‘This industry likes to get champagne tastes for lemonade monies.’ whoops the Croatian born Ksenija when we ask how she would describe the commercial production world. She is right of course, and she would know, being one of South Africa’s well-established Executive Producers, with an impressive reputation that is only matched by her impeccable style and taste. We’re Zooming, and although we are trying our best with our business-at-the-top and sweatpants-below look, the multi-lingual Ksenija (pronounced KSE-KNEE-YA), is looking as chic as ever. Of her signature red bindi she is wearing, she says ‘I keep losing my wedding ring and a red bindi signifies that I’m married so I figured I’ll stick to it’. She’s dialed in from her family home that she shares with her husband, Director Markstry, and their kid.

We ask her what it’s like working with directors and being married to one, ‘Directors are magical creatures. No normal person can do what they do. I’m obsessed with them, I mean why do you think I married one?’ Markstry and Ksenija met at a very young age while they were studying at film school. ‘I remember my first gig, producing someone’s film for their Masters project. I got paid R4000. Yeah, that was for 6 months work. And they say budgets are tighter now, haha.’

Let’s do a quick fast-forward to the now because there’s something coming that you should know about. Here’s a hint…

Before we get into the launch of Ksenija’s new venture SUPERVISION, let’s do a quick throwback to how she got to this point. Ksenija began her rise in the industry as a PA at Hammersmith and Elephant before going freelance as a Production Coordinator and then landing the role of Producer at the age of 25 for Director Brett Wild. ‘I was working with Executive Producer Byron Grant at the time. I remember we took – actually, let not me not say his name, but he is a top, wonderful ECD – for lunch on a Tuesday afternoon and we just drank tequila the whole day. I remember Byron saying to me afterwards “That’s how it’s done”. I asked him what he meant and he said “That’s how you get work.” I’ve had about 9846 tequilas since then.’ She says, only half-serious.

Ksenija’s honesty is downright refreshing. Of course, she wines and dines her clients ‘Nothing wrong with that.’ she says, but her focus on delivering top creative work is her number one priority. ‘The biggest lesson I learnt from Brett was to not take things personally and quite simply, never be late. I will never be late again for anything.’ Although that might sound like an exaggeration, Ksenija is not joking around and says carefully ‘Being on time doesn’t require a huge amount of talent, but it shows the amount of respect you have for the people that are working with you. Respect is very important to me.’