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Nollywood Is Not Growing Fast – Mildred Okwu

Mildred OkwoMildred Okwu’s foray into film production was a fulfillment of her heart desire. Though a lawyer by profession, the soft-spoken multiple awards winning lady, explained her deep love for the make-believe world. The Meeting producer who returned to Nigeria after about two decades in the US, spoke on what it takes to be a successful producer, Nollywood, family and sundry issues. Excerpts…

Tell us your journey into Nollywood

Recently, while thinking about my involvement in Nollywood, it dawned on me that my initial thought about 10 years in the industry is not true afterwards. My first degree was in theater arts at University of Benin. It was just for me to get a first degree preparatory to study law. My father always told me then that I was too young to comprehend law.

So I went into theater arts at 16. As early as at that age, I bought a video camera, but I didn’t get to use it much at UNIBEN then because it wasn’t a television course, but mainly stage. Since then, I have been interested in imaging and how images come about. So, it came naturally when I went to the states where I studied law; my mind was always going back to making movies. I didn’t see the motivation until I started watching Nollywood.

I remember watching my first Nollywood movie; it was Living in Bondage in 1994. After that, I started watching other films. I told myself this is really what I wanted to do. But, even while in the US, I never wanted to do it over there. I wanted to learn what I wanted to learn over there and return to practise my craft in Nigeria, because I felt that the stories I wanted to tell were Nigerian. That was how it started in late 2006 when I came back fully to start making films.

My first film was 30 Days in 2006. After that, I never went back to live in the US; I have been here studying the industry.

You came in with The Meeting, and it has cleared almost all awards in sight; how does that make you feel?

It makes me feel good because after my first movie, I realized I didn’t understand the industry much as I have been away for too long. So, it took me a little while to make the ‘Meeting’. First and foremost, I wanted to understand the business side of the industry, because it was still growing. Secondly, I wanted to understand the people a bit better. Because when you are away for 29 years, you lose touch with base a little. So, having understood the people, the Meeting came up. Once I read the script, I knew what to shoot, and I realized that this was the right movie at the right time.

So, we took our time and formed a company called OrderySylvia Company, with one of my clients, Rita Dominic. We got the names from two main actresses, Nigeria’s Joke Sylvia and Ordery Hesbon who was an American actress. She is late now. So, we coined that name and with that company formed, we made ‘The Meeting’ what it turned to be.

And because of the time and research that went into it, people seem to be involved with it. They like it. It has been winning all kinds of awards. I am most thankful to God. It has really been overwhelming, but that was what I wanted to do. To make films that will touch people around the world.

What has been the challenge for you since your foray into Nollywood?

Part of the initial challenge came from the way people perceived you as an ‘American returnee’, one about whom they were not sure what he or she had up their sleeves. I don’t blame them; you are coming into their territory and they don’t think you have something good for them. But I prayed and I have proved that I have the love for this our industry. Many of them have accepted me and we are on together.

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On a general note, I face the same challenges that those in the industry are facing, which is financing. For you to make some good movies, it costs money. It depends on your script.

What did it cost you to produce The Meeting?

We are still spending on The Meeting. I usually tell people that the script was set for two cities, Lagos and Abuja. By the time I tabulated, ‘Meeting’ had already cost N23 million. That is a lot of money, but we have been making back, which is cool. One good thing is that films sell forever. You must approach it like that, that it doesn’t stop selling. Like most people here (Mauritius) haven’t heard and or seen Living in Bondage. If the owners packaged well, they will be selling it till today.

It was challenging finding people to invest in Nigeria because most people don’t respect the art. So, we used our own money. We just told ourselves, do it right and we will make our money back. It may not be a short-term return, but we will make our money back. And slowly, we have been making our money back. The impact we have had has brought so much more than we envisaged, and it is still coming.

We are shooting our next film, but we have continued to win. We just won the Nollywood Paris Audience Award. The audience had fewer Africans, but more of Europeans. From the award, now I have the opportunity to use one of the most expensive lenses in the world–Unjeanue Prime Lenses. That was part of the reward. Each one of them is worth about $22,000. And you need about seven of it to make your films. And your films will look beautiful when you shoot it right.

Apart from that, we are getting invitations for other things. If you take your time to do something right, there are many benefits you can gain from it. The idea is to calm down and do something that you can be proud of and when people come to greet me here, especially Nigerians, with pride about our achievement, that fills my heart. It makes me happy. Those are the things we go for, even though we are making monetary gains, there are so many other gains.

What is your candid assessment of Nollywood?  

I was thinking we would have grown faster, but it is sort of slow. But, I think it is because it is financially intensive, and investors believe more in short term and quick returns. Movie-making is about long term plan, but when you start to make your money, nobody can compete with you; even music can’t compete.

Secondly, there are lots of people who are in the industry and should not be there. When you get a flight-by-night people, they get attracted because they can make quick money. They are not interested in making or understanding the art of movie-making. So, as long as those people are not growing, you won’t grow, because film is one of the most collaborative ventures you can ever get involved in.

