Back in April 2019, it was first reported that Netflix was beginning to invest in more African Content by introducing the first original animated series by South Africa’s Award-winning animation studio Triggerfish and British Kids’ and Family Entertainment Production Company CAKE called “Mama K’s Team 4“.
The series follows four teenage girls living in a futuristic version of Lusaka, Zambia, who are recruited by a retired secret agent to save the world. The series was created by Malenga Mulendema, a Zambian writer who in 2015 was one of eight winners of the Triggerfish Story Lab, a pan-African talent search backed by the Cape Town-based animation studio and The Walt Disney Co. Handling the Designing for the series was Cameroonian artist Malcolm Wope, now in a new report from Animation Magazine has revealed that the Cape Town-based animation has announced their call for entries for a pan-African Story Artist Lab, sponsored by Netflix.
Shortlisted Applicants will have three months of paid skills development with international industry experts. Nathan Stanton, a story artist on Oscar-winning features like Brave, Finding Nemo, and Monsters Inc., will lead the training program. Tendayi Nyeke, Triggerfish’s Zimbabwean-born development executive had this to say about Story Artists and bringing African Stories to life:
“Story artists translate screenplays into animatics, the loose first version of the movie that then shapes every step of animation that follows, So having skilled story artists from the continent in control of how their stories are told is a gamechanger, not only in grooming the next African directors but also in giving pre-production artists the opportunity to establish their own voice as they bring African stories to life.”
Tendayi Nyeke, Triggerfish’s Zimbabwean-born Development Executive
African citizens with concept art and/or storyboarding portfolios can apply until Friday, July 23rd, 2021 at www.triggerfish.com/storyartistlab. Applicants must be available full-time for three months from August 2021; remote working is encouraged. For more on this, Animation Magazine has the full details.
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