TIM HORWOOD
C
urrently, Tim is the Creative Director for MTV Networks Africa, but – as he says – it all started at INTV in 1990. “I was 12 years old, and joined Maths No Problem. I played the sort of dumb guy, which was perfect because I’ve always been really bad at maths.”
This is also where Tim met co-presenter Isaac Chokwe. “That developed into a lifelong friendship
and some amazing collaboration work that we did over the years. That show, in my personal life, meant so much more because I was starting to interact with people of other races and stuff. I had never been exposed to someone of another race who was into exactly what I was into, who had the same personality as me. For me that was a major change or input in my life, that show. Maybe not the show itself, but that time and that environment...” “This company has always been good at spotting people with talent and enthusiasm and encouraging them. So they gave us really cool opportunities. We would script some of the episodes, I mean we were 12! We even directed a couple of the episodes in terms of camera plotting. I think that was where my love of TV came from. It was really an amazing intro into the industry.” In his school holidays, Tim used to work on set to learn about the production side of things. “I got exposed to TV that way. That was how I started in the whole TV game...” After finishing matric, Tim left to work elsewhere for a couple of years, but he returned to Urban Brew Studios around 1998 to work on YO TV and Electric Workshop. His friendship and working relationship with Isaac was also rekindled. “I hadn’t seen Isaac for about four years and then we linked up again. We started making inserts as content producers for Electric Workshop.” Tim describes how he and Isaac often used to stay up all night to edit their inserts. “On a 15-minute insert we would spend a day shooting and two days, three days editing. And we created these amazing pieces that were just way ahead of their time.” Tim left Urban Brew Studios once again in 2000 to travel abroad. “When I came back, I was chilling in Cape Town and I had no money. Then I got a phone call from Danie. He wanted to get another producer on Castle Loud.” “Castle Loud was very good music property, and that again was a big turning point for me and a major learning experience. That’s when I started getting involved in music TV. Later we refreshed Castle Loud and made it into a show called One, which was even better. It was what Live is now.” Continuing to pursue his love for music television, Tim took up a permanent position with MTV in 2005.
Celebrating Celebratingthe the25-Year 25 yearJourney journey
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