In the eye of the storm

When a great film or production comes together, it's beyond the control of mere mortals: it is force majeure. Hyperbole you say? Maybe. I say: keep reading. From the early developmental stages of a script, to the agonising labour that is post-production, a great production greedily sucks in any and all influence it can, to make itself the best it can be. It's like the story of the snowflake which gently descends from above to crown the mountain peak, gradually building momentum on the way down until a roaring avalanche invades the bottom of the mountain. In the film industry and other adult occupations for that matter (i'm talking as if yall are exempt), you "work hard to work harder". What I mean is, most people have goals, which they work towards dedicated to the hope that when they "make it", it'll all be smooth sailing. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but YOU'RE WRONG. It gets harder and more complicated as you move up the proverbial hierarchy in life, which means the only reward for hard work is more hard work. So if you feel like you're in the eye of the storm, like I do right about now, smile, because its about to get worse, waaay worse :)

Why do they even call it the eye of the storm??? For those who don't know, the eye is the middle of the storm, usually referring to hurricanes or tornados, the eye being the most violent place in the storm. The eye of the storm... hai (sigh), sekgowa (english)...

I digress... Last weekend at this time, I was in the eye of the storm of one of the most gruelling yet most rewarding filmmaking competitions in the world, the 48 Hour Film Project. In a nutshell: you are given a film genre, character, prop as well as line of dialogue at 19h00 Friday evening and you have to deliver a polished 7minute film by 19h30 Sunday evening. Yes, "johweh"/"wow" is right. I am still cleaning up my house and debriefing from the experience; albeit we didn't make the cutoff time, it was an enriching experience and I am proud of my team's effort. Point being, when a film, or rather, a great film happens, it calls the shots (no pun intended, that sounded better in my mind). The film is boss and everyone and everything else are just "Despicable Me"-like minions tasked with satiating its every last desire. I mean we had 16-20 hour days and I wouldn't have it any other way. We pushed right down to the wire to deliver a final product yet the film just became bigger than us and only when we accepted our fate (after cutoff), did the work become gratifying. See sometimes you achieve the goal and sometimes you fall short, but either way you can win or lose. If you achieve your goal but don't grow, don't learn, I believe you've lost and vice versa. The same goes for falling short of the goal: if you grow, learn and enjoy the ride, you've won; you're better off than someone who has stayed inside their comfort zone and just met their target. You might say i'm crazy but if you're always striving to be better, you're bound to eventually beat the guy (or girl) who just does the bare minimum and collects their salary at the end of the month.

Oh wow, this rant just got deep. I'm not trying to be controversial, I promise; that last part is just a metaphor.

Doing what I do, freelancing, you often find yourself in a place where you don't have a salary and you're waiting for a phone call or email to come in promising you work or the possibility of work (an audition/casting). I've always wanted to not have to live that way, i'm not about that life, which is evident in my stress levels and frequent acne breakouts (shout out to all the make-up artists out there ;). Most freelancers will tell you, the best way to alleviate the problem is to make your own work (or sleep your way up the hierarchy, which MY constitution won't allow me to do). My production company, Lekholo Moving Pictures, has just come into being with the 48 hour film project being its first production (link coming soon), a vehicle via which I intend to make my own work and thus alleviate my problem. "Be careful what you wish for" much... this pro-active approach has brought about more work, more opportunities and more ideas which keep me up at night, thus placing me firmly in the eye of the storm. Scary but exciting because I know what the rewards are: more work, which in a weird way, means less stress for me... i'm about THAT life.

Alrighty then *Jim Carey voice*, time for me to stop this rant. As you can tell by the mixed up nature of this post, I still need rest after last weekend. I hope I have done something for you with this slice of my mind; feel free to share your thoughts. Dig your heels in when the world tries to push you over, the best is yet to come... Have a best week (no typo), til next time as usual tell-a-friend!

