Richard Nosworthy

Writer, Producer, Director and Director of Photography.

Richard has worked in Theatre, Television and Feature Films, and his expertise includes working with both live multi-camera coverage and single camera ENG productions. He has written shot, directed and produced more than 2 000 hours of programming for both South African and International broadcast television.

His more than 40 years of experience in the industry that spans genres that include music (The World in a Guitar, Jonas Gwangwa Live DVD, Rocko De Villiers Live DVD & 100s of music videos), soap (The Wild), television drama (Jozi Streets, Zikathele, The Second Mrs. Styles), sitcom (Bentley), theatre (Old Friends, Flight of Bird, The Music Teacher, Number One, Crazy Diamond – a tribute to Pink Floyd), feature films (A Case of Murder, Reg Park-The Legend), consumer journalism (hundreds of episodes of Fair Deal & 96 episodes of Ufunda Ngomzikelo), variety (Latissimo, Rumba in the Jungle), sport (IWF Wrestling & The SA Dancesport Championships), travel (The Blue Train doumntary), children’s programs (Hare Bapaleng & Masidlale) and magazine programming (Top Billing, Carte Blanche, Selimathunzi, Front Row). His experience in genre is as wide and varied as the diverse styles used to capture the high quality images that typify his work. He has experience in many aspects of television, include script writing, directing, producing & working as a Director of Photography.

Richard started his career at the Market Theatre in 1978 as an actor in Mario Schies’s production of Equus, where he later had the opportunity to work for Mannie Manim, and was privileged to work with, and learn from, many of South Africa’s top theatre talents including Athol Fugard, Barney Simon and Pieter Dirk-Uys. He stopped working for the Market Theatre as a Stage Manager in 1983, and started his film & television production company PLUM PRODUCTIONS. Since then, he has supplied programming not only to local and international broadcasters, but to many corporate clients as well.

Corporate clients that have made use of Richard include Coca-Cola, Fattis & Monis, Pierre Cardin, British American Tobacco Company, Qantas Air, Hewlett Packard, Sun International, Vodacom, Rama, The African Cultural Heritage Trust, Carnival City, The Mugg & Bean, Empisal, Courier Direct, Global Resorts Caesar’s Palace, Dulché Café, Beachcomber, Wimpy, SAA and The South African Department of Education.

In the early days, Richard’s accomplishments included producing and directing the popular magazine programme series for BOP TV called Botswerere, the first ever coverage of indoor cricket for SABC Top Sport, and the first ever dramas that was shot entirely on the Betacam format in South Africa - The Edge and Zikalele.

As the 90's began, Richard started working with international producers who were working in Africa. This has included work for Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous) from Los Angeles, Cushman Bolton in New York, Mariasela Alverez from the Dominican Republic, MTV Europe, September Films in London, TV2 Denmark, Brighter Pictures in London, FIFA TV, Middle East Broadcasting Centre & Children's Television Workshop from New York.

In 1995 Richard provided Eurosport with a one-hour programme covering Rumba in the Jungle, the annual international Latin & Ballroom Dance competition held at Sun City. The enthusiasm and kudos received from Eurosport motivated his continued involvement in dancesport programming. This resulted in 7 one hour dancesport specials, (some of which have been broadcast internationally, and one of which received recognition from the SABC as " ... one of the top ten best performing local programmes on SABC1... ").

Having faced the nations “baddies” on both Carte Blanche and along with Isabel Jones as the DOP on Fair Deal, Richard devised, produced and directed the long running Xhosa consumer programme, Ufunda Ngomzekelo. Capturing the hearts of many of the nations’ consumers, this programme received thousands of letters, and enjoyed a successful run of over ninety episodes in Hlab ‘Ukangele on SABC 1.

In 2002 Richard’s achievements included an international award for “Reportage on Africa”, (an information program presented by journalist Michelle Makori about a micro-lending scheme for small and medium enterprises in Swaziland,) as part of the International Convention “Communicate Africa”, organized by Harambee. The award was setup to give wider recognition to documentaries presenting aspects of the African continent in a positive light. The jury was composed of specialists in the field of communications and the media from several different European and African countries.

