8 June, 2017 - 07:47
South African film producer Helena Spring's advice to aspiring movie-makers? Under-promise and over-deliver. by Robert Haynes
We recently spoke with film producer Helena Spring on being a woman in a very male-dominated field, her success with the box office hit Keeping Up With The Kandasamys and her opinions of the proverbial glass ceiling in the world of film and how it's being broken.
Spring has been a producer for some 30 years and was also a producing partner with South African filmmaker Anant Singh for many of those years. She's a force to reckon with in the international and South African film industry.
Do you think the film business is still very male-dominated in South Africa?
The SA film industry is evolving very dynamically and the number of women making their mark as writers, directors and producers has definitely increased. The ratio of men is still higher than women but there has never been more opportunity for people with talent, vision and ability, irrespective of their gender, than now.
Have you had to face challenges as a woman in this space?
My work is important to me in a very personal way. I have always aspired to excellence without thinking of my gender as an obstacle to that. Luckily, the film industry nurtures that approach. My main obstacles came from financial institutions that seemed to believe that even women with sound track records cannot be considered economically reliable without some guy in the background signing surety for them. And of course, our industry is a high-risk one which further underpins that misconception.
However, the hardest part for me, was making sacrifices on the home front when my children were young. Working 15-hour days, seven days a week when you're in production is very tough on children and relationships. Without good support, this often becomes an insurmountable challenge for women.
How have you overcome some of these challenges?
I'm sad to say that I've often put work first when I shouldn't have but I'm fortunate enough to have a wonderful life partner and good family support. These were key factors that enabled me to work long hours for extended periods, under stressful conditions. It also gave me the latitude to be away from home on remote locations when necessary. Knowing that my children and household suffered minimal disruption during these periods gave me the freedom to keep making films.
Is there scope for growth with women in the world of film and TV?
Of course, now more so than ever before. Young female filmmakers are being singled out for opportunity. That, together with the hunger for content, opens up many possibilities. Today, the main criteria for achievement in the entertainment industry is original thinking, strong creative vision and insight into audience needs. Combine that with discipline and reliability and the sky is the limit.
Do you think women's voices are important in the world of South African film?
Advertisement
Absolutely. We have complex gender issues in South Africa arising from challenging conditions such as lack of opportunity and education, domestic violence, poverty, cultural and traditional limitations around a woman's role and sexuality and that's just scratching the surface. There are extremely serious issues, such as the high level of rape of women in this country, a significant symptom of women's subjugation in our society. So it is critical that female perspectives are communicated, be it through the eyes of a character or the storyteller. Film and television has the ability to embody dreams and aspirations, to create role models and smash stereotypes - music, art, film and television have at times been the catalysts that have brought about bigger societal change than politics or legislation.
Your director on Keeping Up With The Kandasamys was a woman - what prompted this choice?
There was never any doubt about Jayan Moodley directing the film. Early on, there was some discussion about another possible director, proposed by Jayan herself, who was writing the script at that time. But this is a story about two matriarchs within a culture and lifestyle that she understood really well so she was our clear choice from the get go.
You've broken some local box office records with this film - tell us a little bit about the achievements from a box office perspective?
The film resonated with audiences as an authentic slice of family life, with a lot of heart and humor. It offered people enough to entice them to leave their homes and go to cinema. Good box office is difficult to predict - the audience either warms to the film or not, however, it is important to give your film visibility with strong marketing and publicity. You have to give the opening weekend your best shot, after that you're at the mercy of good (or bad) word of mouth.
Do you believe that film in South Africa is still financially viable - if so how?
SA has a small diverse market - 11 different languages, numerous cultural and economic divides. Europe, Australia and the USA with their large homogeneous populations are able to recover production costs in their home markets. We rarely do so in SA with the result that we have to keep our budgets small, so it is difficult for us to meaningfully compete with the high production values of international films. At some point, we need to make films that will sell into other markets too if we really want our industry to be economically sound. We also need to cultivate a stronger culture of support for our films in our home market.
What advice do you have for women trying to break into the world of film and television?
I have the same advice to all filmmakers irrespective of gender: learn your craft well, develop your own authentic voice and vision, work hard, take risks, under-promise a
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
21/10/2025
As Amazon's Prime Video prepares to launch its coverage of NBA basketball under a major new deal, Grup Mediapro has announced that it is working with the st...
21/10/2025
ATLANTA Good news for consumers using an Atlanta DTH receiver to watch ATSC 3.0: with a new software update, they will be able to blanket their homes with Wi-Fi...
21/10/2025
While recent news has been heavily focused on Hispanic migration into the U.S., The 2025 Hispanic Market Report from Claritas highlights the fact that this gr...
21/10/2025
MAIDENHEAD, UK RWS has hired Michael Wayne as its head of media and entertainment in Los Angeles where he will lead the company's media localization busines...
21/10/2025
Imagine Communications and Rohde & Schwarz today announced a definitive agreement under which Imagine will acquire Pixel Power Limited, a wholly owned subsidiar...
21/10/2025
Atlanta DTH (ADTH) today announced a major update that will expand the functionality of its NEXTGEN TV receiver by enabling gateway capabilities allowing viewer...
21/10/2025
Heartland Video Systems, Inc. (HVS), a premier video systems integration, consulting, and expert ATSC 3.0 implementation firm announces that it has partnered wi...
