Netflix is ready to commission some series in Africa in 2019

Netflix has confirmed its readiness to invest in African film industry with the commissioning of some series in 2019.

An unspecified numbers of series will be commissioned by Netflix in 2019 and this was confirmed by the company's vice president of international originals, Erik Barmack.

Already the works of Nigerian filmmaker, Akin Omotosho and Genevieve Nnaji have been acquired by the streaming giant.

ALSO READ: Netflix buys Genevieve Nnaji's 'Lion heart' before premiere

While Omotosho's Vaya was acquired by Netflix in June 2018, Genevieve's 'Lion heart' also made its way to the streaming platform before the end of 2018.

Netflix’s Europe team is “in the process of looking at opportunities in Africa. It’s definitely the case that we’ll commission some series there in…2019,” Barmack said at the Content London conference.

 

Aside the acquisitions of 'Vaya' and 'Lion Heart' which had the production costs solely carried out by the filmmakers, Netflix is already scouting for original scripts with local casts to invest in ahead of 2019.

Barmack also said the move is in line with Netflix’s global ambitions and with his own prediction that the balance of power in terms of the world’s most-watched shows will soon swing from U.S. to international fare.

“There’s going to come a time when half of the top 10 of most-watched shows in a given year are going to come from outside of the U.S. I don’t think that’s very actually far away. I think that’s going to come in years, not decades. Shows with multinational casts will become the norm,” Barmack said.

Akin Omotoso's 'Vaya' made a November 1, 2018 debut on popular internet movie channel, Netflix while Genevieve Nnaji’s comedy “Lion Heart” was acquired just before the its premiere on Saturday, September 8, 2018.