The behind-the-scenes crisis of BET's Queendom has been a nasty, sad state of affairs.
Viewers spent their precious hours committing to the show for four months, only to have it ripped away,
replaced with repeats, with no explanation from the channel.
The cast and crew have suffered for months. They haven't been paid by production house Clive Morris Productions and they have no certainty about what's happening with the show next.
Last we heard Clive Morris Productions has been scrambling to find money to continue production while BET "engages" with the production house.
And now an industry insider who's familiar with the situation has spoken to TVSA exclusively, giving us insight into what happened.
When the show hit the
repeats switch at the end of last month we told you about BET's statement regarding the money. This is it if you missed it:
BET is aware of payment delays by Clive Morris Productions to cast and crew of Queendom.
Queendom is a co-production, with BET responsible for half of the investment, which has been fulfilled by BET Africa.
However, CMP has encountered difficulties in securing their share of the co-funding, resulting in the delayed payments to our valued cast and crew.
We are engaging with CMP, including cast and crew, to urgently resolve the matter.
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Our mole tells us that this is an accurate description of the financial set-up of the production but there's a third protagonist at play too: MultiChoice.
Apparently MultiChoice puts pressure on international channels to have local shows so they put pressure on BET to do a local series and BET and Clive Morris struck a deal - the same deal they had for previous telenovela Isono.
BET would foot half the bill and Clive Morris needed to get funding for the rest, which is where is the deal went bang because the funding didn't materialise.
Which brings us to the matter at hand Your Honour... who's to blame? Where did it go wrong? This is our argument in 3:
1.
On a scale of 1 to 10 with
10 being Most Guilty and 1 being Not Guilty, we put MultiChoice at 1.
They
should put pressure on international channels because it's the right thing to do. Firstly because many South Africans love local shows so it's to the channels' benefit and secondly, it's courteous and respectful.
It shows an appreciation for our culture and people and gives the sense that the channel wants to be part of our cultural landscape. They're doing business in our country and should give something back.
7.
We put Clive Morris Productions at 7 on our Guilto-meter because he should never have made the deal. OR he should never have agreed to start production until complete funding for the show was fully secured. You can't commit to actors and crew without knowing the funds are guaranteed in your bank account!
10.
BET are to blame. They should have paid for the whole thing, no questions asked. Their holding company Paramount's supposed to be such a big stuff - why don't they have the cash to fund a local series?
The BBC does it all the time with shows like Come Dine With Me South Africa and the reality lows of Listing Jozi and Cape Town. Those two are awful, but still, at least they run a full season and people get paid.
BET should never have made such a deal. They should have paid for it 100%. They've dumped responsibility on the production house but ultimately they're responsible.
Agree/disagree? Let us know.