The first local High Definition Soapie, “Wenera” has received a boost from the national broadcaster ZBC to run from Monday to Friday for its Season 2. The television series’ first season is coming to an end and Season 2 will immediately commence shooting ahead of its première in January 2016.
“Wenera” was written by film director Eddie Ndhlovu and the film focuses on the business world which in the series revolves around Wenera Diamond, run by one family that ends up mixing business and personal affairs.
Talent of Steel, the production house for “Wenera”, is working together with ZTV to get the television series to other stations as far as Kenya and Egypt, countries which have expressed interest in screening of “Wenera”.
TOS say they are happy with how the first season performed and it gave them a lot of lessons which have to be worked on to make Season 2 better.
“I can safely say “Wenera” Season 1 blended well in shaping of my vision although I expected much considering how I visualised it. I can say Season 1 was more of a learning curve for Talent of Steel my production company,” said Eddie Ndhlovu.
“We cannot say we faced tough challenges as such but I do believe that challenges make up life and overcoming them makes life an interesting journey. We faced a number of hiccups that we are working on so that we will be ready for Season 2 surprises.”
Talent of Steel head of studio, Talent Chitauro, one of few powerful women in film and television business said Season 2 is going to be bigger and better than anyone could ever imagine as they are working on airing “Wenera” from Monday to Friday.
“We intend to improve Season 2 in a great way as we are working towards running week days on our national broadcaster ZBC. In season 1 we had one writer and director (Eddie Ndhlovu) but the set is going to be different in season 2 as we have engaged three writers, one head writer and four directors to create a different taste from season 1”.
“There are going to be a number of changes that are going to be made in Season 2 to make “Wenera” the hottest TV soapie across Africa. With the powerful writers we are bringing on board, Season 2 will give birth to exciting plots, characters and above all a different feel completely from season 1. Our plots reflects our day to day lives and we don’t intend to fictionalise anything because we want our targeted audience to feel involved and be part of the drama.”
“Wenera” made headlines across the country with reports of literally taking over from where “Studio 263” left off and brought heavy competition. Eddie Ndhlovu encouraged local filmmakers to stay focused and learn from other countries. He said filmmakers should think of film-making as a business not as just art. He urged filmmakers to identify areas of strengths and to focus on that.
Source: Herald
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