By Grant Moyo
Creative entrepreneur Rutendo Mahofa continues to collaborate with various creatives on diverse projects that celebrate the authenticity of African storytelling.
As a creator in many forms, she runs her own start-up firm, Roar Digital Consultancy, and she is a content director as well as producer in film and television productions that have been broadcast and airing on Zambezi Magic, DStv channel 162 and Honey TV, DStv channel 173.
Having started off her audiovisual exploits with an independent YouTube show, The Reel, it is while training at the MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy that Mahofa started finding her niche in film making. Sharpening and nourishing her production skills, she got exposed to various departments steadily solidifying the evolution of her career.
Mahofa was born in Harare and obtained a Bachelors Degree in International Marketing from Chinhoyi University of Technology. She attended Martindale Primary School and Mutare Girls High School.
In 2018, the creative entrepreneur got an opportunity to learn about film and television through MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy for Southern Africa in Zambia, and acquired a Certificate in Film and TV production in 2019.
Mahofa is a MultiChoice Talent Factory alumnus who has been a part of two feature films Savannah Skies and The Painting, taking on roles as first assistant director and art director.
The movies premiered on Zambezi Magic and are currently showing on Showmax, an online subscription video on demand service. She has also worked on premiere reality shows on Honey TV like Ehe! It’s A Match, Hoot Cook Go Zambia, Yes! Ndio Beeni Zambia, and Mom vs Wife.
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“Growing up wasn’t an easy journey, I was raised by matriarchs. I learned so much from my mother’s family and my late grandmother who was such an animated character,” she said.
“I was born to be a storyteller because of her. She also taught me to be determined, hard working, hospitable, giving, and God fearing. I always wanted to tell stories, whenever I would watch TV, I wondered how creatives kept us [viewers] captivated, and curiosity drew me closer to content creation. Even so, the arts always seemed as more of a hobby than something I could base on as a career. This made me explore more on my fascination for business.
“Over the years I remained logical yet creative. When I joined Cross Culture, a youth group, I had two amazing mentors that helped me challenge my creative side. They created platforms for me to use my voice, I curate content for youths and arts events”.
“I got a chance to intern at ZiFM Stereo first as a voice over artist and later as a commercial production officer. It exposed me to the power of programming and how radio personalities could drive listeners’ decisions solely by creatively feeding them a narrative.
“I couldn’t help but think of the potential television had. After graduating I was deeply conflicted, as much as my marketing career was set, nothing shunned my aspirations for television production.
“The excitement that Black Panther (a 2018 American superhero film produced by Marvel Studios) was premiering soon pushed me to launch my YouTube show,The Reel, to give a platform to review the film and to continue critiquing other Marvel Studios productions, which came after.”
Through prayer and belief Mahofa found herself in a TV production company employed as an administrator and later production manager. With no clue as to how television worked, curiosity made her glean and learn from her knowledgeable and skilled colleagues.
Doing her own research about the film and television field resulted in the creative entrepreneur stumbling on a MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy training call, which she applied to and was selected to be a part of.
Being on a film set made Mahofa preview long hours that could have been spending shooting, especially if a part of the production team did not verify their checklist upon going on location.
She also learned how structuring reality television shows is different from scripted series. Reality TV necessitates the production team to find the interesting and dramatic bits in the existing characters and be able to bring that out without necessarily over controlling or manipulating the reality when filming. In essence, Mahofa has worked across multiple departments and has had varied experiences as a production designer, wardrobe designer, first assistant director, writer, content director, production coordinator and producer.
“I remember during film training (MultiChoice Talent Factory) we would get new facilitators with varied experience each week. When my colleagues and I interned first at Zuba (telenovela series), I closely watched the execution of one of the directors,” Mahofa said.
“The experience taught me the importance of ordering a shooting script and accounting for shooting time so as to finish on schedule. I learned that directors are the engines to crews in the sense that the energy they bring translates, they literally have to interface with every department and know what they want yet also trust and respect that the crew can suggest ideas that work in their specialty.
“When I interned at Date My Family (reality show), it was while in pre-production with one of the content researchers that I learned how to research and do a thorough background check on real characters, closely paying attention to any red flags that may cause any backlash.
“For instance, if the participants were really single and how this can be verified beyond their word. As part of our final projects we worked on two films, The Painting and Savannah Skies, which I took on the role of a first assistant director.
For The Painting as a wardrobe designer, I learned so much about telling a story through what one does or doesn’t wear. How colour can help show where a character is or is headed in a story and having back up wardrobe, especially if a character is going to get wet, muddied or paint spoiled all over their clothes. I also worked on reality shows for Honey TV under a contract I received through Media 365.”
One major fact about filming in all stages is that a filmmaker is only as strong as their weakest link, hence it is critical for the crew and cast to invest in each other and work together.
From casting in a foreign city learning different people dynamics to managing a reality cast, scripting for the shows and formulating story lines from the reality characters, Mahofa learned that reality television does not just happen, someone has to go out and make it happen.
Having scheduled with the crew and cast, filming in a controlled environment for a limited time and exposure during the height of Covid-19 as well as watching cuts of episodes for voice over scripting and edit changes before the channels’ approval, the creative process remains fun and fulfilling for the creative entrepreneur.
- Follow Grant Moyo on Twitter: @TotemGrant
