Behind The Scenes On Outlander

Last year, Outlander’s cast and crew came to SA shores to film a few episodes of season three. We caught up with three people who help make this hit TV show happen

- Stephanie Van Der Plank

THE SERIES PRODUCER

DAVID BROWN has been part of the Outlander team since the first episode aired in 2014. He has also worked on films such as Cloud Atlas, Across the Universe and Nanny McPhee. David lives in London, England.

Our filming experience in South Africa couldn’t have been better.

When I heard that the series was moving to the ‘Caribbean’ for the last five episodes – as readers of the Outlander books will know – I looked everywhere to find the ideal set-up. I researched film studios in Australia, Malta, and the Dominican Republic, but none were quite right as a stand-in for the islands. Then I came across the Cape Town Film Studios, where they’d recently wrapped filming for the TV show Black Sails, and it was perfect. We had the ships, the market, the beach – we even stole a few props from the Black Sails cupboard!

You would never say that our jungle was built from scratch.

When we arrived, we thought about moving to KwaZulu-Natal to film in the lush, tropical forests there, but it was too far to take the whole cast and crew. So, with the help of a truly talented greens department, we built a beautiful jungle at the Cape Town Film Studios that you could really get lost in – in fact, in the story, Claire does just that.

Technology and innovation make my life much easier.

We needed to shoot several ocean scenes in these episodes, and filming in the middle of the sea is very unpredictable. Luckily, the set had two beautiful ships that we surrounded with green screens and could move and pivot thanks to special rigging. The local seamen were also invaluable; effortlessly climbing up the ropes and sword-fighting on a wobbling ship. Sam [Heughan, who plays Jamie] had his work cut out for him trying to look as professional as them.