Not many locally produced television soaps have made their way onto the Rwandan entertainment scene and held the audience captive.

Starring Gratien Niyitegeka, Seburikoko, a Rwandan comedy series about life in the countryside is one of the leading series. Other major actors include Antoinette Uwamahoro, Ernest Kalisa and Amani Hakizimana.

Already 115 episodes of the 15-minute TV comedy directed by Mazimpaka Jones Kennedy, have aired on Rwandan Television, the national broadcaster since February 2015.

Much as it has received immense positive feedback, it is still proving hard to attract advertisers in the country.

“We are generally facing a persistent challenge of low budget issues, tight scheduling and overwork,” he said.

City Maid, a 52 episode that airs for 26-minute depicting the city life and the daily hustles is yet another.

The series is written and directed by Richard Mugwaneza.

The idea was initiated by Wilson Misago of Afrifame pictures, who is also the creator of Seburikoko series.

“When writing these series, I am inspired by life around me in Kigali, the classes people belong to, the thirst for a better life and, also the ultimate need to create a quality local content for local and international consumption,” Mr Mugwaneza explains.

Mr Mugwaneza said Seburikoko is still running on Rwanda TV until April 2017, “We are also still in search of more distribution deals, mostly in Africa, he said.

Though Mr Mugwaneza doesn’t disclose the budget details, he said the project is funded partly by Rwanda Television, produced by Afrifame Pictures, while Samples Studios comes in for the co-production and post production part.

“Obviously it is still low budget compared with how many third parties are partnering to get it project kicked off,” he explains.

City Maid’s cast is a drama series, more cinematic from a city setting, with 26 minutes episodes made up of a group mostly of new acts in the local industry. Lead by Laura Musanase, starring as the maid in the city, the series combines new faces and a few Rwandan professionals such as Emmy Ndayizeye, Parfait Ngizwenayo, among others.

“The Seburikoko series has surprisingly been extremely famous in Rwanda, City Maid rode on that trust and we can’t wait to check on the audience’s reaction,” Mr Mugwaneza said.

Mr Mugwaneza has worked on several projects including local talk shows, films and international documentary series such as Man vs Volcanoes for National Geographic Channel. The Seburikoko series was his first fictional series. Together with his team, he did post production and television delivery through Samples Studios, which he founded two years ago.

Since 2009, Mr Mugwaneza has been part of the team that produced and directed a variety of films, majorly short films which include Nota Benne, which introduced him into the career, Philbert Mbabazi’s Ruhago followed, which too won an award at the Zanzibar Film Festival in 2012.

Kivuto, a Poupone Sensonga film, was nominated at the Rwanda Film Festival 2012, went on to win best short film at the Zanzibar Film Festival in 2013.