A bitter pill, a brighter day

Weird title I know... I can already see you thinking what is this oke on? Is he trying to be clever or what? Nope, none of that; the man above knows I've tried to do that a couple times too many. No, this is just a sharing post, of an amalgam of experiences I have had in the recent past. I was called upon to answer the question: why I do what I do and how important REAAALLY is storytelling to the world? I'm a storyteller, be it in song or on a screen, i've been put on earth to tell stories and tell them well. Why do we tell them? Lets hope I can figure out the answer to that by the end of this post.

I used to make this blog all about me: when I am on tv, when i've appeared in a magazine or the like and something about that felt disingenuous. suffice to say, the posts slowed down and eventually ceased to exist cos I wasn't sharing what I wanted to and lost the passion to blog in the process. Someone told me a story the other day, which resulted in one of the hardest lessons i've ever had to learn: "scripts aren't works of art, but invitations to collaborate". Being a filmmaker I thought, hell, does that mean I am not an artist? once again making it about myself. But no, that isn't the point. The point is that without a whole lot of people, time and effort, a script is just a piece of paper with writing on it; its not reaching its full potential as only a few people have the time and patience to read a script and get it. But if people collaborate to transform it into something more, it becomes life changing, it becomes a film. that was the bitter pill I had to swallow and boy oh boy did it help my process. the concept of sharing bled into the rest of my life and hence me coming back to this blog. I know its not about me, what I do; its not about fame or recognition. Filmmaking and more importantly storytelling, is about changing lives, changing the world by communicating a message that may challenge or inspire or comment, etc. Hi my name is Lehasa Moloi and I am a story teller.

Am I making sense...?

on the latter half of the title, I experienced something very rare the other day: I was ramping onto the M1 at Glenhove and the driver alongside me, who was at some significant speed on the busy road slowed down and gestured to me to enter the lane. I did and proceeded to thank him by flashing my hazard lights to which he flashed his lights in recognition thereof. As a sufferer of serious road rage, I was transformed by this "Roadraderie" (road + camaraderie) and suddenly, the sad negative news story playing on the radio was drowned out by a huge internal smile that was brewing. it doesn't take much to change the world for the better, as we all find out every Mandela day, but its the good that happens naturally, when nobody's watching that inspires me. it is in our power to bring about a brighter day, hence me blogging again; in my own little way, I am using the tools of my trade, words, to hopefully inspire you or brighten your day and that is the power of storytelling.

Lessons from Spiderman: with great power comes great responsibility! cliche? yes. does that make it any less true? nope. I guess what I am saying is that I am choosing to take responsibility, with what I do. Its not about me, there is a lot that needs changing in this world, in this life and even though we can all play our part, together, we can do more! no, that wasn't an allusion to a certain political party but yet another cliche, a true cliche (",)

As usual, I'd love to hear what you think and thus I encourage your comments, but thats me for now, before I get too soppy, hehe.

Peace, til next time, tell a friend ;)

2012 aka 20-self

I feel a bit like that lazy minister whom everyone hates coz he doesn't do his job but receives a salary for it, but just as ominously as I appeared and disappeared, I R BACK Bloggers! 2012 rundown so far: new agent, new vision and, what yall like to hear about most, my new jobs…well there's only been 1 thus far but its been the best job i've ever done, hands down. I got the opportunity to feature in Bobby and Peter Heaney's Sabc 2 production: Erfsondes (yup, this is the point where most people say "huh" and make the silly faces at me and the onus is on me to explain what Erfsondes is…i've been one of those people). . .look it up for yourselves ERF I got to play a character named Charlie Maxwell and I played a Scotland Yard investigator here to help the SAPS catch a serial killer…toooooooo FUN. I got to carry a gun and even shoot a real one (eat your inner child's hearts out men) but it also got mad real as we often shot at like the Sophiatown police station, where there were holding cells and real criminals….scary but we had to keep it real. My new agent's been nothing short of amazing and that together with my role on Erfsondes has reignited the flame within me for all things creative. I'm writing again, making music again and most importantly, pushing my career again. It's tough, believe you me, as our parents used to say, being a creative worker is difficult, one can only take so much rejection and debit orders bouncing back…..but you know what "they" say isn't a cliche, anything worthwhile is difficult, or something like that. Bumped into a couple of successful creative family members as well in the form of Mamello Mokoena aka Mum-Z of Comedy on Long fame , while he was shooting on an upcoming sitcom up here in Jozi. Also his brother Fana Mokoena, needs no introduction, has been doing huge things, watch the spaces around you……. …whew that was exhausting, haven't done this in a minute, but i will be updating y'all more often, in the meantime, keep well and, tell a friend………

