Famous movie marketer, AlhajiAbdullahiAbdulrasaq, otherwise known as Corporate Pictures, has come a long way into the Yoruba movie marketing business and has bank-rolled many movie productions which have earned him multiple awards and recognitions. In this interview with SEGUN ADEBAYO, the chartered accountant cum lecturer speaks on how he’s adjusting to digital distribution of movies, among other issues.
You are one of the most talked-about movie marketers in Nigeria; how did you begin this journey?
The company started out of my deep interest for movies, especially Yoruba movies. At a point, I had over 1000 video cassettes in my house because I normally buy to watch. So, one day, I felt like I could turn my interest into business. I decided to buy more video cassettes of both Yoruba and English (Nigerian) movies and we started as a video club. Later, I went into joint productions with Akeem Alimi (AjalaJalingo), BabatundeTaiwo Hassan otherwise known as Ogogo and late MuyideenAladeAromire to produce our first three movies. I marketed my first movie,Adegbesan by AjalaJalingo through Soas Movies and Charles Tete Video, who is late now and thereafter I joined the marketers association and the rest, today, is history.
Over the years you have remained relevant and played at the top. How have you managed to keep the momentum?
We have always had it at the back of our mind that to continue to be successful in this business one must put consumers’ interest first. They will always watch quality movies and as long as we keep producing and distributing quality movies, we will continue to stay relevant and remain at the top. Quality is always our watchword and with God on our side, we have been able to keep the momentum going.
You have worked with many producers and actors over the years as an executive producer. What do you make of the industry now and what it was then?
The eagerness to continue to learn and improve has contributed to the steady growth of the industry. The technical quality of our movies keeps improving both in audio and video quality.
Some major movie stakeholders accuse marketers of contributing largely to some of the problems bedeviling the industry today; do you agree?
Whether people want to accept it or not, marketers have contributed significantly and positively to the progress of our movie industry. If you could recall, there has not been any financial support from government and it’s been marketers that has been supporting and nurturing the industry with the support of actors and amazing producers. If that support was not there, we might not get to where we are today. So, saying marketers contributed to the rot in the industry is a disservice to our marketers.
You have groomed many A-List actors and actresses over the years, does it still come easy making them stars like those days?
Only Almighty God can make stars, but we contributed our quota in the past and we are still doing so. Nobody can make anybody a star if Almighty God says No
Why do marketers believe that N500,000 can shoot a movie?
What type of movie do you want to shoot with N500,000? This question, I must say, is very disrespectful to people like us who support good movies and by the way N500,000 cannot even get good filming equipment, let alone other associated cost including cast cost.
But it is the truth as they say. Some marketers buy a movie for as low as N500,000 and sometimes N600,000…
May be you talk to people buying movies at such cost because we deal only in quality movies. Anybody selling at that price must have produced a sub-standard movie.
It is a digital age now. How are you coping with the digitalisation of movie marketing, particularly the YouTube pages and other online platforms taking over?
The industry is evolving and any sane businessman must embrace digital marketing together with analogue marketer if one must remain competitive. So, at Corporate Pictures, we are coping very well as one of the leaders in the industry. We also have our own YouTube channel (Yorubaplus). We have combined our analogue marketing very well with digital marketing. I can say that we are on top of our game and both lines of marketing are working well for us.
Who is Corporate Pictures that people don’t know?
I am AlhajiAbdullahiAbdulrasaq, a native of Ilorin,kwara State. I am a chartered accountant, a lecturer and a financial management guru.
You have bankrolled many movie projects. Tell us one that scared you most?
Every project always scares me whether it is low or high budget movie. To me, it’s not the amount spent that is important but how to make our money back because in this industry, nothing is certain. You never can predict where things will swing to. You don’t even know if your audience would accept your movie until it is released.
How much do you think a professional producer needs to make a great movie in the Yoruba movie industry?
That depends on the story line and the cast to be used but a quality movie will certainly gulp millions of naira and I am proud to have produced some of these multi-million naira movies over the years.
What is your relationship with some of the veteran Yoruba movie actors?
Perfect relationship, because they are the ones that started and nurtured the production process to the level we are today and at Corporate Pictures we maintain good relationships with veterans as well as current crop of actors. We always strike a balance in whatever we do and that has been the secret of our success.
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