Paul C. Venter and his great grandson, Hunter. (Photo: provided)
In his gr. At the age of 8, Paul C. Venter’s uncle bought him his very first typewriter – an empowering object that would ignite the rest of his writing career.
This award-winning author is, among other things, responsible for series such as Hot Guys, Flight to Egypt, Back to Egypt, Four Play and the Eagles-series. These days he is also part of the writing team of the popular kykNET soap opera, Domestics.
His latest series, Nice weather and warmis currently on kykNET and tells the story of a colorful group of flea market exhibitors and a disaster that lies in wait for them just on the outskirts of their small town.
The series, which is full of famous faces such as Kim Cloete, Brümilda van Rensburg, Paul du Toit, Tinarie van Wyk-Loots and Deon Lotz, had its origin when one day Paul experienced the back of a flea market.
He realized that every person exhibiting at a flea market has an interesting and often inspiring story.
“Things may have gone wrong in their lives, but they didn’t give up and go begging on the street,” he tells Rhewal.
“They kept fighting. These are people who never give up, they are heroes!”
At that stage he was also developing an idea about the maintenance of dams, and decided to combine these two thoughts.
Paul C. Venter during the preview of ‘Fair Weather and Warm’. (Photo: provided)
He doesn’t really have too much to say about where his inspiration for the dozens of series and stories that have appeared from his pen comes from.
“There is no writer who knows where inspiration comes from. The person who can answer that question is probably a billionaire.”
Still, there is no end in sight for Paul’s stories, although he does not easily talk about new ideas or projects. One does not know what the future holds, he says, but for now his pen is still in motion.
Since the beginning of its career, television has constantly changed its form. One of the biggest changes he has had to get used to as a writer is the development of technology.
Although it contributes to the speed of storytelling, technology does not have an impact on human stories, he says.
“Cooperative stories an example of this. People’s stories will always attract people, they will never die.”
From an early age, Paul had a love for telling stories and keeping audiences, even if it was just his cousins, on the edge of their seats with their ears pricked up.
(Photo: Paul C. Venter/Facebook)
They’re actually lies, he says, but for storytellers, lies are just the next episodes. He remembers how his mother often had to call him aside as a small boy to remind him that he was telling stories and that it might be time to turn on brie.
Paul enjoyed writing essays at school, and received good grades for his early school writing.
However, he jokingly tells how, years after he finished school and started working as a writer, a teacher sent him an old school essay she had kept.
“It was the biggest piece of nonsense!”
“This little guy was addicted to adjectives, it was horrible,” he tells tongue in cheek.
Yet the typewriter he got at the start of his high school career unlocked a world of stories.
For years, Paul worked as a journalist during the day and wrote short stories in the evenings, which would later become books. He became involved in writing scripts, and by the time South African television was introduced to people, Paul was ready to fill his writing shoes.
Before he started writing his own series, he was part of numerous writing teams that put series together. Here and there he wrote a few episodes, until the door to full-length series finally opened for him.
He started working as a freelance writer in 1979 and never worked for a boss again.
“It’s incredible that I was able to put children through school and university as a freelance writer,” he admits.
Still, if he could choose now, he would still have followed the same career path.
“That’s really all I can do.
“I don’t envy other writers, I admire their work, but I don’t envy them. I envy someone who can build a house himself, fix the power and plumbing himself. I envy someone who can take my car, identify what’s wrong, and fix it.”
Paul C. Venter and Saarkie. (Photo: provided)
Paul admits that he has never been truly single since his twenties. He was either married or in a relationship.
“We are but a sultry generation. I wasn’t the world’s most successful spouse,” he jokes.
He is currently divorcing his third wife, Sara-Elana or Saarkie. “I married a woman who was actually too young for me, I suspected that it wasn’t going to work, but in the end decided to see how it went.
“The marriage lasted a wonderful ten years and I got my first son from it,” says Paul about his and Saarkie’s adopted six-year-old son.
Paul has five daughters and thoroughly enjoys his son. When he comes to visit, all other plans are put aside.
Paul with his boy. (Photo: provided)
He proudly says that his boy is already showing a love for storytelling and that he often convinces his father to make mobile films with him. Of course, Paul isn’t complaining at all.
“I am at an advanced age with a small son. We don’t have much time together anymore.
“What he wants to do, we do. I want to spend as much time with him as possible.”
