The producers' wrap: 7Films

We have always had a motto where we partner with agencies instead of just being a sub-buyer. We think that especially with good work, these days you have to collaborate and pitch in. In other words, the agency goes way above the call of duty of what their responsibilities are on the production side, and as a production company we do the same; we get involved and help out a lot more than what we normally would get tasked to do.

In this case it was amazing, we have an amazing relationship like that with Y&R Cape Town.

Both entities are passionate about doing really good work, specifically things that really matter and that has changed at the end of the day – social awareness is close to our heart and we loved working with the agency.

On our flight from Johannesburg, we saw on social media the print campaign done by Y&R for Surf Shack, they were basically posters.

The main thing that caught our eye, the genius and beauty that we saw, was the writing. We had fallen in love with the words immediately. So we tracked it down and found out that Patrick was the writer, the genius behind it, and we obviously have a long-standing relationship with Y&R so we contacted them to see if there was a way to bring these stories to life in the medium of film.

I felt like they needed to be told and so we pitched the idea to them that we would do three different films with three different directors but for the same client and they loved the idea, and that’s how we got involved. This was a great opportunity for us – for our young directors to show off their ability and their skill.

It was shot over December, edited in January and on air shortly after that.

It’s obviously amazing that we do so well in radio, but I think it’s frustrating for all of us that we can’t translate that into some of the other categories within award shows. Our success in radio proves that that there is amazing talent within the agencies. If we were in the position to financially take some of the film ideas to where they need to be, it would be amazing, but we do fight an uphill battle against the giants in America and Europe. They have currency in their favour, especially on the really big ideas whereas radio tends to be more of an equaliser when it comes to money – talent is much more of a contributing factor when it comes to radio.

All of us would like to see that we do better at the stuff we are not so good at.

Yes, we are hoping to do well as a company at Cannes and as well as a country. We need our young directors to do well on a global stage. It is so important for their careers both internationally and locally. So yes, Cannes is very important to us and with the Loeries around the corner; we have some new work coming up – we are always excited about that and happy to go to Durban.

As are we! Keep an eye on our Loeries special section for the latest updates and revisit our One Show special section for key interviews, insights and accolades.