Netflix ups the ante in Africa

On stage in a marine park stadium, a director yells “Action!” and the cameras roll as a young woman in a turquoise wetsuit starts to dance and a sea lion leaps from a cobalt-blue tank and twirls in front of her.

It is one of the final scenes being filmed for “JIVA!,” a Netflix Inc. original series about a talented dancer who realizes her moves could be her ticket out of a working-class neighborhood in coastal Durban, South Africa. It is one of a raft of new series the global streaming giant hopes will score millions of new subscribers across the world’s youngest and fastest-growing continent.

“I pitched the story, they loved it and then they green lit it. It was like one, two, three,” said Busisiwe Ntintili, creator, showrunner and executive producer of the show, slated to premiere world-wide on the streaming service in 2021. “It shows that Netflix really knows what they want.”