Mark started his working career as a designer for Marketing Merchants in Durban, but his passion for film steered him away from advertising and into the commercial and feature film industry, in which he has been heavily involved with for the past 20 years. As it goes when you start at the bottom, he worked his way up through the ranks and eventually ended up in producing where he used his skills gained from working on over 2000 international commercials and feature films to produce both local and international content. In 2005, Mark ventured out on his own and started his own company The Search Party servicing both the international and local markets. The company supplied services and platforms for producers to fulfil their production requirements and was actively involved in the production of Andrew Zimmerman’s US travel show Bizarre World and two international feature films Luck and Aadhavan. When Mark was headhunted by Justin Bonello, he made the move to Cooked in Africa Films in 2010 and has since produced various series, including The Ride of the Peacemaker and The Ride of the Golden Horde filmed in Mongolia.
With a penchant for new horizons and an accumulated 20 years of media and marketing experience behind her, Lara has consulted to a number of leading national and multinational brands on marketing, media management, sponsorship and corporate social investment strategies. As a qualified journalist Lara has worked in an editorial and marketing capacity for some of South Africa's best loved glossies including FAIR LADY, FHM, REAL SIMPLE, National Geographic Traveller, National Geographic Kids and National Geographic Little Kids magazines. Having worked with Peter Gird over the years on a number of filmmaking and new media projects, Lara joined Cooked in Africa Films in April 2011 to head up the company's sponsorship and PR division, where she is able to engage her passion for brands and new media storytelling within the brave new world of Branded Entertainment. "One of the things i love about Cooked is that there's no map. While Justin and his production team have been perfecting their craft for years, we're pushing the boundaries in a space where the only rule is to keep it HD real."
Peter (or Girdy as nicknamed by Justin) is one of the newest members at Cooked in Africa Films, but don't let that fool you! He's one of South Africa's most acclaimed gurus in branded entertainment. His career kicked off back in the 80s when he joined Cape Town agency, Rightford, Searle-Trip and Makin at the age of 20. By the time he reached 30, he became shareholder of the group. His success raced ahead when he headed up Ogilvy's production division and won the Grand Prix at the Loeries a staggering seven years in a row. With his sights set high and after twelve years with Ogilvy, Peter took a leap of business faith and set up his own production company Peter Gird Productions in 1991 -synonymous with some of the best directors South Africa has ever seen. Peter Gird Productions enjoyed significant local and international success, representing some of the world's best loved brands including Castle Lager, Coca-Cola, DSTV, Guinness, J&B, Kellogg's, MasterCard, Microsoft, Nando's,  Nike, Nivea, Sun International, Vodacom and Volkswagen. Throughout this time, Gird invested significant time and energy in assisting various charities with advertising and fundraising campaigns, including his role as founding member of the Sunflower Fund and his production of TV commercials for the Red Cross Children's Hospital and Rape Crisis with Charlize Theron -to name but a few. Peter's passion for the upliftment of South Africans has brought him to work with names like Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Bishop Desmond Tutu. When you ask Peter what the highlight of his career has been, he'll promptly tell you it was being asked to produce South Africa's international advertising campaign with the TV commercial: "Today I woke up in a land that said to me, be free."
After helping Justin get the first seasons of Cooked onto the BBC, Wes reckons he has become part of the furniture at Cooked in Africa. With a solid background in the film industry, they don't keep him around just for his good looks and boyish charm. From his side, he stays because he digs the freedom Cooked has with its stories and content, and because he loves working with the team that has become his friends and family, although he swears he will always adore his wife and kids. Despite Justin having nicknamed Wes "Skunky", which kinda stuck after a gruelling six week road trip,he is the rock in the Cooked family and feels quite comfortable working in an environment named after his state of mind.
Going on the road as Justin's right-hand woman has its own challenges and rewards and the line between work and pleasure soon becomes blurred. Sunel is passionate about travel and loves crossing borders, immersing herself in different cultures and exploring new landscapes. Best of all? She gets to document it along the way! Some of her favourite moments on the job include her encounter with the wild horse in Klein Aus (Namibia) and the day the crew went to the Isle of Pigs in Mozambique. Sunel has an innate fear of large bodies of water (river rafting on the Zambesi? - no thanks) but when at home has a torrid love affair with pets Snoekie, Kahlo, Charlie, Dexter and Jakkals. Her rule-breakers are long toe nails and when someone's toes hang over the edge of their sandals. That's pretty universal though.
The unpredictable organised creative chaos is why Raylene loves her job. That might sound like a whole bunch of contradictory words to the untrained ear, but it makes perfect sense in the Cooked context. There is also the added entertainment of the liquorice all-sorts loving crew (uncle and uncled and dad and the children - you know who you are). Having an office that is not an office at all but the great outdoors, sunrises, sunsets, roadside accommodation and long road trips with very bad singing partners - what more could one ask for? No wonder Ray hates traffic, shopping malls and suffers from a bit of trolley rage. In her spare time she collects empty wine bottles, runs DVD marathons under the duvet with her daughter and cats on rainy weekends.
Helena has been part of Cooked’s furniture for a couple of years, but only recently joined the team as ‘that writer, researcher, and social media chick.’ When she’s not rapping editors over their knuckles for their bad spelling and grammar or writing and re-writing (and re-writing), she enjoys quiet evenings at home drinking copious amounts of good wine and watching trashy reality TV. Many people think she’s shy, but she’s actually just the silent judging type.
Robert is a 'ou vel' at Cooked and is usually the life of any party...except when the beer is warm. He's been editing for six years, but only recently as Cooked's in-house genius. Robbie, Bob or Boobs as he is known absolutely loves comics and wanted to be a Jedi when he was but a wee lad. He says his favourite Cooked moment was the 'boat wars at the Christmas party, because he won.' Sorry to say, there is photographic evidence that shows no one won cause they all sank in a fit of manly giggles and beer.
