Finding real love in Nairobi is not as easy as it seems.


Last week I watched the first episode of because love and I was impressed by the story line and the quality of the video. Because Love Brought Me Here is the story of Vierra who has just returned from overseas and is trying to settle back in Kenya. She is trying to find work, love, and most of all herself.

One of the interesting things is that Because Love Brought Me Here will not be on TV but will be distributed on Facebook and YouTube. The first episode aired last week on January 12.  Episode 1 Because Love Brought Me Here was released on the show’s Facebook page. The show is following the current global trend of producing quality television shows not for TV but for distribution online.

The show talks about the challenges of modern dating, and what it means to live and love in Nairobi.

#BecauseLove is the answer to the question “What’s next for the television industry?” The answer is online TV. It is a collaboration between Tony Tini Tone Productions (TTT Productions) and Yare Picture Studios (YPS).

We got tired of waiting for permission or hand-outs to produce a high-quality television show; so in November of 2015 we decided to put our time, money, energy and talents together to produce shows that can be proudly shown anywhere on Earth.- Said Tony Tini Tone co-founder and current host of Pambazuka National Lottery, Justin Karunguru

The show has a star-studded cast which includes Blessing Lung’aho of Mother in Law, Joyce Maina of Wrath, Charity Nyambura of Groove Theoryand Pascal Tokodi of Makutano Junction. After numerous rewrites of the script, TTT Productions team partnered with YPS to partner in production and post-production.

Shuria Abdi of YPS says it was exciting to be part of the project from the beginning:

It’s quite rare to work with an organization that is unabashedly committed to producing work that can stand on its own two feet in Nairobi just as easily as it could in California.

TTT Productions co-founder Tony Mwangi Njanja says he thought about this idea of distribution online after learning about the show Black and Sexy which has been around since 2008 and which has produced some great work.

The results have been shows such as The Couple (which got the group a development deal with Home Box Office (HBO)), The Number and Hello Cupid, which Black and Sexy distribute on their independent online network, Black and Sexy Now. The biggest online success story for self-distribution is Issa Rae who released Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl in 2011 led directly to her HBO show Insecure which was recently nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

Online shows are now the trend and in Africa, there have been productions such as an African City (Ghanian), Skinny Girl in Transit (Nigeria) and more recently the successful Tuko Macho(Kenya), which is currently shown on NTV.

Check out the trailer:

And now Check out episode 1:

Episode 2 airs today and you can watch it for free on their Facebook Page  facebook.com/becauselove.

OMGV oice