Saatchi & Saatchi's New Creators' Showcase: Empowering Emerging Filmmakers Beyond Cannes' Glitz

Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Creators’ Showcase (NCS) is a beacon for emerging talent in the filmmaking world, offering a platform at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This showcase not only provides exposure but also extends financial support and employment opportunities, enabling young filmmakers to turn their creative visions into reality.

In the past, participants of the showcase have seized the opportunity to collaborate with brands such as Nivea and Deutsche Telekom, showcasing the immense potential of emerging talent in the industry.

Franki Goodwin, CCO at Saatchi & Saatchi UK says, “The New Creators’ Showcase is such an important moment in the year for us, and we’re excited to lose ourselves in the incredible work submitted this year. Since the 2023 showcase, we’ve been working more closely than ever with the incredible talent we spotlight, ensuring that we do more than just showcase them... we actually work with them. Jess, Kate and I are so proud to have created multiple opportunities across the network, proving that creative careers are viable and sustainable whatever your background.”

The 2024 iteration of the Showcase continues this tradition, inviting submissions from filmmakers around the globe. However, there is a crucial criterion: the submitted work must not have been commercially produced before June 2022. This ensures that the Showcase remains a springboard for fresh talent, fostering opportunities for those who have yet to receive widespread recognition.

Beyond the glitz and glamour of the festival, the New Creators’ Showcase stands as a testament to Saatchi & Saatchi’s commitment to championing creativity and innovation. It serves as a platform, empowering emerging filmmakers to share their stories with a global audience and make their mark on the industry.

As the 2024 Showcase unfolds, it becomes apparent that it's more than just a display of talent; it's a stage where a new generation of storytellers can captivate audiences and ignite inspiration. In our conversation with Goodwin, the sentiment resonates that the showcase's enduring significance lies in its ability to spotlight fresh creators, spark engaging discussions, and pave the way for emerging talent to thrive.

Why is it so important to you and to Saatchi&Saatchi to support emerging talent through this showcase?

Franki Goodwin: NCS is a huge moment for us at Saatchis, and it’s honestly just as important, relevant and influential as it was when it debuted 34 years ago. Anyone I speak to who’s grown up in this industry looks forward to it every year - each edition is so different to the last, reflecting the issues shaping culture and our news agendas, and new ways to craft and communicate narratively. 

At its heart, NCS is all about celebrating amazing talent, and we continue the showcase because its influence - in spotlighting new creators, in starting thought provoking conversations, and in helping them get hired - is as strong as it was in 1991. Stronger, in fact. 

It must be inspiring to look through the work of brilliant new talent, and tell us what impact putting together the showcase has on you and the agency.

FG: It’s incredibly inspiring, and the curation is a process that Kate (Stanners, Global CCO), Jess (Ringshall, CPO, Saatchi & Saatchi UK) and I really look forward to each year. 

NCS has a massive impact on the agency.  It helps us find exciting new creators that we want to work with. To our clients, it highlights the value of taking a ‘risk’ on unknown names and the nuance and innovation they can bring to marketing to address real business challenges. We’re committed to actually hiring the talent we find, which is why we now ensure each finalist has the chance to collaborate with us - across our network - in the 12 months following the showcase. This is about more than spotlighting, it’s about creating meaningful ways into our industry. 

Has the type of talent you showcase changed over the years and how does that reflect the shifting nature of commercial creativity?

FG: The showcase evolves each year - it used to be called the New Directors’ Showcase, for example, but we broadened the name to reflect the widened pool of talent it now represents, just as the way we communicate and create has broadened. Recent years have seen new forms of animation and AI-driven work included - and we’re always excited to see what’s next. 

I think it’s also helpful to detail the curation process here, as we find creators in two ways. Firstly, they can submit their work to us through our entries portal (and many do). But we know that some of the richest talent won’t necessarily be tuned into industry channels, and for that reason we have researchers scouting for talent each year. 

An incredible amount of time and resources goes into this, and it’s so important as we want the showcase to be truly representative - reaching the furthest corners of excellence across the globe, beyond the traditional and expected creative mediums. Last year we had short films, yes, but also music videos, animation and comedy, from creators hailing from the UK to the US, Iran and Ukraine. I’m proud that the showcase continues to change however it needs to in order to showcase the most exciting creativity out there. 

Showcasing talent is just the beginning though - you're committed to helping them progress, so can you tell us more about what happens after the showcase to ensure this talent thrives?

FG: Last year, we also announced that the showcase would unlock additional, longer-term commercial support for those shortlisted - we’ve committed to ensuring that each creator has the opportunity to collaborate on at least one agency project in the 12 months following the showcase. 

This is an initiative that we launched with the support of some of our biggest brand partners including John Lewis & Partners, British Heart Foundation and EE, and is one that extends opportunity across the Saatchi global and Publicis Groupe networks. It’s been incredible to see last year’s creators working with brands such as Nivea and Deutsche Telekom as a result. 

What more could brand owners be doing to support emerging creative talent?

FG: Our aim is always that the showcase inspires the industry as a whole to hire new. This is about agencies putting exciting new names on their pitch lists, yes, but it’s also about helping our brand partners see and get behind the incredible value that comes with taking a risk on working with emerging talent.