He has gone beyond just telling stories through his talent.
From his iconic characters in Tsotsi, Safe House, When we were Black, Scandal! and many others, he has contributed tremendously to South Africa’s film and television industry.
Dr Jerry Mofokeng is also a theatre director and mentor who cherishes the art.
In celebration of the international film and television industry on the night of the Oscars award ceremony which took place in Los Angeles, the local industry stakeholders from all walks of life and productions gathered to break bread.
Not only this but to have much-needed conversations about the state of the industry and what matters most.
Being honourable guests of the night, Dr Jerry and Nambitha Ben-Mazwi led this panel discussion hosted by Anele Mdoda.
“Too many people want to come into the industry and the industry is not in them and it’s a problem. People want to become stars, celebrities, they want to have followers and unfortunately, one of the things that’s the death of this industry is these. You don’t need to be a good actor to be in a soapie and when you get onto that set, more often than not, you do not get directed, you bring the craft from yourself. Not only are you doing justice to the charcter but you’re protecting yourself, that’s why one of the things I do is rehearse so that when we get on set, we’re hot,” says Dr Jerry.
In consensus to this, Nambitha reflects on her journey from leaving the corporate world, winning a presenter search competition to venturing into acting and making the conscious decision to never be a long-standing cast member in a soapie.
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“When I assessed the market, I noticed that there was a lot of typecasting and I remember sitting down with my agent and telling her about my strategy. I also said no to soapies, I made that meticulous decision. I could see that it’s very easy to be locked into a soapie and realise in the comfort of it all ten years later that you’re still there and now you’re even called by that character name and you’ve lost your identity.”
“I look at auditions as not just getting a gig but about growing everytime I leave, borrowing knowledge, skill and showcasing range. So, I made sure that I don’t play the same character twice and the reason why I left presenting was because I saw that if casting directors see me on Top Billing, they’re now going to see me as a personality and now they won’t be able to fathom me playing a completely different role. My [goal] was building an international reel, have diversification in it and once you’ve solidified yourself in the market as an actor and thespian first, then start leveraging your other talents,” she says.
Of all Dr Jerry’s concerns though, the art of acting being undermined still remains at the top.
He says that he was told by an industry peer a while back about their experience of coming second to someone who’s primarily an influencer and whose face is used to sell the production. The thespian says the peer was even told to tone down the quality of their performance so as to not outshine the casted influencer.
Dr Jerry previously spoke about this at the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs) last year where he turned heads with his award acceptance speech alongside the cast members of Scandal.
In the speech, he said “cast actors, not models. It’s not about the number of followers you have. It’s about the craft that you bring to the set”.
He told Drum that he hopes he does not lose jobs after this, but it is an important issue to be addressed.
“There are people who are even imposed on directors because of social media followers, and they get to set and demand special attention. Directors can only suggest to them, and not demand from them because they are treated differently on set.
“They arrive on set late, they are busy with social media posts in the dressing room and still in make-up, they are still busy with these phones, taking videos. Then as colleagues we usually want to run through lines together, to warm up because they say action. But the influencers say do your own thing and they will do their own thing. Then when it is time to perform, they just recite the lines. They don’t act them out like they feel them. Then the real actors are asked to tone down their performance because they are now naturally upstaging the influencer because they got there hot. Now you must misrepresent yourself as an actor to accommodate the beauty who cannot act.”
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Defending the quality of local productions, TV producer Bonga Percy Vilakazi says the first enemy of progress is time.
“The first thing that we have to deal with is time. If you’ve got like a million rands and are hoping to spend R100 000 per month for ten months, you can’t because there are salaries, the stories require that you be shooting in certain places, so you find yourself shooting for five months. What you then have to do is shoot fast because the contract has been signed [and you have to make do with what you have]. Different genres work differently, and different directors focus on different things.”
In response, head of premium content and co-productions Nicola van Niekerk says that over the past 11 years, production budgets are not being cut, producers just value different things on set and that’s where they spend their money.
As the discussion progresses with a few rounds of applause, nods and cheers, Dr Jerry also touches on the importance of language representation in storytelling.
Given that the Sotho nation is turning 200 this year, he hopes that Shaka iLembe doesn’t remain the only historic production to come out of the local industry.
“As of this year, I am going into film and television drama directing. I’d like to give the actors an opportunity to actually act, let the cameras catch the performance,” Dr Jerry announces his big move from theatre directing.
