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Cape Town – Netflix says it will commission some original series from Africa in 2019, with the global video streaming service confirming that it is looking at opportunities in Africa.
Erik Barmack, Netflix vice-president of international originals, at last week's Content London conference, said Netflix is continuing to expand its original slate of series made across Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Variety reported about Netflix’s Africa ambitions on Friday.
"There's going to come a time when half of the top 10 of most-watched shows on Netflix in a given year are going to come from outside of the United States," Erik Barmack said.
Meanwhile South African producers and production companies in Africa's most developed TV market have expressed ongoing frustration about not being able to reach out to Netflix to pitch TV and film projects for possible consideration, saying they don't know who to contact, who to talk to, or how to reach Netflix.
In October 2017 Netflix told Channel24 that it has "a pretty strong content team that is travelling to every country to talk to local producers" and is "talking to South African producers".
When Netflix was asked how South African and African producers can get in contact with them, the service said it doesn't give out details and that it makes contact with producers. It is not clear how Netflix will know of producers or how to reach them.
