Tag Archives: MTV Base

Oros Mampofu to host MTV’s Ghosted

Ghosted: Love Gone Missing presenters Shamiso Mosaka and Oros Mampofu

South African actor Oros Mampofu, star of SABC soap Skeem Saam, has signed up as host for the African version of US reality show Ghosted: Love Gone Missing.

The show seeks to help individuals who have been ‘ghosted’ – left in the dark by someone they care about – and who are distraught and are looking for the truth.

Alongside MTV Base’s Culture Squad presenter Shamiso Mosaka, he will help people track down their loved ones to reveal the truth.

“Ghosted comes to Africa, baby. You guys have no idea what’s coming your way,” Mampofu said on Instagram.

Mampofu is best known for his role as Jama, Thabo Maputla’s university roommate, in the soap opera Skeem Saam as well as his starring role in the Mzansi Magic drama series Igazi.

Ghosted: Love Gone Missing will premiere on MTV Africa (channel 130 on DSTV) on August 16 at 21.30.

The show is based on the US reality show produced by Sharp Entertainment that debuted on MTV in 2019. MTV parent ViacomCBS distributes the format internationally.

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Love Island Nigeria set for production

Reality show Love Island will go into production in Nigeria this summer to air in the autumn, after the ITV Studios format was picked up by a partnership of Nigerian and UK players in September last year.

Odiri Iwuji, Toyin Subair and Neil Oyenekan at the Love Island Nigeria launch

Lagos-based media and broadcast investment company Digital Play Africa has acquired the format licence to the show from ITV Studios and has teamed with exec producer Odiri Iwuji of the UK’s Chudor House Productions and series producer Neil Oyenekan.

Casting for Love Island Nigeria is due to start next month, with production taking place over the summer. The show will see 20 singletons living and loving in a camera-lined luxury villa for seven weeks, the producers announced at a press event in Lagos yesterday together with sponsors, press and representatives of the UK Department of International Trade.

The Nigerian version of the format will be broadcast via Digital Play Africa-backed platform FreeTV’s free-to-air and premium channels including ONTV and MTV Base, as well as being available for digital streaming via the 9Vision mobile app.

Love Island began airing on ITV in the UK in 2005 and has since been adapted locally in 21 countries including the US, South Africa and across Europe, but this version will be the first to feature only black contestants, according to the producers.

Regarding the local adaptation, Digital Play Africa chief Toyin Subair said Love Island “perfectly sums up the expectations Nigerians have of entertainment as the programme offers a rich mix of fun while still touching on the subjects of friendship, love, romance and enduring relationships between islanders.”

“Love Island is perfect for the Nigerian youth audience; it simply ticks all the boxes,” said Iwuji, who is also co-founder and commercial director of C21Media.

Oyenekan added: “Dating is a critical part of millennials maturation in today’s Africa, and Love Island Nigeria offers a ‘verified’ format through which its key stages get tested – we expect great entertainment!”

Huub Van Ballegooy, head of global content and productions at ITV Studios Global Entertainment, added: “As we have already seen in different parts of the world, Love Island works equally well across linear, digital and catch-up platforms. With love being a universal language and the growing Nigerian market, we are very excited to roll out Love Island soon in Nigeria as well.”

Love Island is owned by ITV Studios and Motion Content Group and is distributed internationally by ITV Studios.

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Elba, YouTube, MTV Base in concert return

MTV Base Africa, YouTube and British actor and producer Idris Elba have announced the return of the Africa Day concert, which is slated for May 25.

Idris Elba (photo: Harald Krichel)

According to ViacomCBS-owned channel MTV Base, this year’s concert will shine a light on Africa’s next generation of talent that is making its mark on the global stage. It will be hosted by Golden Globe and SAG Award winner Elba.

The event will feature artists and performers from South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Kenya, including Bahati, Bella Shmurda, Blaq Diamond, Elaine, Focalistic, Gyakie, Omah Lay, Suspect 95, Teni and Zuchu.

