Dani: To be perfectly honest, our goal was just to be here after one year. You have to make a conscious choice every day to do the little things and lean back on the value system while things are still developing. We set out a goal, very simple, and we are still here and that for me is amazing and it’s testament really to my partners and strong coffee.

Mel: The support we’ve had from the industry has been incredible. We really value the people who have helped us and contributed to the beautiful pictures we take. We haven’t stopped, even throughout lockdown and the festive season, we’ve been very blessed and we’ve also gotten to know each other reeeeaaaaalllly well.

Dumi: Haha you love us Mel! But yeah, it’s always been important to all three of us that we connect with people on a human level first and set out to treat everyone as fair as we can. People value that, especially considering the wild ride the world is going through right now where transparency and relationships have become crucial in sustaining a business. Also, we just flippen love the people we get to work with. I know it sounds cheesy but it’s true.

Dani: Haha, it’s true though. At the end of the day we are all freelancers and being a freelancer in a pandemic is basically like agreeing to be a piranha out of the sea. It’s hard but it’s made easier by people who care and we don’t always get it right but we try and do the same.

Dumi: Piranhas I think are actually freshwater fish…

Dani: Pretty sure they are also in oceans…

Mel: Googling…Definitely freshwater. ‘Rivers, floodplains, lakes and reservoirs.’

Dani: And that is how we keep each other honest!

From Left: Dani Hynes, Dumisani Mvumvu & Mel Curtis

Their feet

Q: You’ve not only made it through year 1 but you’ve experienced one of the busiest years of your careers, what do you attribute to that?

Dani: Not to be Captain Obvious here, but agencies (and the whole bloody world really) have not had it easy this past year and that the last thing creatives want to hear, especially now, is ‘no’. They want to hear ‘how’, there always has to be a ‘how’. People know that if they climb into the trenches with us, we will come out of it with a solution and it will never feel like it’s plan b.

Mel: I also think that at Made we don’t fit into one category. Whether it’s a comedy spot, children, live-action, animation, doccie style, whatever, for us it’s always been idea-first.

Dumi: Ja listen, if we take on a job we think about that job a thousand percent and our focus is always to make that job the best it can be. We are so committed to our love of what we do that we always try to make the jobs better and more exciting and I like to think people value that.