Nollywood Till November: Memoirs of a Nollywood Insider

CHAPTER ONE

A ‘NEOPHYTE’ DIRECTOR

The actors were ready for the first shot of the day; the first scene from the production schedule to be shot and incidentally, my very first Nollywood movie. I stood behind the Director of Photography, Solomon Nwoko, who had been somewhat sceptical about my ability to call the shots. He was used to working with big names like Andy Amenechi, Chris Onu, Chris Obi-Rapu and others who were the kingpin movie directors who held sway in Nollywood at the time. Solomon thought I was a neophyte who he would need to guide to call the shots required for the screenplay I had written! He had said so to me quite bluntly, the first time my lovely newly-wedded wife and co-Executive Producer, Happy and I met with him to ‘handle the camera’ for the production (a term often used for the role of the Cameraman-cum-Director of Photography).

‘You are directing?’ he had asked in a passive, surprised tone. I nodded in the affirmative.

‘Then you will pay me double because I am going to do most of the work interpreting the shots!’ he said in a matter-of-fact tenor. I was incensed. Coming from over four years of working and learning the ropes at the nation’s national network station, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and having over eighteen years of stage and television acting experience, including a revered Bachelors degree in Dramatic Arts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where I graduated from in 1993, made no impression on Mr. Nwoko. He had a mindset and it was left for me to either do away with his services or prove him wrong. I chose the latter.

And so, that sunny day in April 2000, on the busy Adeniran Ogunsanya Street in Surulere, I called my first Nollywood shot after giving the blockings to the actors. The script was originally titled One cut too deep, a family thriller I had first written in 1996. I guess the script waited for the right time to be produced. It was a story I loved. I daresay the script was intellectually different, compared to what obtained largely at that time. I wanted my very first movie to make a statement in three areas; scripting, acting and directing and I left no stone unturned within my limited resources in ensuring that I achieved this vision.

In January 2000, I got married to Happy Agesse. She was somewhat the General Manager of Carvers Studios, a company which specialised in the leasing of movie productions equipment. ‘Carvers’ was a staple diet for any filmmaker in Nigeria worth his salt then. Over eighty percent of the movies shot from 1995 to 2005 were shot with camera equipment from Carvers Studios. From the U-matic camera to the analogue Betacam and later on, the Digital Cameras and its Digital-Editing Suites, Carvers had them all. The company was a dependable, up-to-date outfit anchored on the vision of its Managing Director, Kingsley Ogoro.

I had met Happy at Carvers one evening the previous year and instantly fell in love with her. I had just walked out from four years of an interesting stint at the network headquarters of NTA and was looking to try my hands on writing scripts first and foremost for Nollywood Producers and perhaps acting before venturing into fulltime movie production. Along with my elder brother, Kabat Esosa Egbon, I had edited and written a few scripts he had sent to me. Kabat was the Don of scripts in Nollywood then and was in high demand. Not many knew he was my blood brother. He graciously integrated me into the Nollywood society by inviting me to script workshops mainly for O.J. Productions. We were a good team.

One evening in late January 1999, we were both standing outside Carvers Studios, chatting and cracking jokes when this beautiful young lady came out of the Carvers office and walked up to us. She greeted us and passed a message from the Managing Director, Kingsley Ogoro, popularly known as Sir K, to Kabat. As she walked away, I couldn’t help staring at her, transfixed and smitten. Inside of me, I knew I had seen my wife!

‘Kabat, that’s my wife!’ I croaked. Kabat laughed out loud. Well, one year later, he was groomsman for our church wedding! After our wedding, she advised me to go into producing and directing movies fulltime, rather than waiting for some Nollywood marketer to engage me in ‘commercial directing’, which was the fad then. She felt the time was right to make my grand entry onto the scene. Happy believes in me and encourages me a lot. She always gives me the right push.

So, I dusted up the script for One cut too deep and she took me to Kingsley Ogoro, who happens to be her brother-in law, to negotiate my leasing of the camera on credit until the movie was released. We were just a struggling newly-wedded couple then and I didn’t really have funds to start anything. I had known Sir K passively for a couple of years before then but when I got married to Happy, he welcomed me into his family. Happy is a younger sister to Esse Agesse, a gifted and famous Pop singer, who was married to Sir K. Sir K is a great fellow. Among many people, I owe him some measure of my success as a filmmaker today. He willingly approved the credit request for the camera equipment for me and offered his advice whenever I needed it.

