Nigerian movie producer, Femi Ogunsanwo, has said that to cope with financial constraints, upcoming filmmakers must leverage available networks and opportunities in the industry.

Ogunsanwo who recently spoke at a capacity-building conference for creatives organised by Feemo Academy in collaboration with Kokopelli, one strategy filmmakers could use to make money out of their projects is collaborations with different television stations and streaming platforms.

“Filmmaking in Nigeria faces the same challenge as every other business. The economy affects you but you have to find a way to resolve the problem. If it was going to cost one million naira to make a film before now it is going to cost you a hundred and thirty million naira.” 

“If you had three investors before, you are going to need four now. The streaming services like Netflix and Amazon are also commissioning films which means that if they commission any of your films, you don’t have to take money out of your pocket but the films they license, they watch in the cinemas and decide if they want to license them or not.”

“My advice to upcoming moviemakers and producers is that if you want to shoot, shoot don’t talk. People do much talking and the problem with talking is that it affects you, so talk less and shoot more. Let your actions speak louder than your words.”

The producer also admonished the government and capable individuals to cast some of their investment weight behind filmmakers.

“In my opinion, there has never been a better time in Nigerian history to invest in Nollywood. This is the best time to invest in the movie industry because we didn’t have Netflix and Amazon coming to license our movies but we do now. It comes with the same benefits for anyone that invests in business – return on investment.” 

Theatre film content creator, Kelvin Mary Ibekwe, wwho also spoke the event, further advised rooted and intending actors to cultivate skills across varying facets that would earn them more money in the industry.

 Ifueko Gbinigie, head of Feemo Academy, said the conference was organised to bridge the gap between aspiring producers and veterans.

According to her, the event was also to build the capacity of stakeholders in the movie industry to cater to themselves financially and mentally such that they are sound in every sense of he word.

“We are not only looking at the industry topics, we are also looking at mental health. For example pensions, investment funds and how people can save for the rainy day, for example, what happened in the pandemic when their source of income was taken from them.” 

“So, it’s cutting across a lot, from which HMO to sign up on so that we can stop this whole GoFundMe because we have had a lot of actors who have passed away and it is very saddening when you can see people doing GoFundMe for them. If we were all looking after ourselves and health, we would surely be in a better place.”

See photos from the event: