Production started this week on action-drama Spinners in Cape Town, South Africa. The 8 x 50’ premium CANAL+ ORIGINAL series is a co-production between African streaming service Showmax and CANAL+.   

Produced by Joachim Landau and Raphaël Rocher for Empreinte Digitale and co-produced by Ramadan Suleman, Spinners’ local co-production company is Natives at Large, created by Locarno, Amiens and FESPACO winner Suleman, a South African full-service film and TV production outfit.  

The narrative of Spinners revolves around the popular and dangerous South African motor sport of Spinning, which sees cars driven at high speed with drivers performing stunts in and out of the vehicle. 

Ethan is a 17-year-old driver working for a local gang, run with an iron fist by Damien. Trying to support his younger brother but increasingly disgusted with this life and constantly on the edge, Ethan discovers a possible way out via spinning, an intense local sport where he could put his driving skills to use. But the looming gang war jeopardizes that hope. 

Cast includes Arendsvlei’s Cantona James and Chelsea Thomas in leading roles, along with South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) winner Brendon Daniels (Zulu, Skemerdans, Five Fingers for Marseille) and local celebrity Dillon Windvogel (Blood & Water). 

Directed by Jaco Bouwer (2021 SXSW winner Gaia, 2022 SAFTA Best TV Drama nominee 4 Mure) and produced and co-created by Joachim Landau, Spinners’ showrunner and co-creator Benjamin Hoffman is joined by SAFTA-winning writers Matthew Jankes, Sean Steinberg, Gillian Breslin, Daniel Zimbler, Byron Abrahams and Zoë Laband. The English/Kaaps/Afrikaans drama is co-produced by Ramadan Suleman (Zulu Love Letter, Fools). 

DJ Ready D, the South African hip hop Legend (cofounder and member of Prophets of the City) and Cape Town based artist, is the music supervisor who is also composing tracks for the series. 

Since 2018, CANAL+ has produced 13 CANAL+ ORIGINAL TV series in different African countries with African talent, such as INVISIBLES, AGENT, CACAO, DEAD PLACES, MAMI WATA LE MYSTERE D’IVEZA and EKI.  Today, the ambition of CANAL+ is to strengthen its production of CANAL+ ORIGINAL TV series in Africa, gradually increasing to ten series per year. 

STUDIOCANAL handles international distribution.