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Thandi Brewer | |
|---|---|
| Died | 12 June 2019 |
| Nationality | South African |
| Occupation(s) | Showrunner, screenwriter, film producer, director, script editor |
Thandi Brewer (died 12 June 2019), was a South African showrunner, screenwriter, film producer, director, and script editor.
Brewer was born in South Africa and lived in Lower Houghton, to the north of Upper Houghton, adjacent to Hillbrow, before moving to the rural Hennops River region. She travelled widely through China, Russia, Europe, America, and other parts of Africa.
Many generations of the Brewer family were involved in the South African film/TV and theater industry — and the young Thandi started early. She was cast in a commercial for diapers (known in South Africa as nappies) when she was only six months old! Brewer's grandfather was Jimmy Hunter (stand-up comic and producer of Jimmy Hunter's Brighton Follies). [1] [2] Her father, Bill Brewer worked as a comic, actor, musician, composer, writer, and critic on the Sunday Times (South Africa). [3] [4] [5] Her mother, British-born Fiona Fraser, was an actress, director, writer, and mentor who was given the lifetime achiever award at the Naledi Theatre Awards in 2005. [6] [7] [8] [9]
Brewer performed at various times throughout her childhood as a child actor in South Africa. She acted in films such as Majuba and Escape Route Cape Town. At age 5 she starred in the eponymous radio show, Thandi Time.
Her stage work as a writer and director included My Mother, Myself, Two Singers - Khuluma, The History of Sex , Letters of Love, Lust and Living, Alice in Africa, Azanyan Fairytales, The Will to Die, and Alternatives Anonymous.
In 1995, she won the Soundscapes competition for Best South African Play for her first play, "Samuel's Fugue". This was broadcast the same year and resulted in her being nominated for an Artes Award for Best Script in 1996. She then went on to write "Dynamite Diepkloof Dudes - SABC 3 for Bobby Heaney Productions; "Nodedancing," which was a finalist in the Xencat/Channel 4 script writing competition; and "Balls Up, a film script awarded a development grant by the Department of Arts and Culture. She was one of the young directors chosen for "Entsha/Nuwe Talente" on SABC 2 and produced the thirteen-part action/adventure series "Venture Out There" for SABC 3. Additionally, she wrote "37 Honey Street," a 26-part drama series for SABC 2, which she also directed.
A prolific writer, Brewer wrote the international film scripts for Story of An African Farm, De Gerrie and The Chemo Club. Her second play, Please Hold I'm Coming, ran to critical and audience acclaim at the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg.
A long-standing friendship with Ian von Memerty became a highly productive working relationship. Together they produced Rockatutu for the South African Ballet Theatre in 2004, which segued into Music and Mayhem in 2005, Jump 4 Joy in 2006, The Heart is Round in 2007 and Gunslingers.
She was one of 12 South African writers selected for the Sediba writer's workshop of 2005, run by Alby James. This led to her becoming a senior script editor for the SABC/Sediba workshop.
Brewer was also a screenwriting mentor of the NFVF Spark writers programme with Julie Hall, Mmabatho Kau, and Loyiso Maquoba. She wrote “Usindiso/Redemption!!” which she produced in conjunction with Bridget Pickering (Co-producer of “Hotel Rwanda”). [10] This was a regional semi-finalist for best drama series for the International Emmys in 2008. It won 4 SAFTAs, and played to 4.3 million viewers a night on SABC 1.
She created and was the showrunner on "Sticks and “Stones" [11] and “End Game” which aired on SABC 1 and received enormous critical and audience acclaim. [12] [13] Shortly before her death, she had completed her directorial debut with her script “The Chemo Club,” which was nominated in the 2015 WGSA Muse Awards Feature film category. [14]
She was one of the founders and the first Chair of the Writers' Guild of South Africa, as well as screenwriting Chair for AFDA. She was also involved in the South African Screen Federation (SASFED) Executive Committee as Co-Secretaries with Khalid Shamis in 2009. [15] The following year, she held the Executive Position of Communications. [16]
Brewer's ongoing cancer battle and double mastectomy made her more determined to write, produce and direct more South African content. [17]
She died on 12 June 2019 after losing her third battle against the disease. [18]
Brewer produced about 300 hours of film during her lifetime. [19] Her capital had produced over 97 million rands worth of products.[ citation needed ]
Her productions included children's series Dynamite Diepkloof Dudes; 37 Honey Street which made countrywide headlines with the first-ever lesbian kiss on South African television; [20] the 7 SAFTA Award-winning and International Emmy-nominated Usindiso; Sticks and Stones, the first series in the history of South African television to have an audiovisual description for the blind; Bahati Close, the first series produced by M-Net East Africa; and End Game. She had been show running Keeping Score, a 156-part telenovela she created. Keeping Score is the first telenovela that SABC 2 has done.
As a script editor, she worked with writers to produce Society on SABC 1, Tiger on SABC 2, Love Mzanzi Style (etc), and SAFTA-winning Borderliners S2. As an approved NFVF script editor and story analyst, she helped writers hone their words on Jimmy in Pink for UK/NFVF 25 Words or less, Mama Africa and Hear Me Move for NFVF.
Her work as a script doctor includes Hillside on SABC 2, One Way on SABC 1, 102 Paradise Lane SABC 2, and Glory Boys M-Net. She script doctored four international features, including a film by Luc Jacquet, Oscar-winning director of March of the Penguins , and Cheap Lives by Antony Sher.
As the head of development for an international film company, she oversaw the development of 8 international features and 24 documentaries.
She was a founding member and the first chairman of the South African Writers Guild. Brewer was passionate about Africa, African literature, and African writers. She trained more than 500 South African and African writers as a screenwriting mentor through the NFVF screenwriting programme Spark, M-Net's East African skills transfer programme in Kenya, the Namibian film commission's short film slate, screenwriting mentor on the NFVF/Blingola female filmmakers slate, and as a former AFDA screenwriting chair.
Her feature film screenplays included Story of an African Farm , starring Richard E. Grant, De Gerrie for Hugh Masekela and the NFVF, and The Chemo Club, which was her directorial debut.
