South Africa

South Africa has long been a popular film destination, particularly for European productions looking for opposite season looks in a similar timezone.
South Africa’s vast variety of unique and international location looks continues to attract productions from all over the world. Of particular note are South Africa’s diversity of cityscapes and neighbourhoods, modern villas with expansive vistas, African savannah, mountains (some with snow), a variety of roads ideal for car commercials, white sand beaches, picturesque forests with lakes, and sports stadiums (including several major stadiums built across the country for the 2010 FIFA World Cup). South Africa is the most established production service centre in Africa and as such is a resource to much of the rest of the continent in terms of specialised crews and equipment.

Visa Information

Entry is subject to regulations from country of origin. Contact your local South African embassy or representative for more information. Generally speaking visiting crews are divided into an Oversight Group (i.e. client, agency and production company personnel) and the Specialist Group (i.e actors, models, directors, technicians and the art department).
The Oversight Group from visa exempt countries can travel to South Africa without pre-applying at a South African Embassy or Consulate and will be allowed entry by presenting the relevant form, their travel itinerary and a letter from the South African Production Company to the immigration officials at the airport, their passports will then be endorsed with the relevant authorisation.

Cast, Crew & Equipment

South Africa has a good pool of local directors, directors of photography and stills photographers. The majority have local and international experience. There is a great depth of skilled, hard working, dedicated, professional and technical crews. There are a number of DGA accredited ADs based in South Africa. Crews are non-union. Talent. South Africa has a diverse range of people that can fulfill the majority of casting requirements from extras, to characters, to actors and models both local and international. A large number of international models spend the summer months in Cape Town. Talent is non-union and although buyouts are worked out on guideline percentages, these are somewhat negotiable.

South Africa is also home to a wealth of animal actors ranging from big safari animals through to domestic pets. As you would expect to find in any other established film production centre, South Africa has as an extensive range of standard and specialized camera, lighting and grip equipment available locally. Examples of available equipment include: Motion Control, Cineflex, Phantom, Red, and the Freedom Arm (a fully digital gyro-stabilized camera crane). For productions looking to bring in film equipment South Africa is an ATA carnet country.