WATERFRONT BOATING STORIES
A CO-PRODUCTION between kykNET and Showmax, the 13-episode original series Waterfront premiered on DStv last Tuesday at 8pm, and is available on the Showmax platform with weekly episodes being added every Thursday.
Drawing inspiration from family noir dramas like Bloodline, The Killing and The Affair, which explore themes of conflicting memories of the same events, Waterfront revolves around a boating business under pressure to move out of the V&A Waterfront after a shopping centre development pushes up land prices, in an exploration of the darker underbelly of one of Cape Town’s most popular tourist attractions.
Written by Leon Kruger, the series was first envisaged as a soap (it was runner-up to The Wild on M-Net, then to Suidooster on kykNET) before being redeveloped into its current format. The cast includes Dawid Minnaar, Rolanda Marais, Edwin van der Walt, Milan Murray, Trix Vivier, Paul du Toit, Stiaan Bam, Euodia Samson, Neels van Jaarsveld, and Charlton George.
I sat down with director Jaco Bouwer to find out more about the making of the series. The Harbour, or any place that is in transition, is interesting for me. The Waterfront is like a microcosm for how we live in this country – the super-rich, and also different variations and storylines happening in the same vicinity,” he says.
Property at the Waterfront is among the most expensive on the continent and at the centre of the series is Ben Myburgh, who has had his business in the harbour for decades. “Suddenly he has big complexes going up around him and people literally pushing him out,” says Bouwer. That’s a fact in real life, and a crucial part of the story, which Bouwer doesn’t want to give away.
During the research phase, the producers uncovered how much competition surrounds the business of yacht design, with tales of boatyards being vandalised and burnt to the ground. “I think a lot of that inspired the writing of Waterfront,” says Bouwer. “It will be interesting to see what it looks like 20 years from now.”
Cast member Charlton George, who is in his late 50s, knew the Waterfront before it was developed, and shared with the crew how much it has changed, says Bouwer. “It was dangerous back then; you couldn’t even walk around there.”
With an all-access shooting pass, Waterfront was filmed during the height of the Silo District development this winter, which adds a topical edge to the series. It also brought with it some technical challenges, with long single steadycam takes.
“It was rough because we’d be totally exposed to the elements. We’d prep for a location and when we got there, we’d find it to be impossible. But sometimes it’s good to have these rules, or handicaps; it must influence the product,” says Bouwer. “Hopefully not in a negative way,” he adds.
Admittedly, a theatre background helped with these challenges, as did having a cast with similar experience in sustaining a performance for several minutes at a time.
Bouwer says the original soap concept for the series was what he calls a “Stuyvestant ad” with its glitz and glamour, and characters working and living in high currency positions. Through the reworking, Waterfront was pushed more towards the human aspect and family intrigue.
“When this came along, the family noir was such a strong reference for me, particularly with the time jumps,” says Bouwer.
In the opening scene of the first episode, the audience is introduced to the deceased Myburgh patriarch, after which the story unfolds in a series of shifting timelines between past and present. Bouwer says he has tried to keep these flashbacks subtle through use of different seasons, for example, rather than colour grading.
“I think in family life we are informed by lots of small things – little explosions. It’s not always about the big events like abuse or death that have an effect on a child,” says Bouwer.
This is why we will see three daughters, ostensibly from the same background and upbringing, having three separate and distinct personalities.
“It’s interesting to see their different reactions to the news of their father’s death,” says Bouwer. “Through this event they have to deal with themselves individually and as a family.”
Bouwer believes visually, local content in this “colder, less saturated” style has not been seen before.
“We used a loose camera. We never had fixed cameras; it was either hand-held or steady cam,” he explains. “It almost has the sense of a documentary. It’s like catching reality, and lessens the distance between the characters and the audience. I think this is what sets it apart.” SHORT SYNOPSIS Boat-building patriarch Ben Myburgh (Safta nominee Dawid Minnaar) is dead. This brings his three daughters – Julia (Die Byl’s Milan Murray), Anna (Silwerskerm and Fleur du Cap nominee Rolanda Marais) and Kate (Die Boekklub’s Trix Vivier) – back to the family business at the Cape Town harbour. But only one will inherit the family empire in this dark story of secrets, sibling rivalry and gentrification.
It also brought with it some technical challenges, with long single takes