I have asked people this question severally and the answers i get amazes me, if not annoy me. Who made nollywood what it is today? Who really should take the credit for the growth, expansion and continental criss-cross that nollywood is experiencing?Simply put, Who exposed nollywood to the world? Think about it deeply.
Is it the actors, directors, producers, marketers, cinematographers, designers e.t.c. What's our selling point? what attracted the world in the first place? can you identify nollywood's selling point?
The general opinion is that our actors are our selling point and are responsible for the growth the industry has seen. It is amazing, even insulting when the continental awareness that nollywood commands is credited to the "faces of nollywood"(we'll talk about that later). Sadly, this lie has been sold too far and for history sake we need to change that. It happens every-time the actors take undue credit for something they did not orchestrate. If nollywood is to be rewarded, the actors are the ones that get the goody bag. They pay courtesy visits on behalf of the industry, collect monies on behalf of the industry, yet the money never survives the greedy and self-centered fangs of some of this self-seeking faces to manifest as dividends to the collective pool through the guild system. The government don't know better either, in the name of rewarding and recognizing the efforts of the industry they bestow the awards on only the "faces", the "hearts" can go to hell. This is not right.
This is the gospel truth. Nollywood came to limelight when it was adjudged as the third largest movie industry in the world. It grossed about three thousand movies per year, consequently the revenue from exports showed it was a multimillion dollar sector. That's our selling point, It was all about the numbers. It was not the acting of Liz Benson, Regina Askia, Omosexy, Genivieve, Pete Edochie, Kenneth Okonkwo or Ramsey Noah that attracted the world, they are good but a Julia Roberts,Sandra Bullock, Denzel Washington, Will Smith or Adam Sandler will best garner more attention. It was all about the numbers for nollywood and the marketers were solely responsible for that. They not only labored to create distribution channels the world over, they made and fed the stars, these same faces of nollywood. When movie producers went dry, marketers began funding our films.Till date, they are responsible for over 96% of nollywood content. That is remarkable.
This is the truth and i couldn't careless who it hurts. The truth has always been ugly and insensitive, while lies are always beautiful and understanding yet very dirty. Does that make sense when you relate it to marketers and actors? It sure does. Who should take the credit, the fan or the electricity that powers it? Nollywood, hear me today, our selling point lies in the numbers, hence the marketers and if any meaningful progress is to be made then we must focus on that area and reward them appropriately too not only the breast-mongers and yansh-shaking movie kokolets (though i like some of them o) that is my honest opinion. whats' yours?
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