The Impact of a Drama Series on the Community Where it is Produced

Based on the abstract

This six-page report evaluates the impact that the South African television drama series, Tsha Tsha, had on the community of the town in which it was filmed. The series is set in a fictional small town, Lubusi, but the story is developed with reference to the people, places and stories of a real town, Peddie, in the Eastern Cape province.

Early research into the characters and story took place in this location, the series was partly recorded in the town, many of the town’s people acted as extras and the partial production of the series in the town represented an input into its small economy. The researchers set out to investigate what this meant to the town and people by interviewing a range of people in the town, and key people involved in the production of the series. They discovered a contrasting set of discourses around the meaning of using this town as a location and context for the drama, as represented in the eyes of the community and the producers.

There are many positive elements to the fact that the series was located here: it has created temporary employment in an economically depressed environment (having spent 4% of the project budget in the town itself); it has given the small town a national profile; it has given publicity to some of the small businesses in town; it has to a limited extent created a sense of pride that the town was chosen for the production; and it has apparently created something of a sense of hope in a world where there is little opportunity. However, these and other positive elements created expectations and aspirations that exceeded the opportunities that were to be had. The production partners engaged with community organisations at various points and efforts were made to provide opportunities, but they saw the place as first and foremost a location and context to be drawn on for developing the story. Only to a limited extent did they see their task as meeting the needs of, or assisting the community in question. Their commitment was a broader one, given expression in the objectives of the series.

Whilst the aspirations of the community may be viewed as unrealistic, given the realities of production, the researchers try to make sense of their expectations and the mismatch with the realities of production. They argue that the mismatch is inevitable in this context and provide a theoretical framework for understanding this. In conclusion, they attempt to lay out some foundational principles for managing situations like this, based on the experiences of the community and the production partners.