21/10/2025
QuickLink, the leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest integration solutions, today announced the appointment of Austin Hinton as it...
21/10/2025
nternet connectivity startup Miri Technologies Inc. will use this week's NAB Show New York as the launch pad for its latest ground-breaking innovation, the ...
20/10/2025
Inside TAMS: How Time-Addressable Media Stores could redefine sports workflows By Paul Markham
Friday, October 17, 2025 - 08:57
Print This Story
A penalty...
20/10/2025
Transformational production: Inside TVN's remote production push for the DFL...
20/10/2025
How NBC Sports Transitioned Stamford Facility to One Format: 1080p HDRMulti-year plan harmonizes workflows, simplifies operationsBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial ...
20/10/2025
NBA on NBC' Studio Production Team Is Ready for Tip-Off With Coast-to-Coast...
20/10/2025
Under pressure: TVN CEO Markus Osthaus considers the German sports broadcasting ...
20/10/2025
(L-R) Maria Dizzia, Carmen Emmi, and Russell Tovey attend the Plainclothes pre...
20/10/2025
In March, we launched Concerts Near You to help listeners find concerts from their favorite artists. Since then, more than 3 million people have used it to disc...
20/10/2025
Em diversas cidades do Brasil, um movimento tem se fortalecido para celebrar o poder, a beleza e a profundidade da criatividade negra. O Dia AMPLIFIKA, agora em...
20/10/2025
In cities across Brazil, a movement is growing that celebrates the power, beauty, and depth of Black creativity. AMPLIFIKA Day, now in its fifth edition, return...
20/10/2025
Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft rendering...
20/10/2025
DENVER and MUNICH Imagine Communications today announced its plans to acquire Pixel Power Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rohde & Schwarz. Financial terms of...
20/10/2025
LOS ANGELES G Morgan has joined Globecast, a provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, as executive vice president of sales, Globecast Am...
20/10/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wisc. Heartland Video Systems and Zixi have partnered to enable broadcast-quality live video delivery over any IP network....
20/10/2025
A. R. Rahman on Facing Fear and Finding the Divine In an interview with Berklee President Jim Lucchese, the Oscar-winning composer reflects on how courage and...
20/10/2025
Monday 20 October 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cookies. ...
20/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz transfers Pixel Power to Imagine Communications Companies work collaboratively to ensure continuity and ongoing support for existing customers...
20/10/2025
RT 's Prime Time is set to host the final Presidential Election Debate this Tuesday night, October 21, providing an opportunity to hear directly from Irelan...
20/10/2025
NVIDIA and Google Cloud are expanding access to accelerated computing to transform the full spectrum of enterprise workloads, from visual computing to agentic a...
19/10/2025
Back to All News
Sins of Kujo' Comes to Life in New Live-Action Series Set for Spring 2026
Entertainment
19 October 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to cl...
18/10/2025
New England Sports Network (NESN) has chosen Harmonic, working with Astound Business Solutions, as its enterprise technology partner to transform primary distri...
18/10/2025
NEW ORLEANS, La. In the run-up to the start of the NBA season, WVUE-TV and Gray Local Media have announced a deal with DirecTV that will greatly expand access t...
18/10/2025
Berklee Celebrates 40 Years of the Fall Together Concert Faculty composers Bob Pilkington and Greg Hopkins are among the featured artists for this year's ...
17/10/2025
NEP Group Receives New Equity Investment From 26North Partners LP, Co-InvestorsCarlyle remains the largest shareholder as the company prepares for the futureBy ...
17/10/2025
Apple Lands Five-Year Deal for F1 Distribution in the U.S.Besides airing on Apple TV, the sport will be amplified on other Apple servicesBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Ed...
17/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Marshall Electronics' Bernie Keach on the Future of PTZ Camera...
17/10/2025
L2 Productions' REMI Facility in Austin Can Produce Content From AnywhereMusic festivals, sports events are produced via flypacks and remote control roomsBy...
17/10/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
17/10/2025
(L-R) Christopher Meyer, Addison Timlin, Cooper Raiff, Lili Reinhart, Alyah Chan...
17/10/2025
M sica e arte se uniram em uma noite especial na semana passada na ZIV Gallery, ...
17/10/2025
Music and art came together for one special night last week at ZIV Gallery, an i...
17/10/2025
Spotify and FC Barcelona are extending our partnership through 2030, continuing a collaboration that's redefining how fans, players, and artists connect. Th...
17/10/2025
MURRIETA, Calif. The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC) has deployed DigitalGlue's creative.space storage platform to streamline video production by centrali...
17/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. Football continued to cement its reputation as a bulwark of TV advertising in Q3 2025 with new data from iSpot that showed both the NFL and coll...
17/10/2025
The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC), the premier competitive saltwater fishing series, has transformed its production workflow by adopting creative.space, the...
17/10/2025
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, announces the release of StudioPro Version 4, ...
17/10/2025
Although the annual Grammy Awards celebration is best known for recognizing achievements in the recording industry, the show often proves a visual spectacle as ...
17/10/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leading provider of software-defined data storage and data services, has promoted Alex Dunfey to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from his for...
17/10/2025
The University of Arizona (UofA) has significantly upgraded its broadcast communication infrastructure with the integration of Riedel Communications' advanc...
17/10/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that New England Sports Network (NESN), owned by Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North, has selected Harmonic as its en...
8 June, 2017 - 07:47 
