Charlie Hey’s Love Letter to South Africa

Charlie Hey has been swooning over the film industry for 25 years now. He started off in Cape Town, beginning as a production runner and then coordinator, followed by five years spent freelancing in London. Upon returning to Cape Town, he scaled the production ranks to where he is today, heading Stillking Cape Town office, part of the Compass Rose group. Charlie doesn’t describe himself as creative, but he absolutely is. His innovative approach to problem solving is one of the reasons he’s an industry veteran. 

Charlie has shot all over South Africa. From barren desert and sand dunes to tropical jungle and pretty much everything in between – there are few people better suited to tell us what the country has to offer for producers. Whilst you might visit for the plummeting waterfalls with over 3,000ft drops, or escarpments wonderful enough to leave you stunned, Charlie reckons you might stay for something much closer to the ground. For him, it’s the people that make the place what it is. 

In this interview, we delve into Charlie’s upbringing in apartheid South Africa, his unexpected entry into the production industry, and his deep affection for the country’s landscapes, culture and food. We find out about his memorable shoots and reflections on how production has evolved over time. He’ll even let you in on where to find an untouched paradise just over an hour from Cape Town and where to slurp some beer in South Africa’s oldest pub…

LBB> Could you tell me a little bit about growing up in South Africa? How did you first get involved with production?

Charlie> I grew up in Cape Town, in Apartheid South Africa, which was pretty strange. Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, when I was in grade 8 and in 1994, the year I finished school, he was voted in as president in our first democratic election. So yeah, a lot has changed from growing up to where we are now, in “the rainbow nation" as it's called.

The industry was never on my radar. Do most people tell you this? "You just fall into it”. Well, that was exactly what happened. When I was around 18, we were having a Christmas get together, and I had met a producer in South Africa. He asked me, “What are you going to do now?” I didn't have plans to study anything yet, I was thinking about travelling and sort of winging things, for a year or two. He had great contacts and put me in touch with some people. 

That was the beginning of it. I did a few jobs, then I fell into a team and stayed with them for a long time. I worked with Rudi Rossouw, who for many years, ran Stillking, the company that I am running now. But when I met Rudi, he was a production manager. Earl was his coordinator, and I was their office runner. We worked together for a few years. I was really happy working with them and learning and we all moved up in the industry together. I’m not a particularly creative person but I do like the logistics, planning, numbers and especially, people.

Apple Watch Series 7 - 'Hard Knocks' 

LBB> What has surprised you about the industry?

Charlie> What’s surprised me is how far you can get by treating people well and with kindness. As opposed to the old school way of producing, which was with fear, really. When I was a runner, if a senior production person or any key person on set saw you sitting down, they would say things like“What are you doing? Go and do something.” You were constantly trying to figure out how to keep yourself busy. And that’s all changed quite a bit.

Kraalbaai secret beach

LBB> What’s your Cape Town secret?

Charlie> When the beaches in Cape Town get really busy in the summer, you need a secret beach that is either a little bit out of the way or not as easy to find as the obvious, well known ones. So I often take the family to the incredible Kraalbaai beach. It’s an almost untouched paradise. The beach is on a lagoon in a nature reserve (West Coast National Park) and there are a very limited number of homes in the reserve itself so if you take the beautiful one and a half-hour drive out there (from Cape Town), you may well find yourself to be the only person on the beach in this incredible place. I’ve attached a few pictures from the last time we went and rented this house for my wife’s 40th birthday.

Kraalbaai secret beach

LBB> So for you, what is it about South Africa that makes you love it? 

Charlie> It’s funny. It’s not something that you actually think too much about. You take a lot of things for granted when you live in a place. For example, the nature here is incredible. We have these beautiful beaches and mountains, and towns like Prince Albert. People come here from other countries and say “Oh my word, you live in an absolute paradise!” And you’re kind of like “Oh yeah, I do!” It is pretty amazing. 

But I’d say it’s also the people. A lot of people come here and say how friendly a place it is. Tying back to why people should shoot here as well, the places near Cape Town are so incredibly diverse. The West Coast is completely different from the warmer East Coast, and the people are different everywhere you go. Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, all vastly different experiences. 

Oh and the food! The food around South Africa is spectacular, especially in Cape Town. Big, big foodie culture. We have a supremely wide array of fantastic restaurants all over the city and beyond. And again, a lot of different, interesting and top end restaurants.

Samsung - 'Ostrich' 

            

LBB> If you could recommend one dish for me to try, what would it be? 

Charlie> We braai (barbecue) a lot in South Africa. It’s our national pastime, in fact, we have a public holiday called “Braai Day” on the 24th September. Officially, it’s called “Heritage Day” but informally, we call it Braai Day. So I would say you have to experience a traditional South African braai, for sure.

Another one that’s very South African and one of my favourites, is a Cape Malay dish called bobotie. It’s origins seem quite contentious but from most accounts, it made it’s way to South Africa with the Indonesian people that were brought to Cape Town as slaves by the Dutch. 

It’s probably been South African-ized to some degree; but essentially, it’s a slow cooked, spicy minced meat dish topped with a creamy egg layer, and it’s served with yellow rice, with raisins in it. Anyone you speak to in South Africa will know what a bobotie is. 

LBB> Where do you go to let your hair down?

