Generations – The Legacy
Generations is continuing its viewing success and creator Mfundi Vundla couldn’t be happier.
Generations – The Legacy Weekdays SABC1 (*191) 20:00
If you think the soap storylines playing out on your screens are wild, imagine what it’s like creating the characters, sets and everything inbetween. That’s life for 71-year- old Mfundi Vundla, who also executive produces Generations – The Legacy. In this exclusive interview, Mfundi chats about his actors, the raunchy sex scene that put the show in hot water and his other projects…
Has your audiences changed over the years and with the 2014 swap from the original soap? We listen to our audience’s views and we do take into account the things that they rant or rave about. Audiences know the show because some of them have been watching Generations since the beginning in 1994. Interestingly, when you break down the numbers, our audience is mostly made up of the 35-year-old and below-workingclass people. So we have to write storylines that attract the demographic and appeal to the market. Our advertisers work accordingly and I think that is what makes Generations – The Legacy a profitable enterprise. The storylines have also become edgier… We had to recalibrate the storylines after the tragic incident with the 16 cast members in 2014 [the actors went on strike]. The focus was on building a new and young cast, so we had to add fresher faces and not just your wellknown actors like Connie Ferguson [who played Karabo] and Rapulana Seiphemo [who plays Tau]. To fit in with the younger characters, we had to match the times and culture to their existence. It was extremely different to what we had planned when Generations first started. But our audience was changing and we had to change too, so our storylines became harder and darker. Have you had any backlash for a plot? Oh yes! [Laughs] The BDSM [Bondage, Discipline, Sadism, Masochism] sex storyline [in July 2017] had the greatest outcry from our audience. But you know? At the same time, the ratings for those episodes spiked very quickly. Even though the ratings were at an all-time high, we had to listen to our audience and take into account their grievances. We had to take responsibility and it was a bit of a wake-up call for us to remember that we must be careful. How do you plan a storyline? We have these brainstorming sessions in our
boardroom four or five times a year where we sit down for a week and work through character by character and throw ideas around. We argue and debate what could happen to that character and how we can bring in controversial aspects to this character that is relevant to society. It can be anything from gender equality to homosexuality – and then the writers take it from there. Do you have a favourite storyline? I’m proud of any storylines that we have done about HIV and Aids because we aim to educate people about how to get help and what to expect when suffering from such. I’m proud about storylines around women abuse and we hope to educate people about domestic violence. We like it when we start a conversation among the viewers about serious issues, whether it’s in the taxi or social media. And what keeps you going everyday in the television industry? The show keeps me on my toes! And I realise that we’re not just a soapie – we are a platform. We have a responsibility to teach our audiences new things or make them aware of things happen-ing in our world. Our audiences aside, we have also given younger actors and actresses the opportunity to kickstart their careers. Some of our “veterans” are producers of their own shows now [like Connie, who stars and produces Mzansi Magic soap The Queen, 2016- current – see more on p9]. And the list goes on… including Thando Tha-bethe [Nolwazi], who is joining DStv’s TLC channel. Apart from Generations – The Legacy, what else have you been working on? I come from a theatre background and I still love dabbling in musical theatre. I’m trying to do a musical with [South African jazz artist] Dorothy Masuka. I want to recreate something influenced by the era of late Blues musician Dolly Rathebe. In addition to that, I’m helping my son [Charlie] do a Western movie, plus I’m busy developing a precolonial drama series that will focus on the Xhosa people at the time of their independence for M- Net. It’s still in development though and there is still a lot of work that needs to be done on it…