[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: When writers are thinking up ideas they have to decide between what sells and what is meaningful. I’m wondering if you can talk about the process and how you decide on what ideas you want to develop?
Tendayi Nyeke, Writer/Director/Producer: I think start with what’s meaningful and then make it sellable because I think the process of making anything takes so long.
If you’re going to try and do it in a commercial environment there’s going to be notes, you’re getting lots of back and forth, lots of stakeholders to manage all of that stuff. If you don’t care, you’re not going to make it through the end and you can easily lose your North Star, your focus.
I’m if I’m going to try and show run or something, and I’ve only done it officially twice, I think I’ve got to care about it and have the why I really want to do this thing so that when I’m now working with other people I’m always holding on to that.
That’s what differentiates your show from other things is knowing what is meaningful about it because you can always come back to that. To the what sells pieces I think sometimes we can observe the industry and be Okay, this is the zeitgeist, this is what’s going on whatever, but the human experience is generally the human experience. I think they will always be a place for the human experience. If you can find something that can connect with other people, I think it’ll always sell, especially if you execute it well.
I would say start with the meaning then listen to people whose jobs are that, whose jobs are audiences. I think sometimes as creatives we fight executives (and everything is in context) but we’re You don’t know what you’re talking about. They kind of know their audience so it’s:
-What can you learn about the audience?
-How can you find a way to communicate what you’re trying to do with that audience?
For me it has specific relevance because I’m from a small country Zimbabwe with I think it’s 12 million people. Some people have never even heard of Zimbabwe. I specifically want to tell Zimbabwe. Stories working in South Africa their primary…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
About:
Writer/Director/Producer Tendayi Nyeke’s multi-genre creative work has been awarded internationally. A former broadcast executive who helmed several award-winning shows, Tendayi has also written, produced, and directed television programs across global platforms. Most recently, she Executive Produced the Annie Award-winning Disney+ science fiction Anthology Kizazi Moto (2023) with Oscar-winning director Peter Ramsey of Spiderverse acclaim.
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