From The Meeting To Surulere, Rita Dominic Steps Bold On Movie Turf

Born Rita Uchenna Nkem Dominic Waturuocha to medical practitioner couple from Mbaise in Imo State, Rita Dominic is a household name in Nollywood, having featured in over 100 movies. Rita had her secondary education at the Federal Government College, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, before she headed for the University of Port Harcourt, where she graduated with a BA (Honours) Degree in Theatre Arts in 1999. Though she started performing as a child, appearing in school plays and children’s television shows in her home state, the screen diva came to limelight in 1998 when she starred in her first movie, A Time to Kill. From there onwards, it has been a success story all the way.

Having made name in the industry, Rita in the year 2011, made a bold step when she teamed up with her longtime manager Mildred Okwo to set up a production outfit, Audrey Silva Company, with The Meeting as their first attempt. Following the huge success of the movie, which won several awards at the AMAAs and AMVCA, Rita and her partner embarked on their second feature film Sururlere, which was recently released in the cinemas across the country. In this interview with CHUKS NWANNE, the award-winning actor spoke on her new project, being a producer and life as an entrepreneur.

Your recently released a new movie, Surulere, what’s the movie all about?

The movie Surulere is set in Lagos and focuses on Seun Ajayi’s character – Arinze’s life as an insignificant graduate trainee in a fictional agency, a serial debtor and a desperate young man eager to get ahead. It’s a story a lot of Nigerians, especially Lagosians, can connect with. You have a lot of young people out there, who are trying to make ends meet; they hustle everyday to take care of themselves and sometimes their families. For me, what makes Nollywood what it is today, are the simple stories that we tell. That’s what we try to do with our production company; to tell these simple stories on a higher level. The movie also features Beverly Naya, Kemi Lala Akindoju, Linda Ejiofor, Tope Tedela, Enyinna Nwigwe, Gregory Ojefua and Bikiya Graham- Douglas.

How long did it take to get this movie out?

Well, production proper took ten days because we had months of planning; we were organised and we knew what we wanted to do a month before we went on location.
Unlike in The Meeting where you played a major role, you chose a minor role in Surulere?
Well, my partner and director of the movie just wanted me to play the role; she said we would need my face to help sell the film. Yes, it’s my movie, but I don’t have to play the lead role, that’s the point. I will always play the roles that I fit into; that’s the way I work.
It seems the success story of The Meeting encouraged you to make another feature film?
I felt elated with the response we got with The Meeting and that’s actually what encouraged us to go ahead and do another project.

What’s the budget of this new movie?

No, I can’t give that out.
Most big budget movies released in recent times suffer in the hands of pirates, are you worried about Sururlere?
I think the government needs to enforce these laws; we have laws to fight piracy, but they are usually not enforced. If you look at it, there’s piracy everywhere in the world; it’s not a Nigerian problem. But we need to get the laws active; enforcement is very important in curbing piracy. On the other hand, I think government should also create enabling environment for filmmaking to operate. Once we do that, both filmmakers and government will start earning revenue from movies, especially with the dwindling oil economy. As for Surulere, we will do our best to ensure it’s not pirated.

Most of your colleagues are comfortable being just actors, what informed your decision to try your hands in production?

First of all, I’m still an actor. Since I came into the industry and started acting in 1998, I’ve always wanted to try out different aspects of filmmaking. I wanted to be a producer; I wanted to be behind the camera and see how it’s done and how I could contribute in telling good stories. So, some years back, Mildred Okwo, who manages my career as an actor, had said to me… in fact, she presented the idea of setting up a production company to make movies. To be quite honest, I liked where she was coming from; I liked her idea. I liked everything she wanted to because that’s what I wanted to do in the industry as a producer. So, I decided to go into partnership with her; that’s how we got here.

How far have you gone with Audrey Silva Company?

So far, so good; we’ve been able to produce our second movie, which we just released in the cinema as follow up to our first project, The Meeting.

With the state of the economy, how do you mange as filmmaker to produce films?

The truth of the matter is that the Nollywood audience still loves Nollywood. Just for that reasons, it encourages us producers to keep working and put movies out there for them to watch.

How has been your experience as a producer?

To be quite honest, anybody who has been able to go behind the camera to produce a film and get it to the public to see, he/she deserve a path on the back. For me, I feel that if your cast and crew are happy, they give you their best. However, you have to be firm. So, it’s about finding a balance to ensure that your cast and crew are comfortable enough on set to shoot for you and at the same time, you must know when to put your foot down. Luckily, I don’t do that alone; my partner Milded Okwo is very much involved; it’s teamwork.

Being an entrepreneur in an environment like ours is not an easy task, could you share your experience with us?
That’s why I’m very much grateful and thankful to God and my business partner because, she encouraged me to go on this journey with her. If she wasn’t there, maybe I won’t be here today doing this. As much as I wanted to be a producer, sometimes you need somebody to encourage you, somebody to tell you, ‘it’s okay to take a leap.’ I’m just grateful to her that she encouraged me to go all the way in terms of becoming a producer. To be quite honest, it’s not easy to produce a film in this our climate, but everyday we learn; we keep pushing, hoping that we are on the right path towards taking the industry to where it should be.

Your movie is showing at the cinema right now, what’s next?

Well, for people to go and watch the film. Hopefully, they are going to see me and cast members at different cinemas talking to the audience and selling tickets; it’s a way of engaging with our fans. At the same time, we plan to shoot another project this year, which we are not revealing right now.