2003 saw Richard join with Clive Morris and Felix Meyburgh to produce a feature film called A Case of Murder which starred Steve Hofmeyr, Gideon Emery and Candice Hillebrand. (Richard’s credits included Executive Producer, Line Producer and Assistant Director.) The film was broadcast on MNet in 2005, and received the highest ratings of all South African feature films broadcast that year.

Richard devoted most of 2004 to line producing and directing 15 episodes of the very successful ETV crime drama Jozi Streets, doubling the programmes ratings in the process. He also found time to direct a series of retail commercials during this period called The Game Fact Show.

The next year was spent creating & developing projects for both the big and small screen as well as the stage. These included a sitcom for SABC called Bentley (commissioned in 2006), a short film called A Lotto Madness (an official selection for both the Strasbourg & Innibos festivals), and Mel Botes’s Flight of Bird for the stage. Flight of Bird, opened in October 2005 at the Aardklop Arts Festival to critical acclaim. Voted one of the top ten shows, and nominated for the Anglo American Ashanti Awards, it broke new ground with its multi-dimensional combination of live music, live dramatic performance and dance, and multi-media playback of video, animation, cartoons and artwork. It was described as “… one of the best musical productions Aardklop has ever seen” by the Festival Newspaper.

Richard dedicated the first half of 2006 to developing scripts for Bentley, and the second half to executive producing and directing the multi camera shoot of the first series of this home-grown, off-the-wall comedy series. Somehow he also found time to direct multi cam recordings of 3 music DVDs (Jonas Gwangwa, Khunle, Worship House 2006), a multi cam pilot for a music programme for MK89 called Brand, and to do work for a few of his corporate clients.

2007 was another busy year of development, but there was time to act as D.O.P. on music videos and DVD’s for Nia Nel, DKN and Snotkop, to direct post production, and edit a series of programs on the traditional dancing festival Zindala Zombili – shot (multi-cam) in 2006 and broadcast on SABC2 in 2007, to co-write and direct a one-women play with actress Megan Reeks - that debuted at the Grahamstown Festival (Number One), as well as to produce, direct and edit a 52 part (multi cam) series broadcast on SuperSport, (Conversations at the Mugg & Bean). In March of 2007, Richard attained a Certificate in Entertainment Law at the University of Johannesburg.

2008 saw Richard back in the theatre writing & directing a tribute to Pink Floyd called Crazy Diamond. Three months of the year was dedicated to researching and shooting in the UK, the USA and South Africa for a feature documentary about the life of legendary bodybuilder Reg Park, which has been released internationally as Reg Park – The Legend. In the first quarter of the year he directed the (multi cam) live coverage of the Opening of the Mpumalanga Legislature, and the multi camera shoot for a bigger and better Zindala Zombili, which ran for two days, and was flighted in two 1 hour parts on SABC2 during August. After months of preparation, Richard spent a week in Durban during July directing Govtech TV. A live special purpose broadcast station that he devised to supply news, information and programming to delegates at the Durban Convention Centre, (with simultaneous internet broadcast to centres around the country). For four days a dedicated team of 25 worked around the clock to produce programming that included news updates, live multi cam coverage of lectures, workshops and events, pre-packaged inserts and “quick turnaround” interviews and inserts. The final months of the year were spent producing, writing, directing and supervising post-production on the 13 part FotoStories, a series for KykNet.

The beginning of 2009 saw Richard writing the script for, and working on the final stages of post-production of the documentary film; Reg Park – The Legend, (which was completed in March and had its’ world premiere at the Durban International Film Festival). Production on a new series for SuperSport called On Top of your Game started in February, and continued until December. In the second half of 2009, Richard also supervised post-production on a 260 part children’s series called Pikin for Koowee TV.

