College Central, producers of the popular Wadiwa Wepa Moyo
drama were left counting their losses last week when their YouTube account was
hacked and all their content wiped out.
This was a major blow for them as they were getting
financial gains from the popularity of the show online through adverts from
Google and local corporates.
While some concluded that the drama’s producers had been
directed by ZBC to pull down the content since the show is being shown by the
national broadcaster, it later emerged that the account had infact been hacked.
The series production manager, Kudakwashe Jani, said due to
the hacking, they lost a lot of revenue which they were hoping to use to pay
the drama’s cast.
“We just woke up on May 15 to find that our YouTube and
email account had been hacked as we couldn’t access them. We don’t know who
took over the account but there was a money lecture from a guy called Dave
Ramsey who actually aired something live on the day on the account,” said Jani.
“We were benefitting financially from the YouTube account
via the YouTube ads and without access or content on the page, we can’t
generate revenue anymore. This has affected us greatly as we still have
outstanding money which we are supposed to pay actors.”
Jani said they have since created a new YouTube account
page after consulting Information Technology experts.
He said the hacking was a wakeup call and they have now
secured the new account.
“We’ve since created a new account which is more secure and
encrypted as we got help from IT specialists. We’ve learnt to research on
protecting our content on the web and we are going to invest heavily in that.
“Nonetheless, this is just a lesson and we’re glad it came
so early in our career because now we’re aware of what can possibly happen,” he
said.
College Central was formed in 2017. They have produced
dramas and films that include Wadiwa Wepa Moyo, Things we do for love, Special
Class which they worked with Simuka comedy and a number of music videos.
Their defining moment however was the production of Wadiwa
Wepa Moyo, a drama that was a hit among many Zimbabweans earlier this year
because of its simple, but relatable storyline.
The lockdown also saw the drama gain popularity as people
were in desperate need of fresh content. Chronicle
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