Her wedding special, Becoming Mrs. Jones, was the first show that her company produced. “That was actually a lot less stressful than the actual planning of the wedding itself. But because I was just really excited. I saw the vision, I saw it in my head immediately, I worked with some incredible creatives on the show and it ended up being a hit. It was the most viewed show on the channel and probably one of my proudest moments for my first production. And then after that, one of the productions that I’m even more proud of is the show that I did immediately afterwards, which was Spirit of Mzansi. It was a competition-reality type show. And the reason why I was excited about that show was that I was excited to produce a show that didn’t have me on it. I didn’t want it to be that it was going to be good or successful because of just me. I wanted to prove my chops as a producer.”
In her wedding special, she told the story of how she met her ex-husband working behind the scenes as a producer. I ask how much of that knowledge has been imparted to her, and how much of his experiences as a producer helped her in her journey. “I think what it did is that it opened up a space for me to be able to meet a lot of different people from a technical perspective and what I realised is that what I wanted to do was surround myself with people who had been in the business for a really long time. I’m not delusional about the fact that, at the time, I was young, I was inexperienced, I had a vision and I needed to be able to push forward but I needed to surround myself with people who were experienced. That was very important to me; to meet and work with people who had been in the business longer than I had.”
Outside of the film and TV productions that she’s helmed – Vuzu Amp’s Becoming Mrs. Jones, Mzansi Magic’s Spirit of Mzansi, Showmax’s No Love Lost, Kyknet’s Pa, and Channel O’s Own The O – she’s produced a number of content pieces for brands and worked on their digital campaigns.
I ask her what the hierarchy is like between Minnie Dlamini as a brand versus Minnie Dlamini as a professional. “In so many ways I’ve tried to separate the two but they really don’t separate. As much as I might try, when you’re dealing with people in business, when you’re dealing with the Minnie Dlamini brand, when you’re dealing with them from a production perspective, they’re still meeting me. So I can’t run away from it. So it’s important for me to always make sure that when I do walk into a boardroom and I’m speaking business, I understand that I can bring my Minnie Dlamini flair and I try use that to my advantage when I’m pitching, but at the end of the day the work needs to be at the highest level. I’m not getting the job because I’m Minnie Dlamini, I’m getting the job because of my capabilities and what I’m saying that I can deliver on.”
What’s she setting her sights on in the near future is producing what she would like to say is her first film. “I have produced two films already for Showmax, which I’m very proud of, but I produced them during COVID. There were a lot of issues and for me, what I’m grateful for that experience is that it taught me what to do, it taught me what not to do, it taught me how much I need to put of myself into a project, how much I need to remove myself, so I learnt a lot of lessons. And I’m ready to produce a film with all the lessons that I’ve learned, with the people that I’ve met along the way, and create something that I think could really take this country by storm.
She values the way that women who’ve come before her have paved the way for her to realise her dreams. She notes Connie Ferguson as a producer, Connie Chiume as an actress, and a host of other professionals in film and TV in SA. As the industry grows, she says, “I’m definitely where I am because of the path that other people have walked before me.”
