Talent Guide

Gert Basson

  • Discipline:Producer, Writer
  • Program Year:Producing Lab 2007

Bio

Before moving to Los Angeles, Gert Basson successfully managed the film and TV division of national public company M&M Ltd., based in Johannesburg, South Africa. After starting his own production company, Rings of Stone Productions, Basson executive produced The Fourth Reich, which at the time was the most ambitious local feature film ever undertaken in the country in terms of budget and scope. The award-winning film (nominated for fourteen Vita Awards and recipient of four) is regarded as a milestone by South African film critics. Basson contributed as a writer to the success of the popular South African TV sitcom series Suburban Bliss, dealing with the dynamics of a black and a white family living as neighbors in the “new South Africa.” He was also commissioned to write a screenplay by director Bernard Joffe.

Basson is a former consultant to Next Wave Films (an Independent Film Channel/Bravo company) and championed their first digital feature film Manic (starring Don Cheadle), as well as the highly regarded documentary Keep The River On Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale. Basson was also involved in the initial development of notable projects such as Tsotsi, Oscar’s Best Foreign Film in 2006.

Basson is interested in writing, directing, and producing films that will bring greater understanding and insight into the human condition. He recently completed an adaptation of an H.G. Wells short story titled Country Of The Blind, a poignant commentary on the current state of politics and religion in the world.

Current Project

Po' Boys (Narrative Feature)

Logline

An eccentric young man desperate to save his struggling small business in rural Louisiana kidnaps the billionaire owner of a super store chain - he doesn't want a ransom, only for the old codger to apologize for killing his beloved town and the best part of America with it.