Filmmakers train for a decade.
Then open a door for others to create.
The Solo Intellect was founded in Johannesburg in 2015 as a film production company. For ten years, it developed the craft of visual storytelling through short films, learning what it takes to bring a character-driven story from the page to the screen with patience and rigour.
That decade of experience became the foundation for the TSI Institute, launched in 2025 to give emerging South African screenwriters what any serious filmmaker needs most: not just the theory, but the permission to discover that they already have something worth saying.
TSI Productions and TSI Institute are two expressions of the same belief. That’s where a story comes from, shapes what it becomes. And that South African stories, told by writers who have been properly developed, are worth the world’s attention.
Develop your voice. Tell your story.
TSI Institute
“Writers learn best by doing. You begin with your idea, your voice, your pages.”
TSI Institute is not a traditional film school. It is a creative workshop built on a decade of real-world filmmaking experience through TSI Productions. We exist because writers learn best by doing.
You begin with your idea, your voice, your pages. In small, mentor-led cohorts, your project develops through practical feedback and honest critique. The process is structured, but always centred on creation.
Our mission is to equip South African writers with the skills, insight, and confidence to take their work from the page to the screen.
THOUGHTFUL ORIGINALITY.
TSI Productions
“We place value on the work that happens long before the camera rolls.”
TSI Productions is a film production company dedicated to developing character-driven stories with patience and rigour. We value the work that happens long before the camera rolls, when ideas are tested, refined, and shaped with intention.
Founded in Johannesburg in 2015, the company began with short films to develop its craft and foster collaboration. That deliberate foundation continues to inform our work as we move toward independent features.
Stories built with clarity of voice and strength of character, created for audiences who want to think and feel in equal measure.