The Feudal Cystern

Short story gets made into a short film

Those of you who have read Johnson and King James's first book New Writing from Africa 2009, would have seen that the runner-up short story was one called A visit to Dr Mamba, by Andrew Saloman.  I thought you might enjoy seeing the real life leaflet that inspired the story.

Over the past few weeks I have been sharing our book with a number of Film and commercial Directors in the hope that someone would be keen to make a short film out of one of the stories. Someone planted the idea that no agency has ever won a Cannes prize at both the Ad festival and the Film festival, and I thought it would be pretty cool if we could be involved in doing that. The good news is that Mike Middleton of Jump Films starts shooting A visit to Dr Mamba  in two weeks time in Natal. The story is wonderful, and the film is technically quite complex, so I have every faith that the film will turn out magnificent. Hold thumbs. We’ll have a special viewing when it is finished.

Over and out ™

Alistair King

Johnson & KingJames launches first book title.

Yes, we're an advertising agency, but did you know we publish books too? J&KJ celebrated the launch of our first book at the Franschoek Literary Fair on Friday. Much toil went into producing New Writing from Africa 2009 - we forged our own path, instead of following the usual systems when it comes to publishing, which proved to be both challenging but ultimately rewarding. And more efficient. Here's to many more. PS. For those of you who don't know, Johnson & King James was formed last year as a means by which to advance literary excellence in South Africa. (Which made all the copywriters who work here very excited, and inspired them to 'finish their novels'.)