"Break the bank"

ola, bonjour, helloo yall. as you can see by the frequency of my posts, its been a slow year. this kinda thing happens with a career in the arts just as im sure it does in any other field. keeping my head up and eyes on the prize though, because there's always silver lining: the universe is giving me time to develop not just my acting skills, but also my careers in music, radio, comedy and entrepreneurship.

which brings me to the main point of this post, my first track "Break the bank" is out and coming to a radio, club or boot near you. it'll also soon be available for download on the music websites and stores you have come to love. follow the link to my reverberation page (www.reverbnation.com/hasa) and click on the play button next to "Break the bank" to hear a sample of the song. it is an electro house song with kwaito-esque elements and i hope to the saints of music that yall like the track.

Thats it for now. please don't hesitate to tell me what you think and as usual: tell a friend. PEACE

first of 2011

My first post for the year, whoohoo! Don't worry, i'm not gonna go all 'happy new yearsy' or 'alas 2010 was a good year' on you. A belated 'happy new year' is like a belated happy birthday - moldy, yuck. That was then, this is now and this is all we have. I've been on tv for almost a year now, on cinema and now radio too ("The Recovery", Sunday nights 8-11pm with myself and MsCosmicDj on www.Rhythm100radio.com, Africa's first urban online station [voice-over-guy voice]); contrary to popular belief: im not chased down by fans all day, im not super rich and i'm not an A-hole. I am however still an actor (amongst other things) and a person. I have willingly exchanged some of the luxuries of not being an actor for all that comes with my profession (constant rejection, loss of privacy, immortality [muhahaha]) but I have not and cannot lose certain things that humans will carry with them all the Days of their Lives (haha, the soapie reference sounded better in my head). Chiefly, a responsibility to contribute positively to society. This takes effort (i feel the pain particularly when I have to get up in the morning, i'm not a morning person at all). This year my effort will be focussed on my acting career, various music and business projects I am working on, my production company and, yes you guessed it, myself (coz being selfish is ok sometimes; the chicken that produces golden eggs must re-energize or lose it all). What i'm trying to say in a nutshell, is that in all you do this year, be it surviving first year of varsity or struggling to provide for your family or dealing with the loss of a loved one, take time out, for yourself, remain you and strive for what you believe in. i'll stop rambling now; as you were (",) and for the first time in 2010… tell a friend.

Oops… but i'm back

Okey dokey, lookey here. I've been busy ok and I feel bad okay and.. and any secrets I have are already out so i'll go through the updates real quick like, so as not to bore you to sleep: after my Muvhango contract lapsed, I was signed by one of SA's top shows, Isidingo. The ride has been a long and at times bumpy one as I was still figuring out who this man, Khaya Gumede, is and adjusting to all the PR i've been put through. With the kind help and guidance from the amazing directors and support from the rest of the team, I got through it all and now am stronger and wiser for it. Thanks to them for believing in me and allowing me to do this thing i've been put here on earth to do. An even bigger thanks to all the fans of the show who have welcomed me with open arms and my friends and fam who are my rock. Before I get all soapie-like on yall (get it? soapie-like… yea it sounded funnier in my head, sorry), here's to bigger and better things to come, both on Isidingo and with the film i'm in (premiering November 24th 2010, cough cough, eish something in my throat, more secrets muhahaha). Please don't hesitate to tell me your opinion or just say hi and never, ever, ever forget: tell a friend.peace.

Spud the movie trailer

Yo, yo, yo. For the news on me and my career, as and when it happens, follow me on twitter. For the trailer of my latest film (well it's not mine, I only feature in it…), copy and paste this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMxh5bMH7X4 …and don't forget…ya, you know the drill by now.