I then assembled the cast. The script was majorly a one locale plot and had just about seven characters. It was written to accommodate budget constraints years earlier and it fit the current adventure just right. I got Norbert Young to play the lead role. Over the years, Norbert had grown to become my friend and big brother. We had mutual artistic respect for each other and though he is quite fussy about who directs him as an actor, he agreed to work with me to encourage me because he too believed I had something to offer. More so, he loved the script as did other members of the cast. I also cast Gloria Anozie as Norbert’s wife in the movie. She was Norbert’s girlfriend at the time and later became his wife. Maybe art was imitating life then! Apart from recognising her skills as a good actress, her diction was a major consideration in giving her the role. I liked the way she articulated her words and she was a moderate star whom I felt could guarantee some ‘star power sales’ for the movie. Another brilliant actress I cast was Edith-Jayne Azu. Edith was and has been somewhat of an enigma in Nollywood. It is generally believed that she is one of the best actors to ever come out of Nigeria. Somehow, she never got to be a mainstream star in the home video sector. She had great presence and could immerse her roles believably. It was a dream cast. Three gifted actors as my major cast - every director’s dream.

My supporting cast was a then unknown, yet talented Empress Njamah and a great experimental actor, Jude Orhorha. I believe the movie was Empress’ first major speaking role in any movie. I had known her for a few years before then as a teenager who loved the acting world and was mostly involved in some stage production at the National Theatre. Besides, she was from the Njamah artistic stock in Nollywood which comprises of John Njamah, a notable actor and director and Aquila Njamah, who is also a director. Jude Orhorha is a director’s delight; one of the most intense actors in Nigeria. However, he is heavily under-utilised as an actor. Many would blame it on the ‘Idumota factor’ wherein the traders/marketers who held sway at the artistically suffocating yet financially rewarding distribution market at Idumota on Lagos Island, usually determined who would be a ‘star’. I will come to that later. A gifted Kate Effiong also made my cast. She was a Theatre Arts graduate from the University of Port-Harcourt and I had known her for years. There was also Dele Omogbai who doubled as my Production Manager for the movie. I gave Dele the role of Rufus, a house help, much to his surprise. He wanted to opt out at one point because he felt that he could not handle it but I told him I had implicit faith in him as an actor who had a degree in theatre arts! That calmed him down. Henry Ese Sainyo, a talented roving actor, completed the cast as the family doctor.

These great artistes readily accepted to work with me. I promised to pay them their artiste fees after the release of the movie or when I found a marketer. Although I did have to pay part fees for one or two who insisted!

I had a dream cast, really. All the actors, with the exception of Empress and Gloria, were Theatre Arts graduates just like me, the director. Empress, Gloria and Edith had also garnered massive experience from some stage and television productions. My cast was extremely professional and they co-operated with me. I also had Iyen Agbonifo as my Costumier and Lilian Ukwu as my Continuity Secretary. Iyen is a younger sister to Don Pedro Obaseki, a respected and cerebral film director and former Theatre Arts Lecturer. Iyen had a great knack for blending colours to rhyme mostly with the overall hue of a set. She would walk into a location set, take a studious look at the colours of the wall and in the next instant she would sort through her costume sheet to see if the costumes for the actors tallied or artistically contrasted with the set. Lilian was an experienced ‘continuity person’ as Nollywood calls what is known as the Script Supervisor in other climes. We had met six years earlier at NTA where we were part of a talented pool of contract staff in the federal government owned television network.

Just before shoot started on the first day, I did something I have continued to do since then when directing. I wrote what I call a ‘director’s vision’ for each member of the cast. In it, I broke down the character, mannerisms, motivation, temperament and minute affectations of my visualisation of each character. I gave it to each cast member on the first day. Since it was so simplified, it was easy for them to slip into their roles using the breakdown as a guide. Of course, we had rehearsed some days before actual shooting began but I felt that apart from my verbal summations, writing my visualisation would be a great template for the actors to fall back on if they needed to.

We shot for days. I was quite particular about mood and tempo for each scene and I carefully explained to the cast and crew, the little details I wanted amply interpreted. I still do that for all my movies till date. I usually explain the mood of the scene to the characters; no matter how short the scene is, so that they can align with me in artistic interpretation.

