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AIDS attack from The Three Amigos
by
Janet van Eeden.

In the face of one of the world's deadliest enemies ever, how do you make people change ingrained behaviour patterns to save themselves?

Forget sanctimonious messages from well-meaning celebrities; forget the scare tactics of lists of statistics. The Three Amigos are here and they pack a powerful and humorous punch. Who are The Three Amigos, you may ask? Well, they are an unusual trio of… um… well, condoms, actually. But these are condoms with attitude. And they talk! These talking condoms with a great line in humorous banter are appearing daily on SABC 1 and on certain channels in Canada. Talking condoms? What kind of person thinks of something like that?

Writer and producer, Brent Quinn who went to school and University in Durban, and still sees himself as "a Durban oke" decided to get the serious message of AIDS across by making people laugh.

"I decided to something about the spread of HIV/AIDS," Quinn tells me from his home in Johannesburg, "using my skills for comedy. Comedy is my first love, and laughter is the best means for shifting outdated perceptions in a fun and non-threatening manner. So I thought about the most important message not yet effectively delivered by other prevention strategies. For me, the creative gap was in challenging the stigma around the condom itself and the reluctance some people have in using condoms. Then the idea spoke to me: create three loveable, 2D comedic condom characters which best typify the male psyche and their often dysfunctional attitudes towards risk taking. And so Shaft (the tall black condom), Stretch (the short blue condom) and Dick (the silly white condom) were born."

As any creative person will know, having a great idea is one thing, but getting it made is another entirely different matter. I asked Quinn how he managed to get the animated characters up and running, especially since animation is the most expensive medium around.

"I managed to 'snare' a Canadian partner, Firdaus Kharas, in a true stroke of luck" says Quinn. "I was at Sithengi, the South African film and television market in Cape Town, in November 2003. I had pitched my talking condom idea to Jan Millar, a Canadian script doctor and pitching specialist. Jan loved the idea and she said the guy you want to pitch your project to, is over there. Now people like Firdaus have about 60 seconds to talk to you in between all their other meetings and international calls. To cut a long story short, I pitched him the 'talking condom' idea at 4.30pm on the last day of the festival. The pitch was the shortest in history. I told Firdaus the basic idea, why I was doing it and that I thought it was the world's first animation prevention comedy, staring three funny talking condoms. He smiled and simply said: 'Great, let's do it'. The rest is, as they say, history."

Kharas, who is one of the world's top animation producers, came up with the name, The Three Amigos. "This was a stroke of genius," says Quinn, "because all we are trying to communicate to sexually active people that condoms are our friends, friends who can save your life. And so the concept was born - a simple safe sex campaign with a strong comedic flavour."

The Three Amigos is a Canadian South African co-production, the first animation co-production of its kind for South Africa. And the good news is that it is going around the world.

After the initial meeting with Kharas, an epic one year journey began. Quinn wrote all the first drafts of the scripts and Kharas edited them. Then Kharas put together a team of top international specialists including Gord Coulthart of Funbag Animation who designed the look of the characters. All in all, 80 top international specialists from Canada, India and South Africa all volunteered their services for free to make 20 Public Service Announcements (PSA's). An added bonus was that Quinn received fulsome endorsement of their prevention approach by Archbishop Tutu. "Archbishop Tutu's ongoing support of this approach has been invaluable," stresses Quinn. "He has written an impassioned letter to the world's broadcasters urging them to play our PSA's as often as possible."

Quinn was also extremely fortunate to have SABC 1's commissioning editor, Kgomostso Matsunyane, buy into the concept immediately. "Having the biggest local broadcaster on board was key right from the beginning," says Quinn. "Kgomotso is the type of commissioning editor creative producers love to work with. She is adamant about the sophistication of her viewers and insists that cerebral humour is universal. She told me that the word 'amigo' was a far better name than the word 'condom'. She also added that viewers need to register that 'no amigo means no sex.' SABC 1 have really backed us to the hilt, playing the PSA's up to 20 times a day." The PSAs have just been voiced in four local South African languages: Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans and English. A host of top local voice artists offered their talent as their contribution to fighting the new struggle.

The Three Amigos were first aired on SABC 1 on World AIDS day, on 1 December last year. MTV Canada has also aired the PSA's 37 times to their target teenage audience and were voiced by top Canadian stars. The Three Amigos are truly a success story.

When I asked Quinn what advice he would give to a person who thinks he or she has a marketable idea but doesn't know how to go about getting it out there, he thought for a moment. Then he replied with conviction.

"You've got to know with all your being that what you are going to embark on has to work in the world and not just in your own head. You need to have researched your concept and be objective. Is this idea something that stands out as unique and captivating? Will an audience buy into it?" he continued. "Then you've got to question your own will. Am I prepared to sweat blood over this, because sweat blood you will!"

For more information on The Three Amigos, and to post your comments on the programme, click here.