reporter HARRIET MEIER photographer SIVU MATSILIZA
TEN QUESTIONS
with DANIE ODENDAAL
In South Africa, the name Danie Odendaal is synonymous with the extremely popular Afrikaans television soapie, 7de Laan, which is broadcast every weekday on SABC2. As such, we were thrilled when Danie eventually took the big step and joined WGSA at the beginning of this year.
Harriet Meier: Welcome to the Guild, Danie. You’ re known in the industry as a writer / producer. What is your first love and why?
Danie Odendaal: Writing and directing. Producing does not come naturally to me: the legal and financial aspects intimidate me and I am not good at negotiating deals or contracts. I only started producing when I realised that it was the only way of ever getting any of my scripts produced. When I left the SABC in the Eighties, drama contracts were predominantly issued to production houses or established producers, not to freelance directors or writers. I therefore started my own company as producer / director, and although I know it is not wise, I produce and direct all my own scripts, probably because I’ m a control freak and hate the idea of a producer messing around or fiddling with something I had written.
HM: 7de Laan recently celebrated 3000 episodes and it is as popular as ever, once again winning the Viewers’ Choice Award at this year’ s SAFTA Awards. What do you think makes 7de Laan so popular? Does the fact that it is Afrikaans have something to do with it?
DO: People keep telling me that they love the show because they can identify with the characters-“ people just like us”,“ what happens to them could also happen to me”. I shudder at the thought that there could be characters like Oubaas or Paula or Gita McGregor in real life … But seriously, I think people are attracted to Sewendelaan because even though we have action-packed storylines, strong emotional relationships and melodramatic dénouements like other soaps, we also address very ordinary, everyday incidents which viewers can identify with: Charmaine’ s relationship with her daughter Vanessa, hiccups in Herman en Felicity’ s married life, Nadia’ s problems at school, Hilda and her domestic help Maria’ s colourful relationship.
I’ m not sure if Afrikaans plays a role in the show’ s success. The subtitles have certainly had a positive impact on our viewership figures, and we have a huge black audience. I think the fact that
reporter HARRIET MEIER photographer SIVU MATSILIZA
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