Marc Schwinges
Marc Schwinges is a seasoned COO, Executive Producer, and production deal architect
specialising in film and television budgeting, finance structuring—including commissions, presales, rebates, equity, grants, and co-productions—across both fiction and factual genres. He has successfully negotiated deals with major VOD platforms such as Netflix, traditional broadcasters, and has led significant transmedia expansions. His expertise includes managing large creative teams, drafting production legal documents, and overseeing compliance reporting.
With a career spanning over three decades, Marc is a prominent figure in both South Africa and the international industry. He has a track record of delivering award-winning factual and fiction content, managing large-scale production, post-production, and distribution companies, and advising governments, NGOs, and production companies. Over the past eight years, he has focused on supporting and empowering leading Black independent producers in securing finance, including budgeting, cash-flow structuring, and completion bonding, particularly in independent cinema and global streaming pre-sales.
He has extensive knowledge of South African government funding sources, including the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s (DTIC) Production Rebate, the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), regional and special funds, and strategies for maximising funding in both formal and informal international co-productions. Additionally, he has growing expertise in funding structures in Mauritius, the Netherlands, Germany (both national and regional), the UK, EU grants, co-productions, and global distribution.
Marc is a current (2024–26) board member and former Chairperson of the Independent Producers Organisation of South Africa (IPO). He
reviously served as Treasurer and Co-Chair of the South African Screen Federation (SASFED) and as an honorary and board member of the Documentary Filmmakers Association (DFA).
He is currently stepping down from a long-standing role on the Digital Television Content
Advisory Group within the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). He has been a guest honours lecturer at several film schools across Africa, has represented the South African production industry in parliamentary presentations on copyright reform, advised the government of Botswana on incentives, and spoken extensively at international festivals and markets on a range of industry topics.