Chinaza Onuzo is the co-founder, Inkblot Productions; co-writer and executive Producer for the new movie – ‘Superstar’ currently showing in cinemas. In this interview by SEGUN KASALI, Chinaza spoke about his growing up experiences, assessment of the film industry and other issues. Excerpts:
Growing up, it was learnt you wanted to study Medicine but you ended up studying Economics, what really happened?
I am the second of four children growing up. I came from the family where both parents are doctors. So, when I was five years old and they asked me what I would do when I grow up, I was so sure I would be a doctor. So, I was in the science class and all of those things. But when I was in secondary school, I was asked to do some commercial courses and what I chose was Economics. So, on my way to the medical school, I said rather than go straight to the medical school, let me go to America and while I was there, I was able to decide what I wanted. So, the course I chose was Economics and I left all those pre-medical courses.
How has Economics been helpful to you in this regard?
Economics is the study of people and system and basically about scarcity. The way I think about Economics is that everybody wants things but there are not enough things to go round for everyone. So, how do you design a society that enables majority of the people in the society to have a decent life? So, that broadens the scope of Economics of demand and supply and all those things. And I also studied English Language. One thing about English is critical thinking-how to think, analyse and write. So, putting those things together actually created my worldview to expose me to a number of how societies are organised.
Inkblot recently celebrated 10 years in film production, how did you get here? How did you move from Economics all the way to film production?
Like almost every young person, I was crazy about movies. Since I was a kid growing up, I watched pretty much everything-Nigerian films, American Hollywood films, Bollywood films, Hongkong martial arts, Hongkong action films. But, of course, it was never seen as a career but one of my hobbies and passion. After being about four or five years into it, I was like on the side there are opportunities here, if there are stories more you want to tell. So, I gathered a group of my friends and said do you want to do this and they said yes. So, that was how Inkblot was born.
You have been friends for a long time then?
Inkblot officially started in 2011. We worked together for a year figuring out what we wanted to do. So, I met most of the people we started working together on Inkblot about 2007 and 2008. We have been friends for about two years thinking about what eventually became Inkblot.
In what ways does your Economics background come in handy in film production? Is there an advantage? Have you been applying the rudiments of Economics to the business of film?
Yes, there is a correlation between economics and film making because filmmaking is a show business. So, my background in economics and finance enables me to understand building a structure. I studied film companies I wanted to emulate such Warners Brothers, Disney and some other film companies you have never heard of in Korea, India etc. The creativity is important but the business is also important. So, they both work hand-in-hand and that is why we are where we are today even though we are not there yet. We are a company who prides itself on the creative and also on the business side.
Still in the vein of economics, you’re also a private equity professional. How are you combining these two almost extreme roles? How do you make it work?
So, private equity is a special aspect of finance to raise funds from institutions, individuals, pension funds. So, you can see how that impact on the films because you raise money from investment and you fund films. For the few years, it was very hard to combine both of them. But, as time goes by, God intervenes.
How challenging has been filmmaking?
Film is a very difficult business and one of the things you have to consistently do is to raise funds. We have been very fortunate with supportive investors. But, as you can imagine, raising money is something that you have to be focused on doing. But, nobody ever had all the funds to do what they wanted to do. So, that was something that was key to us. Also, figuring how to do it, working with the right talents, partners and basically working with the right cast and crew. Every part of film business is challenging but you just need to have the right structure and system to be able to succeed and that is one of the things we are fortunate at.
In your 10 years in the industry, what would you say has been an indelible experience?
Production is always difficult. From my first production, the generator caught fire. Another production, there were riots. Another production, there was the issue of area boys we had to deal with. Honestly, the biggest challenge for us is doing the work. The hardest challenge for me is the motivation and spirit to continue production despite the hiccups. How do we build an industry that everyone would be talking about? To me, that is the biggest challenge and not we running from area boy.
Personally, how do you define a movie? What makes a great movie production?
Personally, we want to tell our Nigerian stories that can speak to Nigerians and also can be successful globally. For us, film is a global industry and Nigeria has always had that global presence all over the world. So, you see what is happening now where Nigerian music is topping the chart over the world. That is what we want for Nigerian films. We want Nigerian films to move from a stage where few people watch in Diaspora to be part of the global film and I believe we can achieve that.
What’s the best movie you have ever produced?
If you mention the 17 movies we have done, I think the movie people mention is, ‘Wedding Party’ and probably the most successful Nigerian movie. But, we also found out that our smaller films like ‘Arbitration’ and others are also financially worth it. For me, I believe what determines your ability as a production company is your ability to continue to make multiple movies overtime that would last you in business because at the end of the day, it is a business. It is your overall institution that matters.
How much did you rake in from ‘Wedding Party’?
(Laughs). Okay, we made N450 million from the film. But, what about the cinema runs, production cost and it is important to note that each film has its own ROI. From ROI perspective, ‘Wedding Party’ is not our most successful film. Our most successful film is ‘Arbitrator’ because it was a small budget film that performed very well. The fact is no one film determines the fortune of a filmmaker unless that film is so fantastic.
How would you rate the Nigerian film production industry?
We are very expressive. We speak our minds and we are very passionate. We forgot that we built Nollywood from scratch. This was an industry that was built by Nigerians for Nigerians and that global people came in later. We have the oral and the story- telling culture.
What’s your projection for this year as a company?
A lot this year. As announced, ‘Blood Covenant’ is coming out by March. There will be others too coming up this year. Our plan is to be one of the best global content providers.
and then