S. Africa biz hungers for funds: producer protests cuts at pubcaster SABC.(TELEVISION)(South Africa, South African Broadcasting Corp.)

It's hard to imagine Hollywood producers like Jerry Bruckheimer or Aaron Sorkin going on a hunger strike to protest cuts in the TV industry.

Yet that's what's happening in South Africa where producer-helmer Michael Lee began refusing food on Aug. 10 to draw attention to the South African Broadcasting Corp.'s budget cuts that have slashed 500 million rand ($64 million) from local shows.

That figure may not sound like a lot to American and European ears, but Lee claims this is the equivalent of half a billion dollars in the U.S. as TV budgets are so much lower in South Africa.

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At the beginning of this month he was joined in …