Alex Okosi, MD at YouTube EMEA Emerging Markets, took to Instagram to say: “We are doing it again. Celebrating Africa and showcasing our talent to the world. Salute to my bro Idris Elba for his commitment to the mission.”

The event will stream on YouTube at 19.00 CAT/18.00 WAT and on MTV Base DStv channel 322 at 21.00 CAT.

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MTV Shuga’s Aladese opens up

Tunde Aladese, the award-winning Nigeria film actress and screenwriter, was behind MTV Shuga Alone Together, a recent programme highlighting the problems of coronavirus with the aim of flattening the Covid-19 curve.

Tunde Aladese

The nightly show was based on the MTV Base series Shuga and backed by the United Nations, MTV Staying Alive Foundation, the World Health Organisation and other bodies. The series is set in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Cote D’Ivoire and the story is told through online conversations between the main characters. The show also went out via YouTube.

Metfilm School graduate Aladese spoke with Content Nigeria about the project, which debuted in April and was extended to 65 episodes, as well as her career to date and her tips on getting into the screen industry.

Do you remember how you fell in love with films and writing? Was there anything from your childhood that pushed you in this particular direction?
This is a difficult one because it’s never really just one thing. It’s the gradual growth of a lifelong romance. My love for writing started with prose, making sorry imitations of any book I enjoyed in order to somehow prolong the experience that the book had given me. Cinemas weren’t much of a thing in Nigeria at the time when I was growing up, but VCR was big business and watching movies was a big family pastime.

It’s hard to pick just one film because the exposure was constant and the genres were varied. It was the 1980s so there was a lot of that B-movie action, also a lot of the glam miniseries content, usually centred around a woman who succeeded against all odds. There was The Sound of Music, which my siblings and I could quote in its entirety. Arthouse came later, as options widened. I didn’t have a proper understanding of how films came to be for quite a while and a couple of appearances on kids’ variety shows were a surreal experience.

I guess the primary school drama club was my first proper sense of trying to create a narrative out of thin air and get other people to help bring it to life. But I can say that I fell in love with the film business, this idea of actors and directors and storytellers on screen after reading biographies of some old Hollywood movie stars between the ages of 10 and 13. That was when I began to understand the process of how all that came to the screen. The possibility of anything like that being a tangible and viable career plan, came much later.

MTV Shuga Alone Together was self-shot by the Shuga stars

When was it you decided that a career in the screen industry was for you?
The timing was fortunate for me. My first job after university led to an introduction between my boss and a producer who was about to make a radio drama series for the BBC in Nigeria. My boss showed him some ideas I had put down and I got invited to be part of a writers’ room – something I’d never heard of. I couldn’t believe someone paid me that much money – not a huge amount but at the time I was making almost nothing – to do something I’d been doing for fun all my life. I figured I could get used to this…

Success was not immediate but over the next couple of years, enough opportunities came my way that when an international cable company became interested in producing Nigerian series, I actually had a little experience under my belt and could pitch myself for some writing opportunities.

Why did you choose Metfilm School? What were you experiences there?
My first degree was in English Literature, from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. After almost 10 years working professionally as a screenwriter, mostly in television, I wanted new challenges and a wider canvas. I thought learning formally about all aspects of film production would help me with that.

Choosing Metfilm was a combination of timing, location – Berlin had been popping up a lot in my timeline in the months preceding – language, investigating their alumni and the things they had gone on to do since leaving the school. It’s a great way to study the European arthouse film aesthetic, which I was very interested in, without having to take the time to learn a whole new language. And because it’s an English-speaking school in a very European city, you get to study with students from a wide variety of countries from all over the world.

How did the MTV Shuga project come about?
I’m not going to deny that it’s a challenge. I just take it one block at a time, and fortunately I don’t have to do it all on my own. There’s a co-head writer and co-director who alternates blocks with me and of course, the Staying Alive Foundation team. I had worked on two previous seasons of the series, including one season as head writer and had therefore had some contact with some members of the team.