I remember feeling a certain thrill when I shot the first scene. Somehow, I knew I was on the path to something which would change my life positively. Part of the thrill I felt was from the superb acting by Norbert Young in that first scene. He literally became the character who according to the script was a frustrated alcoholic. As the camera rolled on in the coming days, I was grateful for the cast I had assembled. They put up a wonderful display.

We shot with a Sony Betacam SP. My Director of Photography, Solomon, was a workaholic. Ever ready to work, his physical energy spurred our collective will to work. I remember when we finally wrapped up the production; Solomon came to me and said, ‘You surprised me. You did well! You know your onions.’ I wagged a ‘told you so’ finger at him.

Editing took place at Carvers Studios. Chuks Ogbonna was my editor who had an alias; ‘Anointed Fingers’. Carefully and painstakingly, we edited each scene. I would tell him how I wanted the shots for each scene and he always went with my flow, pleasantly. I believe after about ten editing sessions, the first rough cut of the movie was ready. Sammie Okposo was contracted to score the movie. Sammie is a good friend and he has been a staple part of almost all my movies ever since. I wrote the lyrics of the theme song ‘One cut too deep’ which was also the title of the movie, although I had to change it to Deep Secrets later. Sammie watched the VHS copy of the rough cut and composed a melodious theme song as well as some captivating incidental scores for the movie. I was very impressed. He even laid the sound tracks to the movie in just two sessions.

Finally, the final cut of the movie was ready. The next step was to find a marketer who would release it. Shooting the movie was actually the easier task!

CHAPTER TWO

IN SEARCH OF A MARKETER

At just about the time my first movie was completed, Nollywood was going through a massive boom in sales and perhaps, audience appreciation. However, it was mostly the sales of the movies in the VHS format (which was the dominant medium then) that had thrown up a power bloc of video traders who gleefully called themselves film marketers. Two years earlier (in 1998), an enterprising Idumota marketer, Ojiofor Ezeanyache, popularly known as O.J, had released an epoch drama movie titled, Igodo which proved to be a hit in Nigeria with unconfirmed VHS sales figures running into millions! Igodo had an impressive artistic input from industry professionals like Don Pedro Obaseki and Andy Amenechi who both directed the movie. Some acclaimed actors like Sam Dede, Norbert Young and Pete Edochie also had a great outing in the movie. O.J as both the producer and Executive Producer spared no expense in making the movie. I believe he went for broke. Before Igodo , he had a list of successful blockbusters such as Oracle and Blood Money but Igodo became the biggest selling movie at that time in Nollywood. Its theme of collective sacrifice by a people for their troubled clan seemed to have struck a chord with the public. Its period setting of a remote African village years before the British colonialists came also made the movie a novel concept as it was released at a time when other movies were over-flogging rituals and witchcraft themes which the public were getting weary of.

When Igodo was released to massive acceptance and a sales record breaking feat, the usual bandwagon crowd in Nollywood followed suit. Before long, a rash of movies with primitively costumed actors in bush hamlets were produced and released. For over two years, these were the dominant themes, popularly and erroneously called ‘epic movies’ by the producers and some sections of the media. One amusing feature common among the so called ‘epics’ was the predominant use of Jute or Bean bags as costumes for the actors. These Jute Bags are normally used to package raw beans but somehow, it became the standard template for costuming such genre of movies. To me, that revealed a bankruptcy of creativity in the costume section of the movie industry then as all the costume designers (if ever there were any really worthy to be called such in the real sense) thereafter conveniently re-cycled the ‘jute/bean bag’ costumes in almost all the movies. As Amaka Igwe, a respected and cerebral filmmaker would comment years later, ‘If there were so many Africans wearing bean bags in pre-colonial days, it means somebody was making a whole lot of money selling packaged beans in those days!’ That statement always leaves me in stitches each time I remember it!

With the plethora of ‘bean bag’ movies being released at that time, my first movie was always going to be a hard sell for the marketers. A few of them who saw the preview copy told me they could not market it because it did not treat what they termed ‘ the reigning things’ which in their opinion were the so called ‘epic movies’. Looking back now, I believe the movie was far above what their limited intellect could digest then and