In November 2009, MNet requested Richard to create & develop an in-house soap - he agreed to commit 18 months to the venture, knowing only that it would be set on a Game Farm and shot 100% on location. He began work on it immediately, going onto the project fulltime in February 2010. As Co-Creator and Series Producer of “The Wild”, his job entailed months of intense research and development, before embarking on the biggest challenge of his career – a worldwide first - producing the first ever HD soap to be shot entirely on location. This challenge was met with original and lateral thinking, and Richards’ team creatively solved all logistical and technical challenges presented to them not only by having to shoot 100% on location, but by shooting at a location that was situated at least an hour out-of-town. The series launched on time, on budget and on spec on the 4th April 2011. Feedback was more than encouraging. “The audience response was fantastic, with the general consensus being that the soap is shot beautifully. During recent market research, the soap scored extremely high in terms of likability.” (Lani Lombard – MNet Communications). Richard left the multi award-winning production (a record nine nominations and four SAFTAS in the first year of entry,) in September 2011, after he felt that “The Wild” was well established, and he had achieved what he had been requested and set out to do. As the year finished he completed work on a Children’s DVD for international release, (The Christmas Box).

During 2012 the first episode of The Wild was nominated for a prestigious Banff World Media Award in the Soap Operas category – a first for South African productions. Richard consulted on a variety of corporate & broadcast television projects, produced & directed two new music DVD’s (for Rocco de Villiers & Steve Hofmeyr), wrote & directed two new stage productions (Riders from the Storm – featuring electric guitar music & Old Friends – a tribute to Simon & Garfunkel,) and founded the first ever 100% 24/7 South African Music Radio Station – BakGat Radio. (.za)

2013 started with a newly written stage production. Visage – Revealing the Secrets of the Mind, - a 90 minutes show that is utterly baffling and completely extraordinary – featuring mentalist Michael Abrahamson. The show, which toured the country, blows even the most cynical of minds. Recognition of the work done in the previous year arrived in the form of two nominations for a Ghoema award in the Best Live DVD Production category (Steve Hofmeyr & Rocco De Villiers). More live DVDs were shot, this time featuring top SA acts including Mwah!, Anna Davel, Mel Botes, Veraz, Ses Snare, and a host of other top tier artists. A large portion of the year was taken up by work for an exclusive “Private Client”, corporate work and research & development for a slate of feature films.

In 2014 Richard produced, wrote and directed “The Muse Awards” show for the WGSA, His stage production Visage with Mentalist Michael Abrahamson toured the Northern Cape, and the gaps were filled with corporate productions and the completion of another live DVD production that he directed and edited for Luisternet Musiek called Een Onvergeetlike Aand featuring 12 Top South African Artists. He enjoyed directing a series of social responsibility inserts for Kaelo, Stories of Hope, and completed the first series of a 13 part drama series that was broadcast on ETV called Making Cents with the Sitholes, on which he worked as director and script editor.

2015 saw Richard travelling to NATPE in both Miami & Prague, as well as Story Expo in LA. Relationships established at these markets are on-going, with negotiations about international productions being shot in South Africa on the table. Interest has been shown in 3 of his TV format projects – Bug Boy (a competition format that explores the horse racing industry from a jockeys perspective), ClashDance, (a reality series about teams of dancers) and RI$K (a quiz show with no limit to how much the contestants can win).

The year saw the development of a new stage production with Michael Abrahamson, “No Man is an Island”. Richard also produced, wrote and directed the annual “Muse Awards” show for the WGSA, for the screen he produced & directed commercials for Namola & the Tswane Metro Police Dept. and a Heritage Documentary about the history of MultiChoice.

2016 saw Richard producing and directing a series of programmes (over 250,) that cover the complete “Dance Syllabus” taught in South African schools for 2Enable, a free online resource for students. He also wrote and produced a number of promotional videos for a corporate client in the travel industry. In April he won the WGSA Muse Award for Best Stage Play Script along with co-writer Megan Reeks for their one woman show called Number One. Six months of the year was spent working on a variety of documentary scripts about the MeerKAT telescope (located near Carnarvon in the Karoo,) for the South African SKA telescope project, housed under the umbrella of the SA Department of Science & Technology.