Charlie> If I want to relax completely, I either go walking the mountains, which are almost literally on my doorstep (five minutes drive) or get on my motorbike and do a leisurely cruise around the peninsula. My favourite stretches of road are Misty Cliffs, R44 toward Rooi Els and Chapman's Peak Drive. Aaaaaaand my favourite place to catch up with old friends is The Foresters Arms (or Forries, as the locals call it), established in 1852, it's one of the oldest pubs in South Africa.

Guinness - 'Sapeurs'

LBB> What’s your first service production memory?

Charlie> 29 years ago, I got my first job, as a runner on a TV commercial. I went in for an interview and I found out that in order to qualify as a trainee runner / rushes driver, all I needed was a reliable car (which mine was, almost...). I found out later, on my first shoot day ever, that the 1st assistant director is a very important and sometimes volatile person on a film set… We were filming a scene of a woman riding a bicycle on a beach and the AD called me over, asked me if I was a runner, to which I proudly answered in the affirmative and just like that I was given the important task of taking the bicycle from the actress each time they called “cut" and bringing it back to 1st position. After a couple of takes, the gaffer asked me to RUN to the lighting truck and bring back a C-Stand. I abandoned my bicycle post and ran (it was in the days when runners actually ran everywhere and never sat down) over to where the trucks were parked, probably 500m away. I spent the better part of 20 minutes trying to find out what a C-stand was and eventually arrived back on set with it. Making use of a stream of very clear and loud expletives, the AD asked where I had been for the last 30 minutes. I explained what happened and then she explained to me how a film set works. I will never forget that day. The first of many lessons in this brutal and beautiful industry.

LBB> If you could buy any building and live there, which would it be?

Charlie> The Zeitz MOCAA (Museum of Contemporary Art Africa). It’s an incredible building in the hip Silo District of the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. The building was originally a grain silo built in the 1920s and was converted into what it is now in 2017. The architecture is unique. From the exterior, the most noticeable change to the original structure was the addition of pillowed glass panels in the building's upper floors and using a variety of concrete-cutting techniques, the interior of the building was carved out to create a number of galleries and a large central atrium. The remaining concrete shafts were capped with strengthened glass in order to allow natural light to enter and create a "cathedral-like” interior.

Photos: Courtesy of The Zeitz MOCAA

LBB> Where is the best place to people-watch in Cape Town?

Charlie> I love sitting on the terrace, under the umbrellas at Den Anker (V&A Waterfront) watching the tourists pose for pictures. One of the seven 2.8m tall by 4m wide, elevated yellow metal frames, is right next to the terrace so it brings great joy (and sometimes mirth) to watch the non-stop show of posing in front of this world famous landmark. The frames were produced by local artist Porky Hefer to celebrate Table Mountain being named one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

LBB> How have you witnessed the production industry evolve over your time?

Charlie> People have become gentler; I think it has become more of an accepting place. Whilst it used to be, and still is to some degree, quite a closed field, there’s a lot of change going on in South Africa with helping previously disadvantaged people get into the film industry. There are also a lot more women. More female directors. More female camera crew. It's great – more inclusivity is the biggest thing. 

There are also more environmentally friendly shoots for sure. But you know not to the degree as in the United States and maybe even in Europe. We don’t have as many electric cars or solar charging stations yet, but we’re definitely big on recycling, being aware of where the wardrobe and props and that kind of thing goes afterwards.

LBB> What’s your favourite South African scenery? 

Charlie> The dry, dry nothingness of the Karoo. It’s a beautiful, rocky, semi-desert landscape with lovely small towns dotted around. So much space, sky and incredible light. My favourite Karoo town is Prince Albert.

And then there’s also other stunning places beyond South Africa, like Namibia with its iconic sand dunes and rich wildlife, that has attracted filmmakers from around the world and provided a striking backdrop for several of our shoots.

Karoo’s beautiful landscape

LBB> Do you have an eco-friendly spot worth checking out in Cape Town?

Charlie> Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, set against the slopes of the mountain, is a great place to spend a good part of your day. Founded in 1913 to preserve the flora native to South Africa’s territory, it was the first botanical garden in the world with this ethos, at a time when invasive species were not considered an ecological and environmental problem.

LBB> Can you tell us about a stand out shoot?

Charlie> We’ve worked on so many incredible jobs with some amazing award winning companies and top talent over the years so it’s hard to pinpoint something specific. So many good memories and wonderful humans. One job that does stand out for me was our first shoot we did with BWGTBLD, out of Berlin. The team that came out on that “Genesis” project were some of the loveliest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with – producers Nina Klein and Franziska Willgart and director Jovan Todorovic.

Nina and Franziska hand wrote the most beautiful cards to Craig (Stillking producer), Mon Cheri (production manager), Charl (their chaperone/driver) and myself. I’ve attached the one they wrote to me and the picture that was taken of a few of us local crew, when we spontaneously held hands and skipped back to the vans on the Director’s recce. It was day one with Jovan, and it took him only three seconds to join us, skipping and creating this beautiful and very happy memory. Also a note from Jovan after the shoot:

"The most important thing for me about this job is making new acquaintances and friends all over the world. I can now say I have some friends in Cape Town. For real. So thank you for that, and for your honest humour and good vibes and I can't wait for us to do something again.”

Genesis - 'Where Are You Going?'

Compass Rose’s group of service production companies consists of Stillking Films Prague and Cape Town, Icon Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia, Entity Films Slovenia and Croatia, Spectrum Mexico and 24/7 Spain, Portugal and Chile.