If your PA is not good, then you the director is not good; if the producer is not good, then the costume designer won’t be good because you are producing. You have to know their crafts and do it well. So, even if you have actors that are doing fantastically well, if the director is not good, the film is not going to be good. So, everybody in the film business will have to up their game.

That is why it has been a slow process growing. But, now you see that people behind the scenes are going to get more educated, they are taking courses abroad on how to shoot better film. Now we can match behind the scene people with the actors as well. And the more we do that, the better we get. Even producers are getting training to produce better films. I am hoping that in the next 10 years, we will be making films that will be selling across the world. That is the only way to go as we cannot stay stagnant.

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How do you think the infighting within and between guilds can be stemmed for a better industry?

That infighting is a Nigerian thing. It doesn’t have to do with Nollywood. If you noticed, people fight in Nigeria for no reason at all. It is the same thing with politics. APC, PDP and others are constantly fighting instead of focusing on development. Nollywood is a mini Nigeria. It is not outside of the people; it is of the people.

So when you see people fighting in the guilds, it is just their inability to look at a bigger picture. If they do, they will realize that we will achieve better working collectively, as opposed to all these in-fighting and lording things over people. It just an unfortunate character of the people of Nigeria; which we must work to change, all of us.

There are so many awards at the moment; how can they be better and meaningful?

Everybody wants to lay claim to being recognized. But, let me tell you, very few of the awards are legitimate. And I feel that is the work of the media, because an entertainment industry cannot grow without a proper press. If the entertainment press is not vibrant, we won’t have a vibrant industry; just like if we do not have proper lawyers and accountants, the industry is not going anywhere. And that is what is going on.

If a vibrant and educated entertainment press says ‘we will not give this thing credibility because it doesn’t have credibility’, it won’t have credibility. But now people win, ‘o my mother is in the kitchen award’, and a major newspaper carries it, they will go to town and say, ‘look I was able to appear in a major newspaper’. So, they will all want to have an award. That encourages every Tom, Dick and Harry to set up an award.

That is why I don’t just put my films for every award. I want to see your process. I don’t care if I lose; so long you have a proper process that determines who is winning, I will accept whatever the outcome is.

Recently, the world gathered in Mauritius for MultiChoice Africa Content Showcase, and Nigeria virtually stole the show to the envy of others. How does it make you feel, and how do we cash in on this as a nation?

I feel very proud. The world press is gathered here, and it is fantastic for them to see that good things are coming from Nigeria and not just Boko Haram, especially from what they have been seeing in the past few weeks about insurgency and all that. I am so proud that this is happening. We are a massive part of DSTV. We are doing our own part, and so are other parts of the continent. But being a Nigerian, I feel so proud. And all I want us to do is to keep working harder.

Like I am talking to you now, you are going to go back and work harder at your craft, I am going back to work harder at my craft as well; we have made a connection, and we see where this can go and what we can do continuously.

As the ‘real’ ambassadors of Nigeria, how do you think government can tap into this for a better image of the country?

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That is what I tell them. Nollywood can be massive game changer for Nigeria because they could be your face. I say that because whatever you know about America today is mostly through Hollywood. I remember when I went to America in 1983 on holidays, I thought when I got there the ground would be paved with gold, because all I saw of America in movies was all good. So, I realize it is about a people writing about how they want to be, and making movies about how they want to be. All we want the government to do is to provide infrastructure.

I am not even part of the people that want handouts. For me just provide us with water, let us have electricity, and let us have good roads. Since you know that most practitioners don’t have money to work with, if you provide loans please make sure that these loans are actually accessed by the people who can actually use it.

You can’t give such money to people who have never been in the industry, but are just coming into the industry because there is money involved. Because that is what is going on as every Tom, Dick and Harry is getting the loan even when they have never made a film before; the only advantage they have is that they have the collateral. They don’t care about the industry; all they are after is make some quick money from it. It is not trigonometry or one of those difficult subjects. It is so easy. And I hope they will be able to achieve it with this Project Nollywood Act that President Jonathan has instituted. We are watching.

Presently you have a fund from Actors’ Guild of Nigeria from where most celebrated but forgotten thespians are being rehabilitated. How would you assess the Ibinabo’s reign so far?

I don’t know much about the fund, but I noticed that Ibinabo has been going around, helping people, which is very welcome, because there are so many actors and people behind the scene who made families happy but are now incapacitated with no social security to cater for them. Take Natty of the popular New Masquerade for example.

I was watching Natty since I was little. These are national treasures that if they are in other climes, they will be so rich that you can’t even touch them. But most of them are dying in penury. And I am happy that Ibinabo is reaching out to them. That is what women will do for you when they are in a position of power.

I am happy that she is doing something even in the areas of hotels and airline rebate for actors because she seems to be doing more than her predecessors which is loud and clear. I remember approaching some of her predecessors with laudable projects and they didn’t even respond. So, I am very happy about what she is achieving from what I have read and heard. I am not a member of AGN, but from what I am hearing, I am hoping she would just double up and keep doing it. It is not only God that will bless her, she is also leaving a mark that when she leaves, people can look back at her reign and say she did achieve a lot.

Describe your yourself

I am a very straight forward person. I can’t relate with people who are not honest. I will rather take the punishment for being straightforward.