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The dreamer who grew up in a City Hall
Growing up in Benoni City Hall - the hometown of Charlize Theron and three members of the original "Not The Midnight Mass" (Graham and Christine Weir and Jenny De Lenta) - various threatregroups became Daniel's "family".
From a young age he appeared in several amateur productions, co-directed, worked backstage, front-of-house, painted sets, and ushered thousands into the theatre. As a young theatre-animal in training he was also a dresser to many famous stars at the original Civic Theatre in Gauteng (including Ge Korsten and Lawrence Folley in The Great Waltz), before leaving Benoni to follow a career in theatre.
First steps in the write direction
Following a brief stint as aspirant actor at the University of Pretoria - under the watchful eyes of Amanda Strydom and Brumilda van Rensburg in their final years (performing a rather exhausting interpretation of the master of Ceremonies 'Wilkommen' from Cabaret as part of the first year concert) - Daniel followed his instinct and knew that he did not belong 'in front of the camera' or on stage.
After completing his military service (two years filled with thousands of stories to tell), Daniel became actively involved in freelance movie journalism, working as a publicist and in Marketing.
His first step was studying Journalism at the Pretoria Technikon, where he viewed films with the South African Censorboard and wrote reports for the Pretoria News. He also met and interviewed several celebrities who shaped his career as writer and sharpened his interest in film - Liza Minnelli, Michael Dudikoff (filming "Platoon Leader", Eartha Kitt ,writer-director Alan Pakula (who visited South Africa on a promotional tour of "Sophie's Choice"), and Pieter-Dirk Uys.
He worked as a publicist for Ster-Kinekor's head-office in Gauteng; and for the Arts Council's in Durban (as publicist for the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra and Musical Theatre/ Opera Department) and Cape Town (Musical Theatre Department).
His professional relationship with Pieter-Dirk Uys began during the mid eighties. This snowballed into his position as personal assistant to Pieter-Dirk Uys for seven years, during which period he wrote, co-produced, directed and designed the workshop production of the play "Yes, Masseur", and established and co-designed the supper-theatre "Evita se Perron" in Darling. He also designed the lighting for several of Mr. Uys productions during its tours locally and internationally.
His 15-year professional relationship with Pieter-Dirk Uys (and mentorship) ended when Daniel left for Cape Town to establish The Writing Studio and focus on his own career.
He has travelled extensively to London, Brighton, Berlin, Hamburg, Brussels, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Paris, Rome, Florence, Amsterdam, and New York; studying various productions in opera, musicals and theatre.
Daniel also worked as PA to the Executive Director of the Western Cape Chapter of the NTVA (National Television and Video Association of South Africa), and was the Administrator of the Western Cape Chapter for two years .
He also compiled and presented his own program on Fine Music Radio, focusing on music from film and theatre; was a feature writer for the magazine "Women At Work"; and was the Chief Writer for the first series of the television game show "Love At First Sight", which began on e-TV in January, 2000.
He is in the process of writing comprehensive workshop manual, "Develop the write Attitude" - the first in South Africa - on the writing of a screenplay and analysing contemporary films, and has written several screenplays and plays that are currently in development..
When he is not teaching workshops or writing he spends most of his time in the dark, watching films on the big screen, or finding comfort from his beloved feline companions Two-Sox and JC.
If you want to contact Daniel Dercksen, please send an email to daniel@writingstudio.co.za
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