Kenyan Comedy ‘Money Town’ and Ugandan Western ‘Mad Bounty and the Midnight Gun’ Selected for Red Sea Labs’ SeriesLab Program

Red Sea Labs, one of the Red Sea Film Foundation’s programs, has announced the selected teams for the third edition of its SeriesLab program, in partnership with nonprofit arts organisation Film Independent.

SeriesLab is an intensive training initiative focused on cultivating the talents of 16 emerging TV content creators and writers through a residency program. It provides a dynamic and supportive environment for script development, offering guidance and training from professional television writers, showrunners, and industry experts. The goal is to equip participants with the skills to successfully complete and pitch their television series pilot by the end of the program.

A key highlight for the program is an exclusive two-week trip to Los Angeles, where participants will attend intensive workshops and participate in the Film Independent Forum, empowering the filmmakers with the tools and industry connections needed to bring their projects to life.

The third edition of the SeriesLab program will run from April to December 2025, coinciding with the fifth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival, where selected participants will pitch their series at the Red Sea Souk.

This year’s selected projects span four African countries – Egypt, Uganda, Nigeria, and Kenya – as well as India, Kazakhstan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia.

Kenya

Money Town (Comedy)

Writer: Tony Koros

Producer: Tony Kamau

Set in a seemingly idyllic village in rural Kenya, Money Town follows the story of a tight-knit community transformed by a sudden Universal Basic Income grant. What begins as a joyful windfall quickly unravels into rivalry, resentment, and fractured relationships.

LA-based Kenyan writer Tony Koros is a 2021 Sundance Screenwriters & Directors Lab Fellow,  and a recipient of a number of film grants including from the Tribeca Film Institute, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. His latest short film, Tithes & Offerings premiered in competition at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2019 and was distributed by CANAL+.

Money Town was first selected for AuthenticA African Series Pitch at the Series Mania Forum in March.

Uganda

Mad Bounty and the Midnight Gun (Western)

Writer: Talemwa Pius

Co-writer: Tusabe Ivan

Set in 19th-century Uganda, Mad Bounty and the Midnight Gun is a Western that follows an outlaw gunslinger who, while seeking revenge for his mother’s murder, uncovers an ancient secret powerful enough to change the fate of colonial-era Africa.

 Ugandan writer and director Talemwa Pius is a graduate of the MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy and the New York Film Academy’s Short Form Storytelling Workshop. In 2021, his short film Engaito won Best MultiChoice Talent Factory Film at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA).

Mad Bounty and the Midnight Gun was also selected for AuthenticA African Series Pitch at the Series Mania Forum in March.

Nigeria’s Till Death Do Us Part is written by Tomisin Folowosele and produced by Orire Nwani, while Egypt’s Malpractice is written by Hind Metwalli with Ahmed El Zoghby as co-writer.

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