AFTER finishing film school in the summer of 1997, Dumi Gumbi left Boston, Massachusetts, where had lived since he was 13, to check out the scene in Los Angeles. "I wanted to work in Hollywood," he says with a tinge of nostalgia in his eyes. "The great thing about the US is that the big life you see in films is the same as west Hollywood ... it’s surreal in a way."
Not being a US citizen made his dream impossible, so Gumbi headed back to SA to begin the journey towards becoming a film producer. Settling briefly in Durban, the place of his birth, Gumbi says fitting back into South African life was difficult at first. "The film and television industry wasn’t yet a developed sector," which made getting work difficult.
Gumbi has come a long way since, and his latest film, Die Spook van Uniondale, a quirky Tim Burton-like adaptation of an urban legend of a ghost that haunts an isolated Karoo town, opens in cinemas at the end of the month.
Getting to this point hasn’t always been plain sailing. However, the squalls Gumbi encountered along the way have only made his skills sharper. To be a successful producer requires a calculated mix of a keen creative eye together with a savvy business acumen.
Asked why he would venture into Afrikaans cinema, Gumbi is dismissive of the question: "It’s a business decision. Just because I’m a black producer it doesn’t mean I must just make films like Gog’ Helen," he says. His first feature-length production from 2012, Gog’ Helen is about a shantytown gogo, Helen, her granddaughter, Agnes, and a mattress full of money.
Spook film
"In SA it’s okay for white directors and producers to make black films ... why can’t it be the other way around?"
Gumbi is interested in the bigger picture, noting that "a great story deserves to be told".
Shooting an Afrikaans film is also better business — box office figures reveal that the sector of the South African film economy that is doing well in its own right is Afrikaans cinema.
Simply put, movies cost a lot to make and are expensive to release on the local circuit. The high costs frighten off profit-conscious distribution houses, which often prefer the tried and tested Hollywood blockbuster model. In SA’s film industry, Afrikaans is tried and tested.
Gumbi’s first break happened after he moved to Gauteng and got a job working for The Line Producers, a company that produced weekly television shows. "That’s where I got my producing chops."
After that company closed, Gumbi was faced with the decision either to look for another job or start his own venture. Noticing that animation appeared to be one of the most underdeveloped sectors of the industry, with little quality animation being made by local production companies, Gumbi partnered with Isabelle Rorke to start the Anamazing Workshop, where he devised a production training initiative.
"We trained over 100 people through that programme," he says proudly. Yet winning a South African Film and Television Award in 2009 was not enough to keep the ruthless realities of the film industry at bay and the Anamazing Workshop closed shortly after due to financial constraints.
"A light bulb popped in my head," says Gumbi, "and I went back to school. Wits Business School, to be exact. Taking the management advancement programme really taught me about best practices ... there’s a reason it’s called show business.
"And we tend to focus too much on the show and not enough on the business."
According to Gumbi, the local industry is still a little unprofessional. "You can’t be risk averse ... and it takes a set of skills to build a profitable industry."
Starting his own production company, Dupa Films, with his long-time colleague, Paulo Areal, is the culmination of the quest to acquire those skills that Gumbi is now putting into practice.
"I hate the word sustainability ... we need to balance creativity with business if we want to grow the industry."
While he does take work in the corporate sector to keep his head above water, Dupa Films is active with a feature, Dora’s Peace, currently in post-production, and three other films scheduled to begin shooting next month.
And, while he is busy with his own work, Gumbi has his eye on the wider picture. "We are trying to create a proper film business ... not just a hobby." One of the obstacles he identifies is the way in which films are being packaged — "distribution is a shambles and there is an unwillingness to release local films ... we have to be met halfway".
Nevertheless, Gumbi is measured in his criticism. "You can’t judge an industry after 20 years ... and it’s also about us as filmmakers being more professional."
An example Gumbi gives is that production budgets are not being met by print and advertising budgets, which ultimately leads to films not being effectively distributed. "We need to be innovative as filmmakers and remember that we are not making films for ourselves but for the masses, and we need to access new markets."
Gumbi is pragmatic about this, suggesting that it’s not about being competitive because "ideas are subjective and always interpreted differently". A solution he offers is to reconsider content. "I think we need to start producing lighter stuff ... (there) is a place for high drama as well as commercially motivated films.... As a producer you have to be realistic with margins and the numbers need to be crunched to realise returns."
On government participation in helping to grow the sector, Gumbi says he is a big cheerleader of incentives from the likes of the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Film and Video Foundation, which have "created an enabling environment" for filmmakers. Since 1994, the shift in focus from training to higher production values has heralded good things for South African films, he says.
The next step lies in addressing this problem: "We are not focusing on the engine room ... marketing and advertising ... sales and distribution." This is the crunch and Gumbi is realistic about it, observing that "we want critical acclaim, but we need commercial viability".
At the end of the day, bums on seats are the final decider, and to achieve that goal, maybe content is the key.
I think we need to start producing lighter stuff ... (there) is a place for high drama as well as commercial films.