she dropped out to follow her dream becoming an actress. Lady luck was on her side, here we go…

“Now that I’m an actress, I find myself a third world politician and a labour lawyer in my art”. Power to you girl, here's her advice to anyone trying to crack it in whatever their real passion be… 

“I’m a lover of Africa, I’m a lover of South Africa, and I’m proud of being proudly South African”. Thank you so much Hlubes and well said, we end with her view of Africa's politics…

P.S. Don’t worry Hlubes, who ever did make head girl that year has nothing on you now :)

Quick one in Ghana

My parents went to Ghana for a weeks holiday, Mom generously grabbed me a few interviews on her cell phone. Getting interviews from people across the continent isn’t easy, but isn’t hard either. Anyone who’s enjoying this blog and would like to be featured, please drop me an email, I’ll send you a list of questions and we’ll figure out the easiest way to get you on camera, be it a cell phone recording, a webcam  - in fact we can do a skype video call if you’re connection is fast enough, a home video camera is also great, and then email or post me the footage.

Here's a group of filmmakers who were shooting my mom in the market for a tourism video, next thing the camera was turned on them, meet the crew and hear them speak about filmmaking in Ghana and a United States of Africa.

And here’s Aly Googos Tinaba, an artist who has a studio at the national cultural centre, he studied art in school and is currently writing his secondary level… 

Thank you to everyone who braved the camera, and thanks mom, the camera work is amazing J

Rasty Knayles

Rasty is a graffiti artist living in Joburg, he’s originally from Durban, but the family moved up when he was eight. Before he began painting he wanted to be a pro football player. In his late teens he found graffiti which overtook his passion for soccer and it has now grown into a career and full time job. He remembers at first not knowing what he was doing with the art, but his persistency and the adrenalin-filled pleasure it gave him got him to where he is today.

So where IS he today? Rasty is known in Joburg as one of the city’s finest grafitti artists, he’s commissioned to do pieces on almost a daily basis, from murals in private houses right up to the big corporate jobs, pieces for commercials, and live painting at events. He’s also opened his own graffiti store called grayscale (have a look at the website or facebook group) which sells graffiti related products and also the only stockist in SA of the worlds most renowned spraycan called Montana, so here’s his story…

Although he’s a successful entrepreneur now, Rasty recalls with great enthusiasm a night (he claims long ago) running from cops and homeowners after “bombing” a residential wall on the side of a highway. The story goes that half way through doing the piece with his crew, the cops arrived and the guys had to split, he ran across the highway dodging traffic, another friend jumped over a barbed wire fence and cut himself up nicely, they hid out for a while waiting for the cops to leave, then quickly finished the piece before taking the carved up friend to hospital. 

In the morning they came back with a camera to get shots of the wall, the home owners saw them, ran after them with weapons, he once again had to run across the highway, this time with a lot more traffic, eish, hope those days are over Rasty, but something tells me once an anarchist, always an anarchist J. For those interested in graffiti, those artists wanting to turn professional, or even those wanting to open an unrelated store, here’s his advice..

Last but not least, here's the man giving his view on African Politics, thank you Rasty…

Tshepo Mogale

This is Tshepo Mogale, a comedian, writer, actor, business man, the kwaito star known as Spykos, and as he puts it, “what ever it is that can lead to me sending an invoice - I’m very willing to get involved in that”. He was born in Durban, South Africa, his dad’s  a doctor, mom’s a nurse, they were the fist family in his neighbourhood to get a Mercedes Benz. When he was still very young the family moved to Bloemfontein where he did his primary school years, he was one of only a handful of black kids at a white school. At twelve he moved to Cape Town where he finished his schooling and went on to study a B com at university. In the late 90's he finished with a diploma and then moved to Joburg where he got a job in financial services. Part time in the evenings Tshepo would do stand up comedy which was his hobby and real passion. As Thepo puts it, “most of my friends are either comedians, or investment bankers”.

In 2003 a show that he pitched with other comedian friends was accepted by the SABC, so he bid farewell to the bank and became a full time writer and entertainer. The series was called the Pure Monate Show, or PMS (check out the facebook group), his profile exploded as soon as it hit the tube. He had by now created himself a character called Spykos who was a mock kwaito star and poked fun at some of the lower end stuff being made (see an interview with Noleen), however the streets loved the character and ironically he was signed and an album was released. Hear him talk about it…

After the Spykos phenomenon died a sudden death, Tshepo tried various other business’s, from cell phone video content to creative consulting, but settled in comedy event management. He has a regular comedy festival which he throws in SA’s capitol city, the Tshwane Comedy Festival. To date he’s thrown 20 shows of which 16 have been sold out, he also continues to do his own acts, see for yourself…

Tshepo also co-owns New Ground Distribution, a DVD movie distribution company launching soon in SA but with long term plans of distributing across Africa and even into the UK. Here’s Tshepo's advice to people trying to crack it in the TV or music industry...

That said, for those who have made a decent establishment and name for themselves, who’ve made their own films or have a solid comedy act, get in touch with Tshepo, and if you’re good, he’s keen to look at marketing and selling you or your product, look for him on facebook, twitter or email him on comicaltshepo@gmail.com. Lastly, here it is, Tshepo breaks down his stand on African politics, thank you Tshepo…

P.S. Tshepo is currently shooting a film about a guy in a financial institution who works as a stand up at night and ends up being a super famous kwaito star... hmmmm, sounds familiar :)

 

Cebelihle Thomas Gumede

This is Thomas Cebelihle Gumede, an actor, writer, producer, MC and comedian. He grew up, in and around South Africa, his family travelled a lot during his younger years and never stayed to long in one place, Thomas has always made friends easily as he's an entertainer at heart.

Some of his recent projects include acting in Zero One One, a Joziewood Production, acting in Bay of Plenty for which he won a SAFTA award for best actor, and playing a homeless child with a natural talent for writing in A Place Called Home.

Thomas never did drama as a subject in high school and surprised his mother when after finishing matric, by telling her he wanted to study acting. Surprised as she was, she was supportive and continues to be so. Hear Thomas give advice to aspiring actors...

Recently Thomas co-wrote and acted in 1 Hundred, check out the facebook group, he says when he’s not acting for other production companies, he's either writing or shooting independent films or working on new stand-up material, he's all about doing it for yourself, let him break it down...

Last but not least, Thomas is big on Africa and is all for a UNITED STATES OF AFRICA, he sums it up...

If anyone wants to know more about this talented guy, try contacting him on facebook and pick his brain for yourself.

Joziewood

USOYA is updated by Ziggy Hofmeyr, a director at Joziewood Films. Joziewood is a film production company that releases films straight to DVD. Have a look at their website and facebook group.