by Ferdinand Gernandt | Nov 5, 2026 | South African Film Industry
Most NFVF applications are not rejected on the story. They are thrown out before anyone reads the story, for reasons that have nothing to do with whether you can write. Then, among the ones that survive, a second cull happens — and that one is about the writing, but...
by Ferdinand Gernandt | Nov 5, 2026 | Book & Life Story to Screen
“People keep telling me my life would make a great film.” I hear that most weeks. Sometimes they are right. But “you have been through a lot” and “this is a film” are two different sentences, and the gap between them is where most...
by Ferdinand Gernandt | Nov 5, 2026 | Faith-Based & Ministry Storytelling
A man stands up in church and tells what happened to him. Nobody moves. Nobody checks a phone. For eleven minutes, four hundred people forget where they are. That is the most powerful storytelling most of us will ever see in person. And when a church tries to turn it...
by Ferdinand Gernandt | Nov 5, 2026 | South African Film Industry
There is money for films in South Africa. Real money. The problem is not that the doors are shut. The problem is that almost nobody explains what is behind each one, and most applications get thrown out before anyone reads the story. Here is every main door, what it...
by Ferdinand Gernandt | Nov 5, 2026 | Book & Life Story to Screen
Your book is finished. People love it. Someone said the words out loud: “This should be a film.” So you look it up, and the internet tells you to send your novel to Netflix. Do not do that. Here is what actually happens, step by step. First, the hard truth...
by Ferdinand Gernandt | Nov 5, 2026 | Book & Life Story to Screen
Somebody will write your screenplay for $75. Somebody else will charge you $75,000. Same page count. Same 110 pages. Same font. So what are you actually paying for? I have been a produced screenwriter for twenty-five years. I have seen what the cheap end does to...
