A Chat With Tim Greene
I am not a journalist nor do I have any aspirations to be one. I prefer “commentator” as it affords me the opportunity to be frank about the subject I tackle without the bureaucracy of newsroom politics and red tape. I was worried that Tim would find my approach off-putting but much to my surprise he played along.
I sat down with Tim after the live broadcast for Class Act. The interview was going to be mainly about the show as he is currently directing it. The first thing that I noticed while watching the show and being in the company of the contenders was the pleasant nature with which everybody interacts with each other. At first it seemed a bit odd but as soon as I started talking to Tim I understood where the spirit comes from. Tim is the kind of person who encourages you to put your best foot forward without even saying much. He is open in a sense that, though his position affords him the excuse of being arrogant and dismissive, he is down to earth.
The boys are competing against each other and Tim as a director can see potential in an actor - even if their performance at the time is not that good, so: how does he then not push one contestant more than the others if he sees that he has it in him to do better? He responded by telling me that, each contestant gets 3 takes. Of course he will give the advice on how to do the scene but after those takes have been canned he cannot do much but move on to the next guy.
Ok, I get that but let’s be frank ... do you have any favourites?
“Of course I do. Some of these guys are just as good as any professional actors out there. Some of them can just get out of this and get work out there. The thing here is that they have to convince the viewers that they can do this. It’s all about the votes but I think some of these guys have it.”
Upon realizing that he didn’t have the budget to realize the dream of making this feature, he put out a call to 1000 investors who could each risk contributing a R1000 to the production of this film.
By 2003 he had raised and secured the R1m and a further R400 000 to the project. A milestone for our struggling film industry. The film premiered in 2004 in Capetown and in May 2005 was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film featured real life street kids from Capetown and upon completion Tim organized an outdoor screening for all of Capetown’s street kids. The film will also go down in history as a film with the longest list of associate producers as all 1000 investors were named on the credit list. Can’t imagine having to sit in the cinema to read all those names.
For most South Africans though, Tim’s name will be recognized in credit lists of show like Tsha Tsha, Hard Copy and Zero Tolerance. Look out for that name because if history is any indication the SABC will definitely repeat this shows many time in future.
It was indeed an honour and a privilege to have spent some time with Tim Greene and gotten to talk to the man who is a pioneer in our industry. If nothing else worth mentioning ever happens in my carrer as an entertainment commentator, at least I can look back at this moment and forever be grateful for the opportunity.
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