Pay tv company, MultiChoice Uganda has trained local filmmakers on film casting as part of efforts to support filmmakers in building their capacity and skills.
Speaking during the masterclass conducted at UCC headquarters in Bugoloobi, Rinaldi Jamugisa , the PR & Communications Manager for MultiChoice Uganda said the training is part of the three-month activities to celebrate Pearl Magic Prime’s fourth anniversary .
“ What we're doing is helping train filmmakers and content creators, on how to select the right people for the right roles, and in so doing, it means that we then get to have better productions, but also better placed people in productions to bring out the vision of the scriptwriter or the producer and of the director,” Jamugisa said.
He emphasized that the trainings are needs-based.
“Some of these needs are told to us by the filmmakers but we also find it very necessary to help uplift the skills of our people and out of this is the reason why we keep doing this. We do MultiChoice from our Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Social Investment arm called MultiChoice talent factory.”
He explained that through such trainings, they are among others aiming at breaking the monotony of casts in local films.
Jamugisa said there has been an increase in demand for local content, partly attributing it to their efforts in uplifting the industry.
“We aim to continue to be Uganda’s most loved story teller through Pearl Magic and Pearl Magic Prime.”
Piracy
During the masterclass, participants were trained on avoiding privacy which according to the MultiChoice Uganda PR & Communications Manager affects the entire country.
“Piracy is in very simple terms, theft. To bring it home for you, a filmmaker, a producer, a director, an actor, actress will wake up in the morning to go to set. That's similar to a market vendor waking up in the morning to go and sell his or her tomatoes on the street. It's the way a journalist will wake up and go to come and pick news. That's the same thing for a filmmaker. Now, imagine you've recorded what you've recorded today as a journalist, but then you get to realize that somebody else is showcasing your content on their YouTube channel as if it's their own, they shall have stolen from you,” Jamugisa said.
“ Now, for a filmmaker, when they do content, they are investing. They have to pay actors, actresses, set designers. costume designers, makeup artists. They have to provide food and drinks on set. They have to pay for location transportation. There's a lot that they actually get to spend on now, at the end of the day, when I make a movie as a filmmaker or as a producer, what I need is to be able to find a place I can sell and make my money back. So if I've invested shs200 million in a film, I need to be able to sell over and above shs200 million. But if somebody comes and gets my content and shows it on their platform somewhere, it could be on social media, it could be on YouTube anywhere else, but they've not got it the right way, it means people are going to access and view my content without one my authority as a filmmaker, okay, but also to it means I miss out on the money I could have made.”
He insisted it is high time the public joined the fight against piracy.
“When somebody steals a filmmaker’s content, it means that filmmaker cannot make their money, and therefore their livelihood is made difficult. This cuts across, really, and it could be sports or any other sector. It means government will not be getting taxes.”