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REGIONAL ROUND-UP
EAST AFRICA’S GOT TALENT TPMEA MEETS THE TEAM OVERCOMING HUGE CHALLENGES TO PUT ON THE EAST AFRICAN VERSION OF THE POPULAR TALENT SHOW.
A triumph for the region, the very first series of East Africa’s Got Talent was filmed in Kenya and broadcast across East Africa to countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. After the success of South Africa’s Got Talent in 2017, a blueprint was already in place and the idea was to follow this formula. Auditions – consisting of a seven-day set-up and then a fourday back-to-back shoot in June – were followed by the live broadcast hosted over a four-week period from 15 September to 6 October. South African companies, including producers Rapid Blue, technical suppliers Blond Productions, and Visual Frontier, who was responsible for the lighting design, partnered with Kenya-based rental company, MoSound Events to pull off what turned out to be a greatlooking show. “After much searching, we found a great venue: The M-PESA Foundation Academy
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in Kenya, a state-of-the-art school with an auditorium fully equipped with brand new gear,” said Mauritz Neethling, Project Manager and LD at Blond Productions. The venue already had most of the front light needed, so the only items that had to be brought in from South Africa were 48 Robe LEDBeam 100s – to replace the parcans on trusses on the side used on the previous show – and Cyc FX4 to frame the 8m by 4m LED wall that made the backdrop of the set. Neethling and Christiaan Ballot, owner of Blond, had also visited Kenya to find a technical supplier and joined forces with Kevin Muley from MoSound, who supplied lighting, sound desks and microphones, while his subsidiary company, Film Studios Kenya, provided Sky Panels, HMI and cabling and distribution needed for the behindthe-scenes section of the show. “The auditions,
based on Joshua Cutts’ design, worked well and looked great,” commented Lighting Operator, Andre Siebrits from Visual Frontier. “It blew away all expectations of what we could achieve in East Africa and that was because of everyone’s willingness to help.” After the successful auditions, the team returned to South Africa, assuming that the M-PESA Foundation Academy venue would again be used for the live broadcast to be held a few months later. “A month before we headed back to Kenya, we found out that the children at M-PESA Foundation would be sitting exams at the same time we wanted to shoot and, because education is taken so seriously in Kenya, the government would not allow us on the school premises during that time,” Neethling explained. “So, it was back to the drawing board to find another venue