As Seton Bailey steps down as CEO of the SA Film Academy, he reflects on a legacy of which he is “truly, unashamedly and deeply proud”.

After nearly two decades at the helm of the SA FILM Academy (SAFA), I step down with a deep sense of gratitude, humility, and, perhaps most significantly, after eighteen years, pause for a moment, to reflect.

When the Film Industry Learner Mentorship programme (F.I.L.M.) started out in 2006, the intention was simple, even if the challenge was not: to bridge the gap between education (both tertiary and secondary), and meaningful employment and career path development in the South African film and television industries.

At the time, the imperative was film industry transformation which was at best, limping and uneven, and pathways into the industry were often unclear and unavailable—particularly for young Black South Africans, and even more so for women.

Eighteen years later, as the fully accredited SA FILM Academy, the bridge we were privileged to help build has provided many, many, hundreds of people passage into the industry as crew, emerging management, Heads of Departments, independent producers and directors and industry suppliers.

But it’s not like it was a business plan – it was an organic movement, a groundswell built on handshakes and verbal agreements – and impelled by a passionate, driven, shared, ineluctable sense of purpose. To coin Simon Sinek, it wasn’t about what we did or how we did it – it was about the deeper reason and underlying motivation behind it.

The compelling purpose that drove us beyond mere subsistence or function – guiding our decision-making, shaping our emerging SA FILM Academy culture, and creating meaningful connection and partnership over a protracted period, with key public and private industry role players, building authenticity and credibility, inspiring loyalty, and differentiating us in a way that is difficult to replicate – was to open doors where few existed, and to turn raw, brimming potential into real careers through trust, opportunity, passion and shared purpose. The tag line I came up with after `Giving Back to the Future’ outlived itself, was: `Where Industry Meets Opportunity’.

Hopefully head-on, and far into the future…

More than 3,000 trainees and interns have been placed on over 500 productions. Hundreds of SA FILM Academy alumni/ae form part of local and international crews and management. Well over R65 million has been channelled into skills development, In-service training, and career-path development. But numbers, while important, don’t tell the full – or even half – the story.

At the risk of sounding painfully trite, but no less sincere, the true measure of SAFA’s impact lies in people.

Recently, at a screening of One Piece: Season 2: Project Renaissance, I found myself surrounded by individuals who had once entered our programme as trainees and interns – uncertain, eager, and largely unseen by the industry. Today, they are crew, emerging managers, heads of department, producers, and suppliers. Some are creating their own work. Many are mentoring the next generation. As one of them said to me in a note: “The impact goes far beyond the work itself; it lives on in the lives you’ve changed and the opportunities you have created.”

That is the legacy of which I am truly, unashamedly and deeply proud.

SAFA was never simply about skills development and In-service training. It was about transforming trajectories.

What began as a bold, initially regionally focused intervention has grown into a nationally recognised social development enterprise. Along the way, we built more than programmes – we actually built systems: Structured, mentored, remunerated In-service training on local and international productions; The Academy of Creative Excellence (ACE), designed to fast-track leadership pathways; GREENSET, positioning sustainability & waste management at the heart of production; the free, FILMGRO Driving Academy, quietly enabling employability and independence through legal driving licences, and a network of partnerships across productions, institutions, and industry stakeholders.

At its core, SAFA has always been driven by a belief that access, mentorship, and structured opportunity can fundamentally help alter the composition of an industry. And in many ways, it has contributed significantly to this objective.

We have seen young Black women—previously excluded—step into positions of authority. We have seen trainees and interns become decision-makers, managers and leaders. We have seen transformation move from policy language into lived reality. The current SA FILM Academy Training and Operations Manager, Cindy Mkhwanazi, started out as an intern on the programme.  

But institutions, like industries, don’t stand still.

As I step away, it is clear that both SAFA and the broader film, television and digital media sectors stand at a pivotal moment.

The reduction in local and international productions – driven in part by uncertainty around the dti rebate, as well as broader global economic and geopolitical shifts – have exposed a structural vulnerability in our ecosystem.

For many years, SAFA’s model – like much of the industry—has been closely tied to production cycles. When productions thrive, opportunities expand. When they contract, the impact is immediate and deeply felt.

What we are experiencing now is not simply a downturn. It may be a reset.

At the same time, new technologies, changing audience behaviours, evolving funding models, and increased global competition are reshaping the landscape in ways we cannot ignore.

The implication is clear: adaptation is no longer optional.

For SAFA, the path forward lies in evolution.

For nearly two decades, we have prepared young professionals to enter the industry. The next phase must also prepare them to build within it—to create, to own, and to sustain.

This is why the shift toward entrepreneurial content creation is so critical.

By working with partners such as the Craft and Design Institute (CDI) and the International Tourism Film Festival Africa, (ITFFA), the opportunity presents itself to reposition SAFA not only as a training institution, but as a catalyst for broader economic, entrepreneurial activity.

The opportunity is significant.

Across South Africa, particularly in the craft, design, and tourism sectors, there are thousands of micro-entrepreneurs who lack access to high-quality content and marketing tools. At the same time, SAFA trainees, interns and alumnae, possess precisely those skills. Surely this is a Win/Win economic growth and development partnership, if ever there was one?

Connecting these two worlds does more than solve a problem – it creates an entirely new `contentrepreneurial’ econo-system.

It enables trainees to become entrepreneurs. It supports small businesses to grow and stimulates the marketing and sale of local products and services. It generates new revenue streams. And it reduces redundancy and dependency on traditional production cycles.

In essence, it extends and widens the bridge. And, amidst the tsunami of change, one principle remains inviolable: transformation.

SAFA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion – particularly its focus on Black youth and Black women – has been central to its identity and impact. That must not only continue; it must deepen.

Equally important is the continued development of life skills, occupational training, and entrepreneurial capacity. The future workforce will need to be more adaptable, more technologically fluent, and more self-directed than ever before.

This is where SAFA’s role remains vital. Not simply as a facilitator of opportunity, but as a structured, forward-thinking skills institution aligned with the realities of a changing industry.

It is tough to summarise eighteen years in a few paragraphs.

There have been challenges—many of them significant. There have been moments of uncertainty, of risk, of real pain and of hard decisions.

But there have also been moments of extraordinary reward.

Watching interns and trainees walk onto set for the first time; Seeing quiet confidence replace hesitation; Hearing a former intern call to say they have been promoted, or have started their own company, or are mentoring others.

Those moments endure and it has been the greatest privilege of my professional life to play a small part of that journey.

I leave the SA FILM Academy with confidence in the team. And confidence in the enduring relevance of the Academy’s mission. I cannot thank the Sharons, the Cindys, the Gales, the Karabos, the Sibos, the Davids, the Jacos, the Andiswas, the Leratos, the Cheryls, the Carmens, the Natalies, the Deidres, the Steves and many, many others, for the vital roles they all played in our journey…   

The foundation is strong. The impact is real.

But the next chapter will require something more: Strategic clarity; Institutional discipline; Entrepreneurial thinking; And, above all, the courage to evolve.

If SAFA embraces this moment – diversifying its model, strengthening its programmes, and expanding its reach into new economic spaces – it will not merely weather the current challenges.

It will continue to lead. For eighteen years, SAFA has been a bridge – between education and industry, between exclusion and opportunity, between aspiration and employment.

That bridge remains. The work continues – and I leave with confidence that the next chapter of SAFA, will be one of maturity, resilience and renewed impact.