L to R: Monareng Makwetla, Colin Howard, Peter Little, and Kathi Jones.

[PODCAST] The Great Debate: To in-house or not to in-house production

With Colin Howard, Kathi Jones, Peter Little and Monareng Makwetla

When agencies start building their own production arms (think Prodigious, Hogarth and beyond) it raises the question everyone in the industry’s been whispering: what happens to South Africa’s independent production companies? Are in-house models the sleek, efficient future of advertising… or are they quietly dismantling the craft that made our work world-class? At this year’s IDIDTHAT HOUSE, inside the Nedbank Loft at Loeries Fringe 2025, this panel – moderated and joined by Colin Howard (Managing Partner & EP, Egg Films) alongside fellow heavyweights Kathi Jones (SVP, Publicis Production Africa), Peter Little (Chief Creative Officer, Publicis), and Monareng Makwetla (Managing Director, Triple Story Content) – tackled the question head on.

Budgets, speed, control, artistry – nothing was off-limits. Could both worlds co-exist? Or are we trading creative excellence for convenience?

And then, one of those rare industry-shifting moments. Kathi Jones proposed a first-of-its-kind industry charter – a shared framework for how agencies, in-house teams, and independent production companies can collaborate with respect, transparency, and craft at the centre.

You could feel the air change in the room. What started as a debate turned into a collective promise – a moment where South Africa’s production industry can work together on a charter to define its own future. What this space.

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Photography by Alfonso Stoffels

It’s not binary. It’s a spectrum.

“In-house production is here to stay and the two can coexist,” said Monareng Makwetla. The room aligned around a simple lens: briefs sit on a spectrum of speed, scale, cost and craft. The right partner depends on where a job lands.

“We deliver thousands of assets a year. It makes no sense for us to build a roster of directors, we’re not trying to be a production house,” added Kathi Jones. Kathi drew a clear line. Publicis Production isn’t replacing independent partners. It is meeting a changed media reality.

Creative integrity is a process, not a vibe.

“We’re an industry of respect. The integrity of the process matters or the work suffers,” said Peter Little. The uncomfortable bit was tackled head-on: treatments cannot be shared across competitive pitches, and in-house teams should not pitch against external suppliers when they hold internal intel.

“Asking an in-house team to pitch against a third-party supplier isn’t right. They can undercut using other quotes or harvest ideas. We need ground rules,” said Kathi Jones. The proposal from the floor was to formalise those standards at an industry level between the CPA and ACA, so a ‘three-way independent pitch’ actually means independent.

Who gets the job? Use a decision matrix.

Short answer: case by case. Longer answer: weigh creative requirements, timelines, deliverable volume and specialist skills. “Twelve thousand rollout assets make in-house sensible. But where specialist craft is needed, we go external,” said Kathi Jones.

Peter Little added, “Sometimes a client says, I’ll spend 400k for 70 or 80 percent of the quality, not 2 million for 100 percent. Hard for creatives, but it’s the job.” Everyone sees pressure building in the lower-budget band where in-house speed, AI tools and entry-level briefs collide.

Money talks. Craft must too.

“Three different directors can come at the story in three completely different ways. You won’t logic your way there,” said Peter Little. Client familiarity is efficient, but it can also breed sameness. Independent directors bring objectivity and unexpected angles that keep brands sharp.

Talent pipelines: build the next wave together.

Independent fear: if small to mid-tier jobs drift in-house, where do new directors learn? “We invest producer time in young directors long before they’re profitable. How do we keep building voices if that tier disappears?” asked Colin Howard.

Kathi’s answer was practical. “Let’s collaborate. We can help develop youngsters on jobs that make financial sense for in-house. I’d love access to a roster of young freelance directors, not ours, but available.” Monareng noted the market truth: there are more aspiring directors than production houses can absorb. Collaboration beats gatekeeping.

AI: tool, not takeover. Keep the humanness.

“Each technology wave should buy us time for what matters most. Let the tools handle the boring parts so the final work lands deeper,” said Peter Little. The panel drew a line between skill and principle. Being a great prompter means little without storytelling fundamentals. Use AI to increase speed and scope, not to erase people.

“I want anything AI-generated labelled. Not to protect my job, but to protect authenticity. We can’t put actors and voice artists out of work,” said Colin Howard. South Africa’s edge is cultural fluency. “AI doesn’t understand kasi humour or platteland nuance. Those subtleties are human. That is our advantage,” said Kathi.

Final industry-changing words

“We’re going to set some governance for the way our industry is coming together in a new way,” said Kathi Jones.

That’s the power of what happened in the Nedbank Loft, not just a debate, but the start of something bigger. For the first time, in-house teams, agency leaders, and independent producers shared a stage and found common ground. The proposed Industry Charter will be a team effort, one built by all sides, for the future of South African production.

IDIDTHAT will help facilitate this collaboration moving forward, continuing to bring the industry together and moving it forward.

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