e.tv has some stern words for the Royalty Soapie Awards from which the free-to-air commercial broadcaster has pulled both its soaps Rhythm City and Scandal! citing big concerns, with Monde Twala, e.tv's group head of channels telling TV with Thinus in an interview that the Royalty Soapie Awards "don't seem organised to the extent where they're able to give us enough information".
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"These guys are not clear," Monde Twala tells TV with Thinus. "To be blunt, they think they can just put up an event and use our patents and brands as they please."
The Royalty Soapie Awards organised by Generations' Winnie Modise is set to take place in Durban on 2 November but is now no longer representative of the entire South African TV soap industry given e.tv's exclusion.
"We spend millions and invest millions on local television content, particularly around the soaps like Rhythm City and Scandal!. In addition we spend a lot of marketing money on it to build these great brands. People can't just come to us and say we're starting an award. It's becoming fashionable just to start awards."
"We want to be a part of it, but we need to take care of what's the intention around a particular awards ceremony," says Monde Twala. "What's the benefit for not only the broadcaster but what's the benefit for the actors, what's the benefit for producers, directors?"
"There's a lot of clutter at the moment in terms of different people coming up with all sorts of award events. We have to be careful how we associate and who we associate with in terms of how we manage our brands."
"We're running a business here and we're running a long term business you know. I've seen awards shows come and go, believe me, and I'm sure you have also. We need to be cautious and there needs to be a broader discussion apart from just someone hosting an awards event around soapies," says Monde Twala.
"We are a part of the South African Film and Television Awards. We had numerous meetings. We had a similar issue with the Saftas and over the last period we've had meetings with the Saftas. They've been very transparent with us. And these guys haven't. They haven't been transparent with us."
"The Saftas is an industry award that involves everyone else. It includes industry players. I don't know who is included in the Royalty Soapie Awards. Who are the judges? They say they've got judges. They're not giving us the facts. We don't know what the judging process is."
"We're not just going to blindly go into awards and mess up our brands," says Monde Twala.
