Not in the very distant past, prime time programming in Ethiopia consisted of nothing more than shows focusing on social life in the country, short dramas on the Sunday afternoon show, then known simply as 120, referring to its duration, and educational programs. The only bright spot for most people were the featured Hollywood movies on Saturday nights that were known as Talak Film, roughly translated as Great Movie. But things have changed. Perhaps taking cues from the west or from the Arab Satellite, TV in Ethiopia has moved forward. Though a very recent phenomenon, drama series has gained a lot of traction in such a short time and have become popular with an audience of wide demography, winning their hearts and minds. As such, these days, many producers are leaning towards doing these television shows because of the accessibility of serial dramas for a wide range of viewers and the income it is able to generate and of course the chance it has for exercising the art well.
Mesfin Getachew is the co-owner of Sparks Film Production, a production company that has produced one of the most popular television dramas, Sew Lesew, which was broadcast by the Ethiopian Broadcasting Service (EBC), the then Ethiopian Television (ETV). The drama ran for three years on the state owned television and made many of its actors popular in the process. Mesfin is well-known for his serial radio programs that were broadcast in assistance with Population Media Center. Some of these dramas are Yeken Kignt, Maleda, Siberat, Mieraf, Yezemen Chigngoch, and Yeledet Tewaf, in which he participated as co-writer of the plays. He was also the script writers for Sew Lesew. “If the producers do the serials seriously and if they give it their time and effort, the work of serial dramas is profitable; but the sense to the art should come first,” says Mesfin. Mesfin says actors for Sew Lesew were paid 300 Br to 1,000 Br per episode, while the 60pc share for the producers amounted to 200,000 Br to 300,000 Br.
“There is much challenge in the production of serial dramas compared to feature films since in feature films, the production costs are made once while the cost and other works related to the serial dramas persist until the end of the show,” Mesfin says. Because of the small amount of money that the actors are paid, they get reluctant in the middle of production and they might also disappear, affecting the production of the dramas, according to him. Before coming to production stage, Sew Lesew had been processed for six months that was spent on the search for cameramen and editors. “The editors and cameramen are recruited to work in-house and they are paid from 5,000 Br to 6,000 Br a month for cameramen and 10,000 Br for editors,” said Mesfin. “Directors are paid from 3,000 Br to 5,000 Br per episode.”
The major income of the producers is from sponsorship and advertisements. The advertisers deal with EBC and the final division of income is divided on a scheme of 40pc and 60pc. The 40pc goes to EBC while the 60pc is for the production company. “All burdens of production fall on the producers while the television company only takes the share for the cost of broadcasting,” says Equbay Berhe, manager of Daamat Production, producer Gemena 1, and 2, which were broadcast on EBC. “The industry is still in its infancy and people need to come in with the intention of learning than money they could gain from the work,” he said. He says that they had incurred a loss of 450,000 Br during their production of Gemena 1, in which he said that the total income by itself did not exceed one million Br. The deal that they had with EBC then was to share the total income on a scheme of 65pc and 35pc in which the latter goes to EBC.
For the selection of serial dramas, EBC has established its own team of experts in one council called Drama & Film Evaluation & Consulting Council. This council evaluates dramas that come to it in two stages, according to Nebyou Baye, one of the evaluators and a lecturer at Addis Abeba University School of Theatrical Art. The first is evaluating synopsis and treatment of the work in which the works are given to the council with codes without the names of the producers. Then after the evaluation is completed, the second stage comes, which is the evaluation of the company profile that considers the production capacity of the works and the crew. Then after deciding these two in the first evaluation, the second round of competition starts among those who scored more than 70 points. In this evaluation, the council will be given one episode production and four episode scripts of the serial. The council will consider issues like production quality and script of the production and the winner deals with EBC.
“The deals are made according to contract law and the production is evaluated by an independent council of professionals,” said Samuel Kebede, commissioning director at EBC, declining to state the specifications of the deal. “When I see the fierce competition in the production companies, I see that there is much benefit from the serial dramas,” says Nebyou. Since the council started working on evaluation, it has passed two dramas that are now being broadcast by EBC. These two are Wazema and Meleket. “For the two dramas, a total of 37 producers had participated and for a sitcom (situational comedy) only one competitor participated, which was then cancelled as there needed to be additional bidders to run the competition,” Nebyou said. The new council has made a demarcation for the broadcast of serial dramas one season, which is subject to extension depending on the viewers’ preference, which is always checked at the end of each season. Another broadcasting company that broadcasts dramas is Ethiopian Broadcasting Service (EBS) that is based in America. One of the dramas that are broadcast through this media is Mogachoch, which is being produced by Mekdi Production Plc. It has broadcast 22 of its episodes since the start of the production.
“The major challenge in doing serial dramas is time management; you have to run along deadlines and maintain the production quality too,” says Mekdes Tsegaye, the manager of the production. Having produced five feature films, she argues that producing a serial drama is far more challenging than producing feature films. In the latter, all things such as cost, location and time are controlled while in serial dramas all these things are altered according to the production behaviour and the script. “The problems are mainly in our country as in other countries there are controlled environments, i.e., studios, they are also funded, subsidized and also they are made in shares,” she states. She says that the profitability of producing serial dramas is high although she did not tell the expenses and the income of production saying that it is just beginning. The deal that they made with EBS is to share their gains through a 40/60 scheme as done with EBS.
