CRÉATION AFRICA: Developing creator-led micro-dramas for African audiences
Johannesburg filmmaker and cultural producer Hallie Haller’s company Better Yet is transforming existing African cultural assets like books, films and artworks into new revenue-generating formats.
Johannesburg filmmaker Hallie Haller founded the South African chapter of GirlsInFilm and led her company Better Yet, which transforms African cultural assets into new revenue-generating formats. After realizing that adapting other people's intellectual property at scale was not a viable business idea, Better Yet shifted its focus to producing original intellectual property and creating micro-dramas – short, serialised vertical videos designed primarily for mobile viewing.
The company is deliberately moving away from global conventions and focusing on comedy and joy, with human performers at the center. Better Yet recently signed award-winning director Wandile Xaba to tell joyful stories. The company is working on changing how creators benefit from the intellectual property they help produce, ensuring that writers and directors have a share in future profits and adaptations.
However, there are challenges in finding an established distribution model and standardised costing structure for micro-dramas in South Africa. Haller believes that balancing fair pay for creators with a production model that can survive in a competitive market must be designed into projects from the story-development stage.
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