Did you always want to get into the film and television industry?
STEFAN ENSLIN: Yes. As far back as I can remember I always dreamt of making movies. Around the age of 14 I started writing screenplays for home-made movies.
Having working on several fictional pieces, and documentaries, can you speak to the differences and similarities between each?
STEFAN ENSLIN: The similarities are that both needs to have a solid and compelling storyline. In the industry we have a saying: Story is king. And it is true for both. The major difference is that you work with real people and not fictitious characters. So, you need to be very cognisant in relaying their story. You therefore cannot decide on behalf of the character what he/she would do and push the story in that direction.
Not only have you worked on so many projects in the visual medium, but you have your name to print media too. Do you find one area helps the other? Do you have a preference to one medium or another, in terms of getting your idea or creativity out to the world?
STEFAN ENSLIN: I absolutely think the one media helps the other. Both are creative industries and with both you need to tell a story. In printed media you still must show and tell, it just happens on paper, which is sometimes more difficult. If I must choose, then I would probably say I prefer the visual medium. There is something about seeing the pages come to life on a screen. Not much that beat that feeling.
AI and virtual projection have been in the news a lot of late. How do you see all these leaps forward working for and/or against the creative industries?
STEFAN ENSLIN: Good question and everyone will have a different opinion on this. But I think people should look at the benefits of AI. Just like the internet, people weren’t sure how it would really benefit us, but look at how it made the world connected. Not only that, it also resulted in many different industries to pop up, creating jobs for thousands. That lead to the development of technology and if we want to be pedantic then certain software already acts like AI in a sense. So, I think people should look at all the possibilities AI can create in the same sense. It could have the potential to inspire new industries. A concern with AI is that it could potentially result in many people not taking time to think about certain things and will rely on AI to do everything. But AI is not yet there (yet), and I cannot ask AI to write me a complete screenplay or novel. If I want to make use of AI I need to think like a human being and apply human logic and creativity otherwise AI won’t help much.
We have such a diverse society and varied cultures in South Africa. Could you share with us, a small insight into running a production studio in South Africa, versus the rest of the world?
STEFAN ENSLIN: Running a production studio is South Africa is challenging in the sense, money is not royally available. But that is also a benefit as it forces us to think totally different to the rest of the world with booming film industries. We need to come up with very creative ideas to turn a penny into a pound and make that show on the screen. I would agree that it is not always fair to us because we do not work any less harder (I think we work harder than most) but that is a reality we are production studios in South Africa face.
You have a few projects in pre- and post- production. Can you share any insight to what’s next for you? And what we have to look forward to?
STEFAN ENSLIN: I am currently in post-production on two feature documentaries and cannot wait to share that with the rest of the world. The first one is on ex-professional boxer and world champion Welterweight, Chris “The Heat” van Heerden. In this documentary we tell his life story from growing up until now. For this documentary we had to interview Hollywood legends like: Chris Messina, Sam Rockwell, Peter Berg, Frank Grillo, Arnold Vosloo and many more. It really is something to look forward to. The second one is the story of the painting pig, Pigcasso! If you don’t know this pig yet, go and read up on her and look at her paintings. She also holds two Guiness World Records and had art exhibitions in many places around the world. Next year I have a docuseries coming up that will hit TV-screens in October 2025. I cannot say too much about it yet, but it has been almost 3-years in the making, and we will start filming it for a major broadcaster beginning of 2024.
And on top of everything else, you also have a workshop on the SA Film Industry. Tell us a bit about what attendees could expect, and who should attend?
STEFAN ENSLIN: This makes me so excited! I love sharing the knowledge I have with aspiring filmmakers. I had to learn the hard way and find my own ways into the industry. When I started out, I tried to contact some well-known filmmakers in the industry and what I found was very sad. Most of these people never contacted me back. One person took time to reply to one of my emails with a one-liner: “Sorry to hear about your predicament.” That was it. I don’t want aspiring filmmakers to go through the same. My workshops are mostly aimed at the storytellers. Where do you find inspiration for stories, how do you sit down and put ink to paper. Everything from ideas to writing final draft screenplays. In essence it is a masterclass in screenwriting. But it also touches on the different aspects of filmmaking because one cannot think I am going to write a blockbuster and someone with deep pockets will give me money. We need to be realistic in our approach and this is what this workshop highlights.
Any advice for aspiring actors, filmmakers, writers?
STEFAN ENSLIN: Watch your favourite movies. Download the scripts from the internet and read the script for that film and see how the two matches and how the director interpreted the script. But another bit of advice: If I can do it, anyone can do it!
