It's a romcom that catches you off guard, says 'Singleholic' maker

Milan Selassie worked as an agent at William Morris before forming his own production company, Intelligent Media, and going into the film-producing business. His first project, Back To School Mom, was released in 2015 and his latest is Singleholic — a romantic comedy shot in Mauritius and released in cinemas this week.

The film is based on a novel by Katharine Birbalsingh, directed by Bryan Barber and starring Erica Ash, Vanessa Williams, Rotimi, Stephen Bishop, Tyson Beckford and Adrian Martinez. It opened this week in cinemas across the continent and was launched last week in the US, UK and Canada on the Roku streaming service.

What was the genesis of this film?

I read the novel when it was actually still a manuscript. A good friend of mine at the time, who lived in London, had dated the woman who had written it. She was very persistent and because she knew I worked at William Morris, even though I didn’t work in the book division, she asked me to read it. I read it and loved it and I told her: “One day I’m going to make this movie.”

Between the period of doing Back to School Mom and then Singleholic it really took a period of a year and a half. I raised the capital in 2017, made the movie in 2018 and completed it in 2019 … and then the pandemic came in 2020.

What attracted you to the story?

I like the fact that the main female protagonist chooses herself. In a lot of Hollywood movies, especially romantic comedies: woman is single, woman wants to be with someone, goes on a bunch of dates, finds a knight in shining armour, they get married and live happily ever after. That’s not always realistic and I like realistic; I like the fact that the woman chooses herself and I think that’s the type of message that society should send to women more often. Sometimes you may not find the right person and sometimes it’s not about finding someone who loves you, it’s about loving yourself first.

What made you decide to relocate the setting to Mauritius and what was it like shooting there?

Mauritius was very fast with their tax rebate and it took a lot quicker for them to approve it. One of the benefits of being a producer is that you can adapt the story without compromising it too much to fit the location.

One of the biggest challenges as a producer is that you can’t be like the actors and your crew who are enjoying being in this very scenic country where the people are very kind and everyone has treated you very well. As a producer you’re always half expecting a fire to break out and then you have to see how you can manage it so you’re constantly on the edge, anticipating potential fires.

What do you hope audiences get from the film?

It’s very funny and it balances itself between being slightly raunchy and quite emotive and heartwarming. It’s interesting, some of the comments that I’ve seen from people said it dug a little deeper than they were expecting and I like that. It catches people off guard and it’s unlike what a lot of people have seen — and for me that’s great.

What I’ve learned is that regardless of race or national identity, people like a good story, and there are some stories that are just universal. I’ve screened it in Mauritius, I’ve screened it in Cape Town, Joburg, New York, Atlanta, LA, Alabama — and if you chart which moments elicit the most laughs they’re pretty much the same [everywhere] and that’s what I love: stories that are universal, they can transcend race, religion and country.

I think the fluidity of my own background — I was conceived in Milan in Italy, born in Israel, my parents are from Eritrea but I grew up in the US, in the South, all my life — I think having that type of background gives me a certain sensitivity to a wide variety of people and it informs the choices I make when I greenlight a film.

What’s next?

I have a hip-hop movie called Move the Crowd, which is going to be really, really great and I plan on shooting that in Atlanta this year. Then I have another movie called A Love So Loud, which is an absolutely heartwarming story about a child and an elephant, and I plan on shooting that movie here in SA.