Learn the lessons of Nollywood

From March 2008...

As my producer friend, Karl Hunter is winging his way to Ocho Rios, to begin setting-up offices for I-FORCE FILMS in Jamaica - I thought today’s post could revolve around a discussion of Nollywood - Nigeria’s own brand of Hollywood or even the currently popular Bollywood. Karl came across the Nollywood phenomena during his travels in Africa. It was interesting to us both how digital technology had been adopted there to create a mass of small, local movies. These small, local movies are available in shops and from street-vendors all across Nigeria as DVDs and VCDs. An average movie will sell 50,000 copies. A popular movie may sell as many as 200,000 units. So at 250 Niara (that’s $2) a piece - producers have the possibility of ample profit - time and time again.

In thirteen years, Nollywood has grown from a tiny cottage industry to a multi-million dollar business, employing thousands of people. Nollywood features are, in some cases, issue based meledromas. They tackle topics such as AIDS, corruption, womens rights and the daily difficulties of life in Africa. They are simplistic in terms of production values and often have the texture of telenovelas - however, this hasn’t impacted their mass appeal or profitability. Different regions produce movies in local languages, such as Hausa in the north of Nigeria and Yoruba in the southeast. English language productions are also popular.

We can learn lessons from Nollywood. Here are my five Nollywood top tips…

1) ISSUE BASED MOVIES WILL ALWAYS FIND AN AUDIENCE.
You should write stories with resonance for yourself and your peers.

2) NON ACTORS CAN WORK IN DRAMA, AS LONG AS THEY REMAIN AUTHENTIC.
So - yes - you can cast your friends. But if you need to cast a grandfather - cast a real grandfather, perhaps even your own.

3) EXPLOIT THE TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR BEST ADVANTAGE.
As filmmakers, we always want the latest and greatest toys. Do we need them? No! This is a myth sold to us by manufacturers. You can still make TODAY’s movie with YESTERDAY’s incarnation of digital.

4) YOU CAN TRIUMPH REGARDLESS OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS.
Making movies in Nigeria is hard. Much harder than making movies in San Diego or South Philly. Where ever you are, regardless of surroundings, you can be a filmmaker and a successful one at that. All you have to do is apply yourself, work hard and believe it. Yes! Believe it.

5) SELF DISTRIBUTION WORKS IF YOU’RE SMART.
We all have delusions of theatrical releases and festival success. That’s great, but not always practical. However, making DVDs is cheap. Find a way to promote your movie on-line and in local stores. Try to move product and create a buzz. Okay, you might not sell 50,000 copies - but maybe, just maybe you can sell 5,000 DVDs for $5 a piece, over one year. That’s $25k - and if you made your picture for $10k, percentage-wise you’re doing much better than most of Hollywood.