Donyale
Film Industry in Cape Town

Donyale MacKrill is a writer.
The Phantom shoot today would not have been possible without the incredible patience of Elias Tsoko, Donyale creates concepts for television and film, Jaco.
As writer/producer, also from the MFS wonder team, and our heroic DIT, which are represented internationally by a British sales agent.

As a creative director, my goal is to provide a single, clear vision that unites all the project’s key contributors. My job satisfaction lies in having a clearly articulated challenge, the brand’s trust in my experience, and the skilled hands needed to implement the kind of solution that will keep on rewarding the brand’s investment. Those able to infuse enough humanity into their content to delight their customers in each moment of truth, throughout the sales cycle. Another superb day, from the perfect sunrise to Terence’s many successful jumps and graceful flights past the Phantom Flex in slow motion. At last, shooting got underway today for the proof of concept (a mini pilot) for my extreme action-adventure travel show (with a twist). Shooting outdoors in forests, on beaches and up mountains in our iffy autumn weather with a hard-working but busy team is not for the fainthearted. It is very scary to step off my particular merry-go-round (pure FOMO, if you want to know), but what keeps most people from taking the sabbatical they secretly long for isn’t about means or opportunity; it’s simply a fear of the unknown. Sabbatical comes from the Latin, Greek and Hebrew words for Sabbath. It refers to a rest or break from work for any period from two months to a year. In contemporary Western society, taking a sabbatical means any extended break from your career taken in order to achieve a goal. It’s a viable way to make time to travel or write a book, broad your education or simply revitalise your passion for what you do. At least, not if you want it to add value to your career. Your sabbatical needs a clear goal, but you can make still it fun by volunteering for causes you care about, taking a measured and thoughtful audit of your personal goals and achieving some of them, and taking a hobby to the next level. According to a 2010 study, academics who took a sabbatical reported better life satisfaction and lower stress than those who did not. Make a career change, or find out if your hobby can generate a viable income; Fulfill a dream, or take a mini-retirement while you are fit enough to enjoy it; Complete that postgraduate qualification you’ve been talking about for ten years. What would you do with six months or a year away from the daily grind? Be clear why you want to take this sabbatical and what you intend to do with it. It’s much easier to gain the support of your loved ones and colleagues if you can articulate the why and what-for of your sabbatical. Unless you win the lottery, you probably can’t take a sabbatical without saving up for it. Take an honest look at your spending habits, pay off your debt and then simplify your lifestyle. Get used to living on less before you stop work, and the small sacrifices won’t upset you. Trust yourself and know that act of stepping out of the daily grind is enriching on its own, offering you unexpected opportunities for personal growth. Be flexible and open to evolving your plans and updating your goal during your sabbatical, especially if you are taking more than six months. I’m maintaining the structure of a normal work day because I’m prone to procrastination. My best defence against time wasting is to stick to a routine. At the end of my sabbatical, I’ll have the obvious answers to these questions noted in my project management tool, but the more subtle, personal growth aspects are equally important and harder to track. So, I’m also keeping a journal to give myself a reference point at the start and at the finish of the experience