Nollywood producer and technical consultant for Filmlab Africa, Don Omope, has highlighted a critical issue within the Nigerian film industry: a severe revenue problem.
In a recent interview with Nollywire, Omope, known for his role in producing the 2016 blockbuster Wedding Party, discussed how Nollywood’s approach to filmmaking is hampering its financial growth. He pointed out that the industry often treats film production as a personal endeavor rather than a business venture, which is a major factor in its revenue issues.
“I’ve always said that the number one problem in Nollywood, as far as I’m concerned, is revenue. Nollywood has a revenue problem. And the reason we have a revenue problem, even though people say we have a production problem, is because we don’t treat ourselves as businesses. We treat ourselves as individuals, and that is why money comes into Nigeria and gets allocated to tech guys,” Omope explained.
He compared Nollywood’s approach to that of the tech industry, noting that tech professionals more effectively present themselves as businesses. “The tech guys are getting all the money because they treat themselves as businesses. When a tech guy has an idea, the first thing is to set up a business; a business that houses that idea, then he tests it for market fit, creates the product, scales it, and raises finance. They act as a business, but in Nigeria, it’s often ‘me as the producer, me as the director,’ and then I make films until I cannot make films anymore and start begging for money. We need to move away from that,” he said.
Omope also discussed the goals of the Filmlab Africa initiative, which aims to address these issues by educating filmmakers on the entrepreneurial aspects of filmmaking.