Bustop TV
| Bustop TV | |
|---|---|
 P.o. Box | |
| Genre | Comedy Show |
| Created by | Luckie Aaron |
| Directed by | Luckie Aaron |
| Creative director(s) | Luckie Aaron |
| Country of origin | Zimbabwe |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Luckie Aaron |
| Editor(s) | Luckie Aaron |
| Location(s) | Harare |
| Cinematography | Luckie Aaron |
| Camera setup | Luckie Aaron |
| Running time | 5 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Facebook, YouTube |
| Original airing | November 20, 2014 |
| External links | |
| [www | |
Bustop TV is a Comedy video show published on social media. The show was co-founded by Luckie Aaron. It was initially named P.O. Box. Bustop TV currently features comedians, Sharon Chideu (Maggie), and Samantha Kureya (Gonyeti) and is produced by Luckie Aaron.
Guest comedians that have featured on the show include Doc Vikela, Comic Pastor and Comrade Fatso.
In February 2018, Bustop TV revealed that they had earned about $3,500 from Google advertising on their YouTube channel.[1]
In February 2019, comedians Gonyeti and Maggie were arrested and charged with wearing clothes that look like police uniforms in a video skit in violation of the Police Act. They were fined $20 each.
Awards
- National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) 2018 Outstanding Online Media category winner
- NAMA 2017 /2018 Outstanding comedian nominee
- ZIWA 2016 people choice winner
- Intombie Awards women in media award 2017
Background
Bustop TV was started in 2014 by 3 creatives Aaron, Lunga and Kuzhangaira who had just lost their jobs at a local production house. After seeing the popularity of the Zvirikufaya na Keda amateur comedy videos on Facebook, the trio decided to produce their own videos and share them on Facebook and YouTube. Their first video was uploaded on YouTube and Facebook on 20 November 2014 and was on the Zviri Kufaya theme (Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe would boast about a better quality of life in the country than that in the Disapora). Kuzhangaira and Lunga would act, as Bhutisi and Boss Kedha respectively, while Aaron would do cinematography and production.
The reception to the video was high and the trio continued producing short videos and posting them online. Eventually, companies started buying brand placement in the videos, the first such company being Nash Paints. More companies have bought brand placement since, including Steward Bank, Old Mutual Zimbabwe, Pacific Cigarettes and others.
The marketing manager at P.o. Box has been Godknows Homwe since 2015.
2015 Split
During 2015 a disagreement over money emerged between Aaron on one side and Lunga and Kuzhangaira on the other side. This led to the split of the team with Aaron maintaining the Facebook page and the other party starting their own comedy show called P.o. Box Reloaded. Commenting on the 2015 split Aaron has said:
We are all gifted filmmakers and inspired by the success of other pages on social media we had to unite in forming the P.O BOX brand. However, we had to fund all our productions which is rather straining. Because of our unique talent and the ability to tell the Zimbabwean story in a better way, we started attracting corporates who would offer some commission for pushing their brands and services. That is when we started having differences as to who should get what. It got to an extent whereby my colleagues would shoot and upload skits without consulting or even notifying me as was tradition. I tried to engage them on the way forward but with no success and I ended up having to block them. On the day, I blocked them they had done a commercial for a local mobile company without notifying me and I realised the anomaly was not going to stop. To avoid things blowing out I then blocked them since dialogue had failed. Efforts to engage a mediator have proved fruitless.[2]
.
Soon after, Aaron was joined by Prosper Ngomashi, Sharon Chideu and Samantha Kureya who are the shows current main on camera artists.
In January 2016, Prosper Ngomashi said that P.o. Box and P.o. Box Reloaded were working on a collaboration project that would be released soon.[3]
Some Bustop TV Videos
References
- ↑ Farai Mudzingwa, $3,500 From YouTube For Zim Internet Commedians, Bustop TV. Not Much But They Have A Good Business Going On, Techzim, Published: 19 Feb 2018, Retrieved: 1 March 2018
- ↑ P.O BOX STORY: WHY THEY SPLIT, "Zimrealnews, Published: 2015, Retrieved: 13 Feb 2016
- ↑ PO BOX -Comic Pastor :: Gonyeti :: Maggie live on Jamrockradio with King Alfred, King Alfred Radio Show on Sound Cloud, Published: 30 HJan 2016, Retrieved: 13 February 2016
