Lara Lipschitz keeps her Chin Up in the tough world of showbiz

Lara Lipschitz has come a long way since her childhood as a kids’ presenter on YoTV. Now all grown up and conquering the world one web series at a time, Lara has become a prime example of what it takes to be a go-getter.

Most Showmax viewers will recognise her as Tali’s frenemy Gabi, who steals Tali’s thunder by getting engaged and then pregnant in the midst of nuptial planning in Tali’s Wedding Diary. But she’s had another starring role that’s taken her all the way to New York: creator and star of her own web series, Chin Up.

Keeping her Chin Up

Lara knows something about being a struggling young actress. But instead of hunting for roles, she created her own opportunity and turned her experience into comedy. Chin Up follows a young South African actress as she hustles her way through the relentlessly tough world of showbiz, looking for the big break that could catapult her to stardom.

Ironically, Chin Up could be the big break that Lara’s been looking for. The series has twice been the only web series from Africa to be nominated for the NYC Web Series Festival. In 2017, Lara won the award for Best Actress in a Web Series, and this year at the October fest, Chin Up was nominated for Best International Web-Series and Outstanding Sound Design.

“It was incredible for me last time to be nominated and then win the award. It also helped attract positive attention to the show and helped motivate me to make the third season,” Lara says about her awards.

“I’m very proud of [Chin Up] because we’re the only web series in the continent to receive a nomination for this festival – that’s really exciting. Especially considering that I’ve done it independently. “

Make your own opportunities

Chin Up manages to be clever, funny and well made – all without a big budget or back up from a big production house. Almost half the actors in the show are Lara’s friends and fellow drama students she studied with at varsity.

“Having studied at Wits, we all knew each other and were also taught that we needed to create our own work. And so I knew that I could approach them with an opportunity to work on Chin Up.

“Although I didn’t have any budget, they were keen on working with me, and we just had that effortless collaborative energy amongst us. What was also special is that we all had that unspoken understanding of how to create such content together,” she says.

“Thanks to Chin Up, numerous actors in the show have received other job offers because of the work they’ve done in this web-series.”

The series features some well-known faces too: Loyiso McDonald and Makgotso M star in The Queen and The Girl From St Agnes.

No money, no problem

Although Chin Up has made it to three seasons, getting there proved to be a mammoth challenge.

“The budget has been the main obstacle for me. I’ve attempted to seek funding from government institutions, but that has been unsuccessful. So I’ve self-funded this project, together with my husband and family.

“The first two seasons we did with no money, but with the third season, I did a crowdfunding campaign, which helped a great deal,” she says.

“Creating content is expensive, but thankfully my husband is a director of photography, and has connections and access to equipment. But there’s still more that needs to be done – I’d still like to pay people their rates instead of requesting discounts.”

Start with whatever you have

As she found out the hard way, creating a TV series isn’t easy, and for other aspiring creatives, could be quite daunting. Start with whatever you have, Lara advises, and the rest will figure itself out.

“You need to start with whatever you have, even if it’s just your cellphone and your one friend. You need to just start because until you start, you won’t know what you need to learn.

“Don’t take yourself too seriously when it comes to your creation. You also can’t worry too much about what people are going to say, do it, put it out there, learn and get feedback.”

Binge all three seasons of Chin Up – you won’t be sorry!