Darren is one of the Cooked camera operators and has been working in the industry for five years. He's been nicknamed Fish cause he's allergic to seafood and sometimes gets tortured by the production team, who on quiet days on the road enjoy making the chicken mayo look like tuna mayo to freak him out. His favourite Cooked moment was scuba diving in Kosi Bay...good thing he doesn't swim with his mouth open. Darren's dream is to one day shoot a documentary that will change people's lives.
Corne says being a director at Cooked entitles...running after the cinematographer with a tripod, kicking clouds of dust in front of the lens to create a more epic feel, sneaking (illegally) into amazing locations and ultimately working with a highly talented and experienced crew. He loves being part of Cooked in Africa because it gives him the opportunity to explore and promote a vibrant country like South Africa with its unending stories and diverse people. What he likes about Justin is that he sees massive potential in the smallest things. He lives his life according to the words of Lou Reed: "One chord is fine. Two chords is pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz.â€
Terry likes walking up mountains, free-range eggs, arguing, getting warm and staying warm. She loves being part of the gung-ho, crazy, sleep-deprived team at Cooked, and while she finds directing a wonderful art (being able to shape a story through images and sounds), she says "the real magic happens when you're alone in the edit suite." She dreams of escaping the city for a year, finding a little cottage in a slice of paradise where she can read, write another book and... sleep. Yip, working at Cooked will do that to you! In her spare time she gets scratched and bitten by Charity, her boyfriend’s unstable cat.
Justin says he always ends up with the lost sheep that find their home at Cooked, and it becomes a home and second family to most of these strays. Some have been there since the beginning (like Wes), others are relative newcomers, like Megan. “Even though it’s early days I consider myself extremely lucky to be part of such an innovative and charismatic group of people,” she says. “I am still, in a sense, the newbie in the office but the more I get to know Cooked and the people here, the more excited I get to be involved.” Best then, that the rest of the gang don’t annoy her by slurping their tea or chewing loudly. Rather take her to watch a gorgeous sunset. Yes, she knows it’s corny but she doesn’t care.
"Looking at the world through a viewfinder has been an incredibly rewarding experience from day one", says Louis. Not only is he inspired by the talent and commitment of his colleagues, he's been having an obscene amount of fun since joining the team a few months ago - flying helicopters, playing with banded mongooses (mongeese?), sitting in an open Land Rover surrounded by a pride of lions it's hard to pick a favourite, but one of the most memorable certainly has been taking the plunge into the Big Blue on a recent tuna fishing trip - jumping into the 1200m deep ocean, beyond the continental shelf off Cape Point. "It felt like an episode straight out of National Geographic!" says Louis. That's good, because his Cooked work can be seen on National Geographic.
Jei loves to colour - the kind that involves balancing light and making footage look beautiful and does a darn fine job of it too. Naturally, she is the brightest crayon in this particular box. "I will do almost anything for a Vida E cappuccino," says Jei, "but I prefer hard cash and/or sushi."
Marlese always thought she was creative…and then she met this bubbling, creative, cooked-up storm that blew her away. How things come together in the post production department continues to amaze her on a daily basis. “Whenever I get a glimpse of production in action I realise that being a small part of it all is what I’m here for. It's more valuable than being an executive housewife with art as a hobby.”
Another newcomer to the Cooked family, Mishal says he has been welcomed with open arms and that’s why he loves working here. “It’s not just a company that makes awesome shows, it’s a family environment. Everyone has their part to play and I’m happy that I’m included.” Mishal is still building Cooked memories, but in his spare time he likes to be as creative as possible, painting and making beautiful music.
Charl is probably the newest of the Cooked gang. When he was little he wanted to be an architect specialising in Lego structures, so it makes sense that he became a motion graphics designer in the end. He joined Cooked cause he thinks it's 'oh so tasty' and his best Cooked moment was actually getting hired. He sits downstairs with the rest of the post nerds and took to his new job like a duck to water. In his free time, it seems he's cycle be-f*k and spends time cycling, recovering from cycling accidents and looking at what he calls 'pretty bikes' on the internet.
It's a good thing that Zahir has the ears of a hawk - he's been working as a sound guy for the past ten years. His motivation lies in never knowing what to expect on a shoot - which is perfect when working at Cooked! Zahir wants to explore the world, loves adventures and when he was a kid wanted to be a pirate, so needless to say, he's super stoked about working from a kayak and travelling around Iceland for the next four months.
Alexis (a.k.a Veronika Weekend) wanted to be a ballerina when she was little, but found a different type of discipline in directing and writing at the Vancouver Film School in Canada. She's motivated by the talented people she has met (thanks to coincidence) as well as South Africa's beauty and idiosyncrasy. When she's not running around the office, she's running around Cape Town and keeps calm and centered through yoga, reading, writing and watching films.
Thomene (Bossie) has been in the industry for the past eight years. Although she's probably the nicest person working at Cooked, we were relieved to find out philosophy students at braais and blunt pencils really annoy her. In her free time she gazes at the stars or at herself in the mirror doing Elvis impersonations and goes for little trips on her bike with partner Patrick...we told you she was nice! Thomene hopes to do a Blues trail through the Deep South one day, and of course to document the entire experience.
By Alexis Burg To take an idea and transform it into an organised and measurable commodity is a difficult pursuit, to say the least. When that idea depends entirely on a wild, real life adventure, you might go as far as to call it a madman’s gamble. Truth is stranger than fiction, and real life [...]
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