Someone has apparently diagnosed Nollywood’s problem and prescribed a $5m or was it $50 million fund so producers can make more quality movies.
I even see a lot of movie producers who are anxiously advocating for the $200m phantom CEDF fund to be used to make more movies both huge budgets and mama lati small movies
And I laugh out loud every time I hear them.
After I stopped laughing at their shortsightedness, my first question is: after they make these films, what happens next?
That is where the conversation usually becomes less enthusiastic. Everybody has a budget for shooting the film. I want to see the plan for recovering the money.
As I will keep reminding the “make more films” as a solution to Nollywod’s problems crowd, increasing movie production in Nollywood would NOT even make my top 10 priorities for building an enduring movie industry in Nigeria.
Yes, quality matters. Better scripts, better sound, better acting and better production values deserve investment. But “quality” is not a business model. You can photograph a financial loss beautifully. It remains a loss.
A production fund can pay for a film. Only a functioning commercial system can keep paying for the next one.
Before we pass another collection plate around for producers, here are 10 THINGS I WOULD PUT AHEAD of making more movies in our movie industry if asked what to do with any huge intervention fund like $5m or $50m or the show-stopping ghost $200m they keep dangling in front of gullible nollywood practitioners
#1. Distribution that begins before the premiere.
Who is buying this film? Through which channels? In which territories? On what terms?
“Let us finish shooting first” is an expensive answer to a basic business question. A route to market should be part of the project from the beginning.
#2. More convenient ways for ordinary people to pay to watch.
We need affordable screening venues, community cinemas and accessible digital options.
An audience’s love for Nollywood is commercially useful only when there is a practical way to convert that love into a transaction. Applause is encouraging. It is also notoriously difficult to deposit.
#3 Marketing businesses with actual marketing expertise.
We need professionals who understand audience research, positioning, advertising, release campaigns and sales conversion.
I have nothing against actors dancing to promote their films. If dancing sells tickets, dance! But the industry should also have specialists planning the campaign, targeting the audience and measuring the returns.
The lead actress cannot permanently be the entire marketing department in heels.
#4. Revenue reporting that investors can trust.
What did the film earn? What did the cinemas, platforms and distributors deduct? What reached the producer? What reached the investor?
A triumphant box-office headline tells us something. It does not tell us everything.
Gross revenue is a headline. Net return is the investor’s concern.
#5. Protection for the money after the film is released.
Piracy is a commercial problem that deserves a funded, practical response: enforcement, monitoring, prompt takedowns and convenient legal access.
Financing production without protecting the resulting revenue is rather like buying more buckets while refusing to repair the holes.
#6. More people whose profession is selling films.
Distributors. Sales agents. Rights aggregators. Licensing specialists. People who understand territories, release windows, television deals, digital rights and international buyers.
These are careers, businesses and essential parts of an industry.
We cannot keep treating everyone between the filmmaker and the customer as an unnecessary middleman. A competent intermediary can create value that the producer cannot create alone.
#7. Better development before expensive production.
If the argument is about quality, let us fund script development, research, rewriting, budgeting and commercial assessment.
Sometimes the most valuable investment in a film is another three months developing it. Sometimes it is the discipline to conclude that it should not be made in its present form.
“Action!” should not be the first serious business decision.
#8. Market intelligence beyond vibes and celebrity followers.
Who actually pays? For what kinds of stories? At what price? On which platforms? In which locations?
A million followers are not a million customers. People can love your Instagram page and remain completely unmoved by your payment link.
We need data that helps investors distinguish popularity from purchasing behaviour.
#9. Contracts and investment structures fit for serious money.
Who owns what? Who gets paid first? How are costs approved? How are revenues verified? What happens when things go wrong?
“We are all brothers here” is a pleasant sentiment. It is an inadequate investment agreement.
If we want repeat investors, we must make accountability part of the offer.
#10 Shared infrastructure and professional capacity.
Equipment hire, sound facilities, post-production services, technical training and competent production management can improve the economics of many films.
That is the kind of investment whose usefulness survives the closing credits of one producer’s project.
So, yes, bring the $5 million. But let us interrogate what it is intended to build.
How much will strengthen distribution? How much will develop paying audiences? How much will improve revenue collection, rights sales and investor confidence?
Or is the entire strategy simply to finance another batch of films and hope commercial success appears somewhere between the premiere and the prayer point?
I am not questioning the importance of filmmaking. I am questioning the assumption that an industry’s problems can always be solved by producing more of its product.
Nollywood needs a system in which a successful film helps finance the next film—and investors have a reason to return with their money.
Until we give the business of movies the attention we give the making of movies, we will keep shouting “Action!” at the beginning and asking “Where is the money?” at the end.
Whether we acknowledge these truths as self evident or not, we have all been victims of shortsighted thinking in our beautiful industry.. myself included.
**Dr. Banwo is a lawyer and film industry international stakeholder
