“If God loves me so much, surely, he has something better planned for me.” This mind-set has been the driving force behind Gambit Films’ CEO, Bradley Joshua, who starts off our interview by telling me that the first thing I need to know about him is that he is a born-again Christian who found the Lord at the young age of 12.
Established in 2009, Gambit Films is an independent, multi-award-winning Film and Television production company that develops and produces world-class entertainment. Some of Gambit Films major achievements include producing over 2500 episodes of series television, including Suidooster and more recently the globally successful, Unseen, Blood and Water, Bad Influencer and Blood Legacy, for streaming giant Netflix.
The company’s feature films have premiered and competed at many festivals around the world including SXSW, Seattle International Film Festival, Fantasia International Film Festival, and Rotterdam International Film Festival to name a few. Their last film Indemnity, a propulsive action film, is being distributed globally by Magnolia Pictures.
Bradley says the name Gambit Films was chosen with intent. “A gambit in chess is an opening move where a player voluntarily sacrifices a piece, usually a pawn, to gain a strategic advantage. We realized early on, that we would have to make sacrifices to achieve our goals. And together with our strong foundations in faith, we persevered through numerous challenges to be where we are today."
The local and global film and television industry has a reputation of being a tough nut to crack into. The industry is often strictly guarded by gate keepers to filter the millions upon millions of “great ideas” submitted daily to channels and platforms across the globe. I ask Bradley how they did it.
“Never, ever give up, That’s the key, keep knocking on doors, keep finding ways to get to the right people, don’t take rejection personally, and keep believing in yourself and your product. That, in a nutshell, is how you break into this industry. We just took any opportunity that came our way and took what we had in-hand and gave it our absolute best shot and allowed the work to speak for itself. That was pretty much how our movie Nommer 37 got the attention of Netflix,” he says.
Bradley’s journey into to top echelons of the local film industry was not as straight-forward as you might imagine. Born in Bridgetown, Athlone, Bradley and his brother Daryne, who is part of the founding team of Gambit Films and is a Writer, Director and Executive Producer, were grounded by their Christian values at a young age.
“There was very inspirational Christian youth leader who came into Bridgetown a few times a week. He would come into our neighbourhood on his bicycle and was robbed so many times, but it never stopped him. He gave us a fun, cool perspective of faith, and it made a lasting difference in our lives, which had we not been exposed to, could well have seen us end up in the stereotypical lanes most of our community kids end up in.”
Bradley matriculated from St Columba’s SSS and went on to study Mechanical Engineering at Peninsula Technikon, now Cape Peninsular University of Technology.
“Back then we had to do a year on the job as part of our diploma where you had to work in the industry you were studying and your employer would do your performance appraisal, which would impact your grade. I worked for a small engineering company and decided to stay on at the company and in-fact did not go back to Tech to finish my diploma. This was partly because I did not want to burden my mom with having to pay for my studies. My mom took care of us very well after the untimely passing of my dad when I was 16, and now that I was earning an income, I just thought it would be good to help out as well.”
Bradley says life wasn’t easy, but they hardly knew it. ”Os hettie gewiet os kry swaar nie, ‘cos we didn’t know any better, so we just got on with life and made lemonade from the lemons that came our way.”
“Throughout my life, I achieved small milestones, whether it was doing well in my job, or achieving something on a personal level, but I always asked the question, so what’s next, what next good thing has God got planned for me.”
“Looking back, it is clear that there were various angels sent to guide me and support me to keep me on the path. One of those angels was my wife Marcia, whom I met at age 12 and we started dating at about 16 and have been married for 27 years now. Marcia is an attorney and works as legal counsel for Gambit Films.
“We have two adult children, Jordan who also works in the film industry, and James who is studying Actuarial Science at UCT.”
“My mechanical engineering career meandered through various companies and positions, including fixing and building complex machines and even sales. I eventually ended up in a senior position at oil giant Chevron.
“During the early part of my career, one of my mentors made a bold prediction that “one day I would become a millionaire”. For a twenty something year old laaitie back then, that seemed as far-fetched as you can imagine. But that statement stayed with me and it made me aware of the concept of the poverty mindset, where many of our people can’t actually see themselves going beyond a certain point of success or achievement.”
“The guy actually sat me down and his exact words were “by the time you’re 37, you will be a millionaire.” And when I do the math now, I was 37, thirteen years ago, and we went into this vehicle of Gambit Films, 17 years ago.”
“My brother Daryne is one of the creative minds behind Gambit Films, and is a passionate filmmaker. In 2009 (before I joined) they were doing a project and needed a bit of funding to create a pilot, and they asked me to help out. I think they asked me for about R5k and offered me shares in the company as recompense,” Bradley remembers with a giggle.
“I got involved in 2010 and worked part-time on building Gambit with the team, whilst holding down my full-time job at Chevron. In 2014 I left Chevron and committed to Gambit Films fully. I think what I brought to the company and continue to apply, is strict corporate governance and strategic planning. These elements are critical to the successful running of any business. A lot of our people have amazing creative skills and insights, but they fall short on the actual management side of their dreams and aspirations.
“My experience at companies like Chevron taught me the value of having sound business plans and strategies and also the vital importance of simple things like accountability, punctuality, follow-through, research, re-investment over profits, patience and self-belief.”
“I want people to know that building anything of any lasting value, takes time and perseverance and it always comes with unforeseen challenges, but if a laaitie from Bridgetown can do it, so can you. Those of you reading this might be surprised that one of my lasting motivations to succeed was that, coming from Bridgetown, I simply wanted to own a nice car and live in a nice house one day. Well, I achieved those goals, but it took about ten years since we started the project before anyone on the team was able to earn a stable salary and the company itself showed signs of stability. So, my final piece of advice is to stay true to your dreams, be patient, but never give up, in the end perseverance always wins the day.”
Editor’s note – This interview is part one of a series of interviews on Gambit Films, to inspire future generations that dreams can, and do come true, no matter what circumstances you may have been born into. In part two, we talk to Daryne Joshua, about how the magic on the screen is done. Daryne is currently working on an exciting new project and we'll probably only catch up to him in the New Year.
