Arrested Industries, the content development, financing and production company run by Anthony Kimble, has announced the launch of Arrested Industries Talent. The new division has been specifically established to help identify and curate the best talent from smaller markets and expand their careers in the international marketplace.   

Kimble, who currently manages his business between the US, the UK and South Africa, has launched his new venture with a roster of British and South African talent comprising four writer/directors and three actors.  

He says: “During the course of developing various projects and especially while spending some time in South Africa, I have been lucky enough to meet some really extraordinary talent, people that I felt needed to have their voice heard or be seen on a much wider stage. Territories like South Africa are producing some incredible films and television series, but until they travel more widely, their talented writers and actors are unlikely to get the spotlight they deserve. And that’s where Arrested Industries Talent comes in. Sometimes, we will be fostering exciting new talent, but more frequently, we will be taking proven talent from one territory and helping them to become recognised in the US and internationally.” 

 

WRITER/DIRECTORS 

Christiaan Olwagen is one of South Africa’s most sought after writer/directors with credits that include the multi-award-winning film Poppie Nongena, for which Christiaan won Best Script and Best Director at the 2019 Silweskerm Festival, and hit drama series Recipes for Love and Murder starring Maria Doyle Kennedy and White Lies starring Natalie Dormer. 

His latest series for Showmax, Koek – an intriguing crime drama about a Cape Town housewife who discovers her husband is having an affair with a stripper – has been a smash hit in South Africa, and Anthony Kimble is currently shopping the scripted format worldwide, with a UK option soon to be announced. 

Etienne Fourie is a South African writer, director and author. Initially known for feature films Die Windpomp and Liewe Kersfeesvader, in 2021 he won the South African Film and Television Award for Best Achievement in Directing TV Drama for Tydelik Terminaal and published his first novel, Man in die Maan. 

His latest hit series on Showmax, Tompoppie, is about a serial killer who targets cheerleaders. It is already under option in the US, with the script currently being adapted.  

Tina Gharavi is the BAFTA and Sundance nominated director of I Am Nasrine and is known for directing Jada Pinkett Smith’s four-part Netflix series African Queens: Cleopatra and the upcoming British romantic comedy Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day, which has just finished filming with a stellar cast that includes Jack Whitehall, Jennifer Saunders, Timothy Spall, Haley Bennett and Lily Allen. In addition, it has recently been announced that she will be the showrunner on The Fox, a Scandi Noir drama series that she is currently writing and has in development. 

Lyndon Chapman is an up-and-coming writer/director and performer from the UK that Kimble discovered at the Edinburgh Festival in 2024. His “Devastatingly Genuine” debut show, Is the WiFi Good in Hell? was a sell-out, attracted rave reviews and was Playbill’s Pick of the Edinburgh Fringe last year. 

 

ACTORS 

Actors being represented by Arrested Industries Talent are South Africa’s Daniel Schultz and Daniel Fox, plus Sam Benjamin, a British actor and writer living in LA:  

Daniel Schultz starred in the film Upon the Edge and has most recently had a lead role in the drama series White Lies, playing Natalie Dormer’s nephew.  

Daniel Fox is an experienced actor who started his career in the memorable series Generation Kill and has gone on to earn roles in everything from dramas Strike Back and City on a Hill to movies such as Safe House and Eye in the Sky. He recently starred in the Apple TV+ series Invasion.  

Sam Benjamin has had roles in TV series Peaky Blinders, The Few, The War of the Worlds and Doctor Who and movies such as Zack Snyder’s Justice League. He recently wrote his first feature film, The Pay Day, which premiered on Starz. 

Arrested Industries Talent has a co-representation deal with 5X Media, which will see the LA-based studio represent Arrested’s clients in the US, while Arrested Industries Talent will represent 5X clients in South Africa and other territories.