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The rise and rise of Rozanne McKenzie

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Johannesburg - For years, the fast track to becoming famous was television presenting. As a presenter you are beamed into millions of living rooms and reaching millions of viewers at once. And, with the escalation of satellite consumption, there’s no shortage of talent to go around.

But becoming the next Doreen Morris or Ruda Landman isn’t easy, unless there is a TV company that is ready and willing to take a chance on you. Memorable talent Rozanne McKenzie is a gifted bilingual presenter, MC and voice artist. She is the presenter of Nasie in Gesprek and Flits on kykNET, an Afrikaans television channel owned by pay-TV operator M-Net, a subsidiary of satellite broadcaster MultiChoice.

“My relationship with the channel started on a magazine show called Kwêla in 2008 on kykNET, which I was on for five years.”

Born and raised in Cape Town, McKenzie explains that she moved to Joburg 12 years ago as part of a theatre production.

“When you freelance and have a very artistic profession, it’s hard – it’s not very stable. When I came to Joburg at the beginning of 2008, I had nothing. I had no work lined up. I started working behind the scenes as a casting assistant, trying to get experience behind the camera and away from the stage.

“I heard through the grapevine that they were looking for presenters on kykNET’s Kwêla, a show I watched growing up, so I knew exactly what would be expected. I took my chances and went for an audition at the production company and got my big break,” she tells #Trending. But that was just the beginning of McKenzie’s growing career in broadcasting at M-Net.

“At the end of 2012, while working on Kwêla, I started on the first Afrikaans live breakfast show called Dagbreek, also on kykNET. It was a really amazing experience because it was the first show of its kind and we were always at the forefront of breaking news.”

Three years later, the TV presenter, who has been in the industry for 15 years, started working on Flits, an arts and entertainment show that was one of the actuality shows on kykNET.

“It was very cool and cutting-edge in terms of what was happening in the industry. I always got the chance to sink my teeth into things that I never thought I could have done. If it wasn’t for their investing in local content and being proud of showcasing our stories and having the viewers see their own stories or things that are familiar to their daily reality – South African stories – then those opportunities wouldn’t have us enjoy a thriving industry.”

For the past 30 years, MultiChoice has been part of South African’s daily lives, providing the best local entertainment and talent. With its track record of launching careers through the DStv platform, formerly undiscovered talents such as McKenzie have been given a launchpad from which to change their lives. In turn, people like McKenzie have changed the lives of the people whose stories they tell.


“While I was doing Flits, I started working on Nasie in Gesprek, which is the opposite of Flits. The show is based around agriculture and the impact on the economy as well as the surrounding communities of each commodity within the agricultural sphere.

“MultiChoice has contributed so much to my career, providing a platform for us to be telling important stories. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I would have the career that I have now.

“The opportunity would not have been there for me because most of my broadcasting, if not all, has been in Afrikaans. I don’t think I would have had that opportunity on another channel where Afrikaans isn’t so celebrated as with kykNET.”

M-Net and MultiChoice invest more than R2.5bn a year in local content – creating new jobs in the industry, which means more actors, producers, writers, directors, camera operators and production staff.

McKenzie says that, over the decade she has been on the M-Net platform, her relationship with the broadcaster has evolved with new opportunities that constantly challenge her.

“When Dagbreek launched, that was an opportunity for me to move out of the field where I’d been working on Kwêla and into live television. That was the first time I did live TV and there’s nothing like it. I went from that to doing an entertainment show and then branched off into something that challenged my brain a little bit more on Nasie in Gesprek. Because the opportunities were constantly evolving, there has always been something for me to do.”

The multifaceted presenter, who has a BA degree in drama and media studies, and then went on to do her honours in drama at the University of Cape Town, says one of her most memorable moments was interviewing Archbishop Desmond Tutu; his first interview in Afrikaans.

“He was so charming, humble, and no airs and graces and you think, this is a Nobel peace prize winner, this is Arch Desmond Tutu, and he just sat and spoke to me calmly. I think that experience changed me so much because when you know of people and they are on this pedestal, you think they are almost not human. He was patient, he was funny and just a normal human being. That was really cool.”

About her next phase, McKenzie says she’d like to create content.

“Last year I was involved with the Sarie Voorbladgesig [front page face] as one of the producers and it was amazing to be on the other side of things and experience a show from behind the cameras from a production point of view. I would like to produce more content and maybe get back into doing more live TV.”


ROZANNE'S 3 KEYS TO SUCCESS:

1. Be professional

That includes being on time and taking notes from the people around you. Be prepared and do your research. Don’t just think it’s fun and games – a lot of people think that this industry is just about the glitz, glam and fun times. But it’s actually a lot of work.

2. Have a thick skin

You’re going to have a lot of people say no more times than they will say yes. You have to have a thick skin and persevere. Have the attitude of the “no” being one step closer to that “yes” you’re going to get down the line.

3. Enjoy yourself

It’s a job, but if this is where you’ve wanted to be, it’s most likely that you’ve wanted it your entire life so don’t take it for granted.

(Photos: Cornél van Heerden)

*This article by City Press is a project in partnership with MultiChoice. 

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