MultiChoice Talent Factory and CBS Justice announce True Crime Masterclass series

The MultiChoice Talent Factory and thematic TV channel CBS Justice, this week announced their first partnership, offering four true crime masterclass to students and industry professionals across Africa through the MultiChoice Talent Factory online portal.

The true crime genre is hugely popular and the masterclass will cover aspects of developing series with critically acclaimed facilitators. The four one-hour masterclass will be offered live online on Tuesday, 17 and 24 November as well as Tuesday, 01 and 08 December at 13:00 CAT and will subsequently be made available via the portal.

Facilitated by David Howard and Rik Hall of UK-based production company Monster Films, participants will gain first-hand insights across a range of topics, from developing and pitching ideas, to filming, working with talent, on-set best practices, approaches to post-production, sales and marketing.

“A key focus for us is to ensure that MultiChoice Talent Factory offers a diverse set of masterclass covering the depth and breadth of filmmaking. This means finding partners who are specialists in genre filmmaking and have in-depth knowledge of the nuances that come with producing different genres. True crime stories make for gripping entertainment and we are very excited to be partnering with CBS Justice to offer this series of masterclass to industry creatives across Africa,” said Yolisa Phahle, CEO General Entertainment: MultiChoice Group.

The true crime masterclass are the latest in a diverse range of masterclass and workshops offered by the MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy and tie in with its philosophy of upskilling and training industry professionals in the telling of authentic African stories.

“True crime is an extremely popular and expanding genre,” said Louise Cottrell, Senior Vice President, Affiliate Partnerships at AMC Networks International – UK. “We’re delighted that David and Rik from Monster Films, who produced a number of our original productions, have agreed to share their first-hand expertise and industry knowledge in these four masterclass, tailor-made for both students and those already working in the creative industries who have an authentic, fresh idea for developing a gripping true crime series.”

After spending twenty years producing and directing factual programmes for a variety of broadcasters, David Howard and Rik Hall formed Monster Films in 2015 with one goal in mind: to combine their wealth of industry experience with the collaborative, inclusive ethos of a television start-up. The result is an independent production company that fosters creativity, thrives on originality, and builds on pre-existing relationships with some of the world’s largest broadcast and media groups to bring the most diverse stories to the widest possible audience.

As one of the UK’s leading producers of serial and feature documentaries, Monster Films boasts an extensive catalogue of multi-award-winning programmes such as “Making a Monster”, Dark Son, Interview with a Murderer and Kidnapped by My Father for various broadcasters in the UK.

Their series ‘The Real Prime Suspect’ and ‘Voice of a Serial Killer’, commissioned by CBS Reality UK, aired on CBS Justice (DStv 170) across Africa in 2020 and one of their latest productions, season 2 of ‘Coastal Killers’ (‘Murder by the Sea’ in the UK), will air on the channel in early 2021.

CBS Justice is currently available to DStv Premium and Compact Plus customers on channel 170. It investigates some of the world’s most compelling true crime cases and features a curated selection of original and acquired content. This includes expert-led original productions including ‘New Scotland Yard Files’, ‘Donal MacIntyre’s Murder Files’, ‘Secrets of a Psychopath’ and ‘Evidence of Evil’, and acquisitions ‘Cold Justice’, ‘Murder for My Man’ and ‘Homicide’s Elite’.