It’s hard to not think of Connie Ferguson when listing the top actresses in South Africa.
She has surpassed the IT girl status and is in a league of her own as one of the country’s powerhouse TV and film producers.
As much as she is revered as a creative, she is now celebrated for creating opportunities for the next generation, too.
I grew up watching the actress during her days of portraying Karabo Moroka. It’s hard to forget her enchanting beauty on “Generations”.
These days she portrays Harriet Khoza on The Queen, a character completely different from Karabo.
I recently got the opportunity to meet the Ferguson Films matriarch when I went on a set tour of “The Queen”.
During the set visit, the actress casually strolled in dressed in an army print jumpsuit and a pair of Versace sneakers.
My immediate reaction was, wow! She has quite a mesmerising aura and no, this is not me fan-girling over her but it’s true her beauty is striking.
Beyond her looks, I couldn’t help but admire the woman who has become a powerhouse producer. It’s hard to think of strong and successful women in South Africa’s difficult to crack entertainment industry without envisioning Connie.
One thing that pleasantly surprised me was that she’s involved in all aspects of her production house which she co-founded with her late husband, Shona Ferguson.
When we visited the editing department, she impressed me with how clued up she was with the inner workings of the department.
Senior colourist Wesleigh Kapotis explained to the production students we had accompanied during the tour, how the post production process works.
He and Connie were asked what kind of challenges they encountered when it comes to editing an episode.
Wesleigh said that most of the problems come from set, explaining that sometimes a scene has to be shot during a certain time of the day and the lighting is a certain way but then the weather changes - meaning that the lighting in the same scene could be different, this gives the colourist additional work to get the colours the same.
Connie is able to remove herself as an actor and step into her producer shoes with commendable ease. I got to witness the producer’s interactions with her staff and there is clearly a great family bond among them.
She may be their boss but she is also “Mamzo” to the staff. She makes jokes and has a playful manner with the staff no matter what level they are on.
During the tour, we got to witness a few scenes being shot at the Sebata house between characters Hector Sebata and his nephew Khumo. The characters are portrayed by legendary actor Rapulana Seiphemo and newcomer Molemo Tlali.
While scenes are being shot, it’s like the crew play a “game of statue”, everything comes to a standstill. No noise and everyone has to be in the places that they need to be.
However, during the scene between Khumo and Hector someone missed the memo and walked past during filming.
This called for the scene to be “cut” and re-shot. Connie joked that the “culprit'' wanted to act in The Queen.
The tour was a reminder of the various departments that are involved in TV and film production. It’s not just about the actors but also the all important crew that make things work.
The aspiring next generation of TV and film production were given a taste of what it takes to create an award-winning telenovela.