“Good creative is still king” - 7Films

Leigh AndrewsBy Leigh Andrews
7 Sep 2017
Nina van Rensburg, producer at 7Films, explains the importance of work that saves lives or creates awareness, now recognised at the Loeries through the SANBS Public Service Award.

In addition to their earlier international accolades, 7Films had a successful Loeries 2017 haul.

Their 15 finalists converted into Craft Certificates in ‘TV Crafts – directing’ as well as ‘TV Crafts – cinematography’ for Surf Shack’s ‘Salt’, which the Van Rensburg children weren’t as impressed with these as they were with ‘the yellow ones’ – Craft Gold in ‘TV Crafts – writing’ as well as ‘internet video – above 30 seconds’ Gold, all for the same work.

Then there’s also the first-ever SANBS Public Service Award, their ‘TV and cinema commercials up to 90-seconds’ Gold and another Craft Certificate, this time for ‘SA non-English performance’, for Western Cape Government ‘Everybody knows’ work.

This was all for work with Y&R South Africa.


Speaking of their overall Loeries 2017 experience, van Rensburg says it was incredible year that followed on from the success they had last year.

We honestly didn’t think we’d do as well as we did last year and definitely didn’t think we would do better this year, but we did. It was incredible that the work that really meant something to us and the work we’re very passionate about did as well. This is incredible for our young directors.
Wins notwithstanding, Van Rensburg adds that they had an amazing time over Loeries Creative Week Durban 2017 as it’s always nice to catch up with friends and colleagues.

Here, Van Rensburg lets us in on a few of those highlights, and elaborates on the importance of recognising work like the Public Service-winning ‘Everybody knows’, as well as how the brief was brought to light.

BizcommunityExplain the importance of recognising public service work for charitable and non-profit organisations.

It’s important to recognise this kind of work because it actually has purpose and means something, and hopefully does more than just entertain. It’s as simple as this: hopefully it saves some lives or creates some awareness. It’s important to reward this kind of work because if we don’t, not as much of this type of work will get done and therefore, consumers will suffer. It’s important to recognise and encourage good work.

It also gives creatives and directors an opportunity to experiment and push the boundaries a bit and to have some fun, because normally we work with strict guidelines, rules and formulas. So yes, it’s beneficial for the whole industry.

BizcommunityTalk us through 7Films’ involvement with ‘Everybody Knows’ in particular, and how you brought the brief to light.

We were briefed by Y&R and really fell in love with the script. We wanted to make it as authentic and as real as possible. Where we contributed and where we helped, we had a different approach – we didn’t use normal actors. We infiltrated some of the gangs and worked with the guys in the gangs and did the casting with these guys. We also did quite a bit of workshopping and rehearsing with them.

For us, that brought the level of realness that we needed upfront before the story turned humorous. The guys we worked with had an amazing experience and we were able to hopefully also build into their lives.

BizcommunityWhich Loeries wins did you personally feel to be most deserving, and why?

That’s a difficult question! We really loved the work that Sunu did for Absolut with Native VML and were very happy for him that it did as well as it did. He is an incredible human being and we love his professionalism and what he does is great work. We also loved the Rhino project, which was amazing to see.

BizcommunityWhat was the overall theme/message you got from Loeries Creative Week Durban 2017?

Creative work that matters, and that sells, was awarded. That was obviously different.

Another thing that stood us to us is that there is still no replacement for good creative, maybe not as much as the big idea anymore. No matter what the platform, good creative is still king.

That it is! Click through to our Loeries Creative Week Durban special section for more, and here for more from Van Rensburg. You can also interact with them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo and YouTube.

About Leigh Andrews

Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of inclusion, belonging, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! Now follow her travel adventures on YouTube @MidlifeMeander.
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