This model, if successful, will create the first film of a sequel franchise bearing the 'Tokoloshe' title, with the aim of shooting four films per year by 2014.
"Blood Tokoloshe" is scheduled to be shot in early 2012 for hard costs only, whereby all the crew and cast are volunteering under a memorandum of understanding that all the profits of the first film will go into the production budget of the second film, and ultimately, the films will pay the participants during filming, and support a sustainable film industry in Orange Farm.
During the filming of "Blood Tokoloshe" and the follow-up films, the project hopes to give participants certain skill sets in film production and training to increase their chances of working in the industry outside of the franchise, as well as empowering participants to be more valuable assets to the franchise and thereby increase their earnings. Local community members will be encouraged to establish small businesses to service the films with equipment hire, talent agencies and other relevant services.
The idea for the film came from a conversation with a DVD distributor who explained that B-grade horror films were the best selling genre in the low cost DVD market, all American titles that yielded small margins. In response to this, producer Pascal Schmitz suggested that the distributor invest in a local horror film by buying some equity in the film and then distributing it through the usual channels.
The director, Jordan Harland, came on board to write the script and in partnership with Theta FM, Harland and Schmitz engaged with members of the community to find real tokoloshe stories, hold castings at the community radio station and identify locations. According to Simon Nwamba of Thetha FM, the experience he is gaining by working on "Blood Tokoloshe" is equipping him and his colleagues with the necessary skills and insights for them to realize their dreams of translating their own scripts into entertaining films.
The long term objective is to develop local audiences through South African content with indigenous stories, locations, actors and crew, the stories being told by the residents of Orange Farm and eventually duplicating this production model in other townships to create a national franchise production model. "Blood Tokoloshe's" trailer has attracted interest from around the world, generating a buzz amongst both fans of the horror genre and those who look forward to seeing fresh content from one of South Africa's biggest townships.
