‘Piracy gradually fading out in Nigeria’

Film and television producer, Bolakale Oba Sa’ad, in this interview with SEYI SOKOYA, speaks on his experience in film production and latest works.

Piracy has become a serious issue in the entertainment industry. How do you think the menace should be tackled?

I think we don’t intend to fight the issue of piracy for now, because it’s a major problem in the industry. From my opinion, piracy is really dying and in fact, if you go to a typical Alaba producer and tell him you have a movie, he is really not interested because the same movie has been seen in the cinema and very soon, it will go viral online.

Are you saying the online technology has become a major threat for marketers? 

Online has really changed the business model. So, for a movie producer, you can really rely on your online source and regard that as your DVD revenue.

Do you think the prevailing climate is right for the growth of cinemas?

I think this is the right time because you can compare your cinema to the bars you have nowadays. For every corner, there is a bar in Nigeria and what leads to the trend opening is because people are looking for options in entertainment. The same way you see clubs and bars today is the same way we should regard the cinema because it is a form of entertainment as well. Nigeria is in the right position now not because we are in recession, but because the world is becoming a global village, so the people want to have access to the same information and people will appreciate it more when cinemas are brought closer to them.

What is your take on the fact that producers no longer bring new contents but refurbish movies?

I agree to the fact that there are no new contents by producers again, but there is a dimension to that. Meanwhile, it is good to note that the same thing is also happening in Hollywood, but with the help of technology, they have been able to trick it a bit and you will think there is a difference Hollywood has stopped producing new stories; what they are doing now is more of series of similar stories, which in a way, saves them from marketing money, because the same money they spend on series is not different from what they will spend on a single film. But with the help of technology, they have been able to change things. For me, Nollywood had great stories in the past and I think people shouldn’t go far digging for more stories. I believe that we can bring back those stories with better technology, better man-power and better production value.

How do you see the current practice among Nollywood producers to break films into parts?

Sincerely, what is happening in the industry is based on their clients and we are actually the audience. It is based on their demand. If you produce something beyond their demand, you are on your own, except you are making a charity movie or special movie like 93 Days. In fact, the 93 Days movie is a high budget movie, but the producers did not even make half of the money invested. It is a good movie, but not an audience choice. What people need to understand about Nollywood is that movies are produced based on the audience. Some of the people that complain about Nollywood are those that don’t even buy the CDs. Those who buy CDs are not complaining about the technicality, because they are well entertained. Remember, there are different audiences; there is the DVD audience, online, cinema, television audiences, and let’s not forget the satellite audience.

What is your target with the The In-law?

When it comes to film production, the typical Nigerian production is different from the production you experience in Hollywood and for anybody that wants to have a film production in Nigeria, that fellow needs to understand the Nigerian market and the same thing applies in Hollywood.

We decided to pick a family story, as this will be able to hold everyone together instead of selecting the audience. In picking a family story, we decided to dwell on marriage, which is an avenue we can tap into and one can come in different angles of marriage like from the proposal to the wedding, etc. We looked at different angles and we decided to go for the one that is less complicated and full of conflicts, not even between the couples, but between the two father in-laws in the marriage.