In addition to various corporate works in 2017, Richard wrote and directed an updated version of Visage for the stage, culminating in a successful run at the Sandton Theatre on the Square. He continued to service the needs of his corporate and private clients throughout the year, but also found time to launch the “Scribe Writers Room” – an innovative script incubator that enables scriptwriters from a variety of backgrounds to develop projects in a safe, uncensored and private environment.

2018 saw the expansion of the “Scribe Writers Room” project, including a new set of writer’s room workshops and running “market ready” workshops for the Writers Guild of South Africa. On stage his script and direction of the tribute to female blues artists “Her Blues” found success and popularity in the Western Cape early in the year. He also finished writing and delivered a new Advanced Documentary course outline and facilitators guide to the NFVF, to be implemented in their training curriculum. Richard has also been in demand as a confidential Production Consultant for clients where he puts to use his diverse skills and knowledge. He is excellent at saving money by suggesting ways to implement systems that streamline the production process.

The promise of 2019 was somewhat stunted when Richard unexpectedly found himself in ICU for two weeks after a life-threatening “hiccup” during some routine surgery early in the year. He was then confined to bed while convalescing at home for a further 6 weeks, effectively removing him from society and work for an extended portion of the year. This slow start however was overtaken by the demand for his Screenwriting classes and these were undertaken in both Gauteng and the Vaal Triangle, often in partnership with the Writers Guild and the Gauteng Film Commission.

In mid-2019 Richard was invited to serve as a member of the NFVF Council by the Minister of Arts and Culture. He now also serves on the NFVF Council and their Audit Committee.

Towards the end of the year, a script that he co-wrote with Jurgen Hellberg was nominated for a 2019 WGSA Muse award in the Comedy (sitcom) category, and two of the Scribe Writers Room Workshop screenplays were finalists in the Television Drama category.

The 2020 Covid19 lockdown resulted in Richard doing a large portion of his work online. This has included work for the NFVF Council, screenwriting workshops & classes for both the WGSA & The Scribe Writers Room, and private consultations. In addition he has been developing and writing a few spec scripts.

Richard’s constantly developing productions for stage, film & TV and is always interested in ground breaking projects that present interesting or unusual challenges.


PART TIME LECTURING & WORKSHOP FACILITATION;

Rhodes University Journalism Dept. – Variety of practical TV Production Workshops
South African Scriptwriters Association – Comedy Workshops
AFDA Johannesburg - Guest Lecturer Production & Game Shows
Writers Guild of South Africa – Pitching & Market Workshops
Moving Pictures Foundation – Variety of Workshops
WGSA – Market Ready, Screenwriting and Legal Workshops
Scribe Writers Room – Variety of Writers classes and workshops

MEMBERSHIP OF INDUSTRY ORGANISATIONS:

Richard has served as a judge on various industry panels, including those for the SAFTAS, the South African Society of Cinematographers and the Writers Guild of South Africa. In 2015 Richard was awarded the prestigious Special Service Award by the Writers Guild of South Africa.

Writers Guild of South Africa
Current Member (2009 – present)

British Kinomatograph, Sound and Television Society
Life member (1995 – present)

The National Film & Video Foundation Council
Council Member & Audit Committee Member (2019-2020)

Independent Producers Association
Member (2000 – 2020) / Board Member (2009 – 2011, 2017)

The WGSA Muse Awards Committee
Member (20013 – 2014, 2019)

The SAFTA Awards Committee
Member (2012 - 2013)

South African Scriptwriters Association
SASWA Chairman (1999 – 2001) Editor of the Newsletter (1999)

The Gauteng Film Partnership
IPO representative since inaugural meeting early in 2008 – roughly 2012

The Producers Alliance
Board Member (2008 – 2009)

Sithengi Film & TV Market
Board Member (2007 – 2008)

The South African Film and Television Technicians Association
Chairman (1993 – 1995) Vice Chairman (1995 – 1997) & newsletter editor

CERTIFICATION;

Certificate in Entertainment Law (University of Johannesburg)
Degree in “Hard Knocks” from the University of Life
Certificate in Venomous Snake ID & Handling
Estate Agents Certificate
Cape Wine Academy Certificate