They reached out within the first couple of weeks of lockdown in Germany and told me about this idea they were throwing around, and asked whether it was something I would be interested in coming on board for. I’d been sitting home for two weeks, reading about everything going on all around the world, from news headlines to social media posts sharing people’s emotions, so I knew as soon as they asked that there was potential here. I didn’t imagine at the time that it would be 65 episodes!

What’s the response been like, from the audience and the industry?
To be honest, I don’t know. I usually try to stay away from comments because you get drawn in by the good stuff and then one negative comment and you might spend the rest of the day overthinking. I do understand that reactions and feedback from the first few episodes was quite exciting. It’s been challenging trying to find ways to maintain and increase the momentum and interest. But I did say I was looking for challenges, right?

What are your plans for the future?
I’m almost done with this season of MTV Shuga and there are a couple of things lined up for me to switch over to from next month. But nothing that I am at liberty to talk about right now.

What advice would you give to anyone considering a career in the screen industries?
Read a lot of books, watch a lot of movies. Figure out what you like, what excites and moves you and why. And then try to put it into your own work. Write, write, write. Even when you hate it, keep at it. I had a period of about six years from secondary school into university where, everything I wrote, I hated soon after. But that made me question why I hated it and what I needed to do differently.

The trick is to keep writing so that when an opportunity comes your way, you have something to show of your ability that will make them at least consider you. Don’t wait for someone to find you and make you a writer. And then, of course, seek out those opportunities.

I know this is a bit glib and it won’t work out for everyone, but it will for some. Oh, and I should mention this magic trick. The first time I went to a writers’ workshop, everyone there introduced themselves as a writer except me. I didn’t think I had the right to claim that about my hobby. The people present in the room made me say it, ‘I’m a writer.’ When I returned to my life, I started introducing myself that way. And people remembered. And the calls started coming.

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MTV Shuga Naija returns for S6

MTV Shuga Naija S6 cast members

The sixth season of TV drama MTV Shuga Naija will air from March 6, with production returning to Nigeria.

The last run of the show was produced in South Africa but the new episodes will be filmed in Lagos as well as northern Nigeria.

New cast members include Rahama Sadau, Uzoamaka Aniunoh and Abayomi Alvin, while four actors from previous seasons – Timini Egbuson, Jemima Osunde, Sharon Ezeamaka and Olumide Oworu – will return.

MTV Shuga Naija S6 will follow a new storyline which the producers claim will be more action-packed than before.

The drama focuses on issues that affect African youth, such as family planning, contraception, HIV prevention, sexual education and gender-based violence.

The first episode of the new season will air at 22.00 on MTV Base, DSTV channel 322, on March 6. A repeat broadcast will air on Sunday March 10 in the same slot. It will also air on STV at 22.30 on March 7 and on NTA at 23.00 on March 10.

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Viacom channels join MTN Shortz

Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has agreed a deal that puts several of its global channel brands on mobile operator MTN’s short-film streaming platform in Nigeria.

MTN’s Shortz platform will carry shortform content from VIMN brands including Nickelodeon, MTV, MTV Base and Comedy Central as part of the deal, which VIMN secured alongside Lagos-based Arial View Nigeria and MTN.

Under the deal, MTN subscribers will have the possibility to watch all the best shortform video from the iconic VIMN brands via their favourite devices. The deal licenses AVNL to distribute and monetise content to MTN, Africa’s largest mobile network operator with more than 200 million subscribers, including 57 million in Nigeria alone.

Mobile penetration and the demand for short and bite-size content continues to grow in sub-Saharan Africa, thus making MTN Shortz a strategic and long-term platform to reach audiences.

VIMN announced the MTN deal together with a similar content licensing deal with Vodafone in Turkey, which took 300 hours of VIMN’s SVoD content, versioned in Turkish, from Nickelodeon, Nick Jr and Teennick. The content will be distributed exclusively for mobile consumption via the Vodafone TV app.

VIMN has also launched the MTV+ Prime Video Channel on Amazon in Germany and Austria. Prime members can add MTV+ to their existing Prime membership for €2.99 per month. The new offer gives Amazon Prime Video members the ability to access the linear MTV Brand New channel and various premium MTV content on-demand.

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