Established in 2011 by Michael ‘Micl Snr’ Norman (a South African film director, actor, writer musician and businessman) and Grace Norman (a South African filmmaker and businesswoman), MicInGrace Studios got its start as EWH, a music-recording studio and entertainment company in Los Angeles, California. To this day, MicInGrace Studios is the only South African fully black-owned studio in Hollywood, CA.
Boasting an award-winning team of creatives and filmmakers, MicInGrace Studios has a combined experience of an in-house team that consists of three departments including film production, post-production and entertainment. MicInGrace Studios offers world-class production offices, comprehensive artist support with warehouses, make-up, star rooms, green rooms, wardrobe and all aspects of sound post-production.
“We’re a 100 percent black-owned company and we are excited to bring a world-class one-stop-shop facility to South Africa. We want to create timeless and authentic African stories that will be relevant for generations to come. Our core focus is on action feature films, action comedy, suspense thriller drama and for entertainment we will focus on reality shows and TV series… We welcome co-productions with production houses which share a similar vision and we want to open doors to local creatives. We have brought our staff from our LA headquarters to South Africa to transfer skills to the local team. We will be launching another MiclnGrace Studios branch in Dubai later in the year,” says MicInGrace CEO Grace Norman who owns a 50 percent stake in the company.
Micl Snr says MicInGrace Studios wants to bring more creative concepts and high-quality productions in the South African film space. He says there is a huge appetite for international action movie content in South Africa and therefore it’s time for South African filmmakers to produce it themselves.
“I find no reason why producing action movies ourselves should be any different. I understand that there is a lack of support and adequate resources including knowledge, skills and finances. Our SA action movies have not changed from the political past narrative, including bank robberies and hijackings that stereotype the black African child as a criminal in the effort to succeed. It’s time to see a different narrative in order to pioneer and grow our own market and film industry and appeal to the younger market that enjoys such content. South Africa has the potential, we need to learn to admire our own good guys, instead of admiring the famous action men and women from Hollywood.”
