About The Institute

Mission

The South African Scriptwriting Institute intends to provide quality skills training for scriptwriters at all levels and become the centre of professionalism for South African scriptwriters. Find out here Benefits of being a member of the Institute.

Vision

The Institute will be at the forefront of transformation of the Film and Television Industries and produce writers who are able to generate the level of creativity required for those Industries to become internationally recognized. We intend to play a role in building, strengthening and promoting South Africa’s entertainment and cultural industries

Philosophy

The Institute believes that skills training must be offered within a framework of legal and legislative compliance, ethical business practice and ongoing consultation with the industry that we serve.

Objectives

1. Take basic script-writing training programs to all provinces and all our people Facilitate access for previously disadvantaged writers to the infrastructure necessary to accomplishing their craft
2. Identify talent and up-skill working writers
3. Provide expert training to encourage specialization and diversification
4. Initiate consultation, discussion and policy-making regarding the contribution of filmmaking, particularly storytelling and script writing, to our emerging democracy
5. Promote the writing of scripts in the writer’s first language and in their own cultural context
6. Build a fund of intellectual property around training material that will always be owned by scriptwriters and accessible to all
   

An introduction to The Institute

The value of the South African Film industry is estimated at around R5,5 billion per year (Tuomi, July 2006). The awarding of a best foreign film Oscar to Tsotsi, nomination for an Oscar for Yesterday, both big prizes for Tsotsi in Toronto and the Golden Bear Award at Berlin for uKarmen eKayelitsha highlight that the South African film industry is now a global player.

The television industry’s local content production is at an all-time high, with the national broadcaster achieving just over 80% local content and paying just under half a billion rands for local content television in the last year. With regional television stations to be launched in the next two years, the demand for local content will only increase. The Script is the genesis of that industry, garnering between 1.5% and 4% of the budget. Scriptwriting skills are deemed to be both scarce and critical skills.

The South African Scriptwriter’s Association thrived in this Industry for over 30 years - training, representing, and encouraging the growth of an active writing culture - a culture that generates powerful South African stories for us... and the world.

SASWA ran an organisation that was legally constituted and compliant, democratic and ethical. We formulated policy for the organisation that is representative of the member’s will and kept up a network of industry stakeholders (e.g. government, broadcasters, producers, suppliers) and participated in relevant forums (e.g. the MAPPP SETA FEM chamber, the DTI CSP and the NFVF Indaba).

Further research into the needs of the Film and Television Industry showed that SASWA needed to transform to fit in with government and industry’s expectation of organisation.
In March 2006, at the Annual General Meeting, the membership of SASWA ratified the recommendation to split into two organisations, the South African Scriptwriters Union (SASWU) and its training arm, the South African Scriptwriting Institute (The Institute). The non-profit organisation that was SASWA is trading as The Institute and a new Trade Union is registering with the Dept of Labour.

The Institute operates in the Film, Television and Radio industries of South Africa. We aim to train scriptwriters across all those genres as well as be custodians of the professional standards within the scriptwriting industry. Our target market is working scriptwriters at all levels, aspirant scriptwriters as well as the Producers for whom they work or could work.

The Institute trades from the base of a registered Non-Profit Organization (NPO), the South African Scriptwriter’s Association (SASWA). It is currently setting up its own board but, in the interim, is controlled by the central committee of the South African Scriptwriting Union.

The Institute is a member-based organization with just under 300 members. They are split into 5 categories – Novice and Cadet members are aspirant scriptwriters and working writers (SASWU members) are graded Bronze, Silver and Gold according to their skill and experience. The long-term goal is to have every member on a program of community service, sharing their skills with junior members and on a personal curriculum of lifelong learning.

We currently have 4 full-time staff, and two part-time staff and are growing rapidly. We are running 7 programs with funding from the MAPPP SETA and 3 from the National Lottery. Programs are run nationally, in all provinces at level 5.

The core of our skills stragey is a Level 5 “Fundamentals of Scriptwriting” course that was developed by SASWA over a number of years. This course will be offered in different versions and be supplemented by the formation of supportive writer’s circles and the principal of first-language teaching and writing. This program will feed into prestigious programs such as Sediba, Sithengi and the NFVF script development process.

We have established 2 laboratories, teaching Level 3 ‘Computer skills for Scritpwriters’ and plan more imminently. Higher level programs are also planned as our capacity increases.

Our major competitive strength is our close connection to the Industry. We are involved in organizations like the Motion Picture Trainer’s Association and the SASFED Training, Transformation and Standards sub-committee. We are also involved in the SAQA standards generating process.

We have a close working relationship with statutory body the NFVF, as well as a number of provincial film structures, most notably the Gauteng and Durban Film Offices. We are growing a network of community-based writers organizations who will supply the talent for training into our industry.

As all our skills programmes attest, The Institute is committed to addressing the inequalities of the past and driving the development of an exciting new generation of South African storytellers who will touch the world.