The creative industry is an ecosystem. Every decision we make — who we hire, how we allocate budgets, and the structures we uphold — either nurtures that ecosystem or disrupts it.
So when it comes to directors in South Africa, are we actually considering the pipeline?
Are we creating opportunities for emerging directors to grow, or are we defaulting to the same established names? Are we structuring production models in a way that allows young directors to gain experience, or are we unintentionally blocking their progression?
If we’re serious about the future of directing talent in this country, we need to take a closer look at how the industry operates—and whether we’re creating a sustainable pipeline or slowly dismantling it.
The Budget Squeeze and the Agency Dilemma
One of the biggest disruptions to the director pipeline has been how marketing budgets are structured and distributed. Brands now want more video content for less money, fragmenting budgets across multiple deliverables instead of large single productions.
The advertising agency landscape has become intensely competitive, putting agencies under pressure to deliver high production value on tight budgets to retain clients.
As a result, agencies default to well-established directors as a way to minimize risk and ensure high-quality execution — even for content work that could be an opportunity for emerging talent. Rather than developing new voices, the industry relies on familiar names to meet client expectations.
The Visibility Problem: Agencies Want New Directors, But Can’t Find Them
Even when agencies do want to work with emerging directors, they struggle to find the right talent at the right budget.
There’s no structured, widely accessible way to discover and vet emerging directors.
Agencies often default to familiar names because they lack access to a curated, tiered talent pool of up-and-coming directors.
The production companies agencies typically work with aren’t considering lower-budget briefs, meaning agencies can’t easily access young directors through traditional production channels.
The result?
Emerging directors remain invisible, stuck in the shadows.
If the industry had better visibility on directing talent across different career stages and budget tiers, agencies wouldn’t have to rely on the same senior names out of convenience.
The Representation Trap: When Production Companies Limit Young Directors
Another structural issue is how production companies control access to directing opportunities.
Many young directors sign with well-known production houses early in their careers, expecting this to be their launchpad.
The problem? Production companies often aren’t willing to produce smaller content jobs because the margins aren’t high enough.
At the same time, exclusivity agreements prevent young directors from seeking these jobs elsewhere, even when agencies have briefs that match their skills and price point.
This creates a triple limitation for emerging directors:
They aren’t being considered for larger commercial projects because they haven’t had the opportunities to build a name, reputation, or relationships with agencies.
They aren’t allowed to take on smaller content work independently due to exclusivity agreements.
They aren’t given opportunities to direct lower-budget content work within their own production companies, as these jobs are often rejected for financial reasons.
Some production houses do take on smaller projects to help directors build reels, but in general, this system traps emerging directors, preventing them from gaining real experience at a natural pace.
A More Open Industry: Rethinking Director Representation
If we want to fix the director pipeline, we need to rethink:
How directors are matched to projects.
How agencies and production companies engage emerging directors.
How exclusivity agreements limit career development.
Some key questions the industry needs to address:
What if agencies had direct access to a structured directory of emerging directors with clear tiers based on experience and pricing?
What if the representation model became more flexible, allowing young directors to gain real experience instead of waiting for a big break that never comes?
A better system benefits everyone:
Senior directors stay focused on high-value work.
Agencies gain access to fresh creative voices.
Emerging directors actually get to direct.
The Call to Action: Fixing the Director Pipeline
The pipeline won’t fix itself—we have to build it.
If we want a sustainable industry, we need to:
Stop defaulting to senior directors for every job and create space for new talent.
Rethink representation models so young directors aren’t creatively trapped.
Make emerging directors more visible and accessible to agencies and brands.
The next generation of directors won’t emerge unless we create space for them. The question is: are we willing to change the system to make that happen?
Written by Chris Coetsee
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