Within its first week of release, Queen Sono, Netflix’s first fully produced African original series shot to number one in viewership in several African and Caribbean countries and at a point in its first week, it was ranked 7th on Netflix in the United States of America according to a tweet by the show’s Star, Pearl Thusi.
Netflix itself as par usual declined to share details in the show’s viewership, but there are plenty of clear signs it is putting the building block in place to have a real run that could change the shape of Africa’s entertainment industry.
Queen Sono was led by South African writer-director, Kagiso lediga, and features an African cast and crew. It tells the story of a troubled spy (Queen Sono played by Thusi) who is haunted by association of her mother, a famous Hutti apartheid campaigner.
This is African telling African stories and using the power to decide how we tell the stories. The six episode series, Netflix’s first script to screen African produced series form part of a much larger strategy to have an African audience on the continent, attract international audiences and connect with an increasing influential African diaspora audience in markets across the US, Europe and beyond.
Last year, Lion Heart featuring Nigerian Nolloywood Star, Genevieve Nnaji was Netflix’s first original film in Africa even through the media giant had been buying content across the continent. Infact one of its buys was a South African products called ‘catching feelings’ directed by Kadiso Ledis and also staring Thusi withNetflix looking to expand in Africa.
Queen Sono’s early signs of success are a strong indication of a growing global appetite for stories set and filmed in the continent, directed and starring local African talent. Africans tapping into Netflix’s N15 billion original production and licensing budget would have a huge impact on a sector that while rich in talent does not have access to the type of funding that enables film makers to easily produce contact with the look and feel of international high quality production.
Queen Sono was shot in 37 different locations across Johanesburg including, the CBO, park station and Soweto. Additional filming was also done in Nairobi, Lagos, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Such production costs exceed the budgets of most film production companies and the continent.