Netflix Kicks off Creative Training Programme with Realness Institute

By Vanessa Obioha

Following Netflix’s partnership with Realness Institute, last year on two programmes — an Episodic Writers Lab focused on South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, and a Development Executive Traineeship (DET) for candidates across the sub-Saharan Africa region — 12 participants from Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe have been chosen to participate in two inaugural three-month programmes which will run until September 2021.

The selected writers from the Episodic Lab will develop their concepts alongside expert story consultants and creative producers and will also undergo creative training and receive feedback from the Netflix team.

At the end of the lab, each writer will have an opportunity to pitch their incubated concept to Netflix to have their series further developed for production.

Simultaneously, the six participants in the DET will fully immerse themselves in the story development process.

Their training will include bolstering their technical skills by partnering them with the EPL writers to develop story concepts into quality productions.

“We want to be a good partner for Africa’s creative industries. We’re energized and excited by the many opportunities that lie ahead for us to help strengthen the quality of African storytelling and to bring fresh voices to our members in Africa and around the world,” said the streamer in a statement.

Netflix also plans to host a five-day workshop focusing on post-production this month. Thirty-two participants have been invited to participate in the workshops while more than 100 film and TV professionals from across the continent will be part of the master classes.