Film  

The business of filmmaking – Part 6

By Omoni Oboli

06 November 2016   |   3:26 am

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I am Omoni Oboli and I represent Naija! I have been in this business of filmmaking for some time now, and I have seen many people rise and many others fall ...

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I am Omoni Oboli and I represent Naija! I have been in this business of filmmaking for some time now, and I have seen many people rise and many others fall as they come and go in this industry. Apart from all the other factors that I’ve been writing about for the past few weeks, the ultimate factor that influences the business of filmmaking in Nigeria, maybe more than others, is the people’s attitude towards what is homegrown.

I have to admit, Nigerians have shown considerable interest in our movies, and this has largely helped to propel us to where we are today. The love for our stories, due to the fact that many can easily identify with them and the characters who feature in the movies, has grown in leaps and bounds. This is great for any industry to grow, and I can’t thank the fans enough for the immense contribution to the success of our movies so far. Nevertheless, we need to do more. The prevailing problem is that though some of us love our own products, and would love to watch it as it improves, many have taken the attitude of keeping us where they think we are. They believe that Nollywood is still where it used to be 15 to 20 years ago! On many occasions, while touring for my movies, I’ve encountered those “I don’t do Nigerian movies” Nigerians.

This saddens me, and it also increases the amount of work we have to do personally to attract them to just take a look and see if their perceptions are founded by watching my movies. It’s not an easy task, trust me. The time spent persuading them could have been used to move even further in promoting the movies to many who would have loved to watch the movies but hadn’t yet heard amidst the plethora of publicity we try to do. But it happens, and you can’t always reach everyone. Though, I must also point out that the ones who refused to watch at first and then saw my movies, became raving fans afterwards. They became faithful disciples.

The deliberate move towards patronising our products would greatly increase the revenue to the producers, who will in turn be encouraged to produce more movies and with better quality, which in turn creates employment for more Nigerians, who will in turn be more buoyant to easily afford the goods and services that those who are now watching our movies are selling or providing. It’s a beautiful cycle of progress for the Nigerian people. The economy is built up because we choose to spend our resources, which we earn in this system, so that those who produce in this system can improve their products and services in this system for others who are ready to keep paying for them in the same system. All in all, the money remains in the system, the demand for Naira products is increased, and the value of the Naira then appreciates, which then builds our economy. Phew! That was a mouth full! The fact remains, that our tastes are eating at our resources which, though generated locally, are spent internationally. We are truly ‘chopping’ our money!

Many producers have refused to remain dormant; they’ve educated themselves and improved their storylines and production values to try to reach the skeptics. The question then remains; how can the skeptics know that there’s been an improvement in the quality if they don’t even want to see for themselves? Even if we did produce our movies with the production value of movies like STAR WARS, how will they know that we’ve done it? People have to see that there’s a business sense to everything, and if the producers can’t see how they can recover even their expenditures, would you advice them to spend so much, only to recover none? I don’t think so! Nevertheless, we have done a good enough job so far that the world has reached out to us to see what we have. It seems they saw our little star shinning from afar and came to see for themselves, while some of those nearer are missing the event.

Just to reiterate my point earlier, there has been a tremendous growth in the audience base of our cinema movies, which has gladdened our hearts, but in a country of so many, we’re just scratching the surface. The initial taste we’re experiencing right now cannot compare to the joy of seeing an explosion of Nigerians trooping to the cinemas to see our movies. That would be something to behold.

The ripple effect of it all would be felt from the least to the greatest. In our desire to build our economy, and see the increase in the export of our homegrown businesses and products, we must deliberately begin with growing our home interests. “Charity begins at home” shouldn’t be just a byword, but a call to action. We have so many great products out there. Forgive our flaws, in light of the tastes we’ve acquired from feeding on Hollywood products, and let’s begin to appreciate our very own ‘Agege bread’ of our movies, hehehe! With time you will see the tides change in our industry, your industry, and the rest of the nation.

My movie, OKAFOR’S LAW is sure to blow your mind, and I promise you that this is definitely one you wouldn’t want to miss. Till next week, keep smiling!