Nollywood Scoundrels, written by Olasunkanmi Adebayo had its debut on stage recently in Lagos. A stage play on the many funny ways filmmakers audition and select their actors and actresses and produce their local films, it was staged to bring out those elements that define the characters and what they stand for. Very funny and innocuous indeed, the two filmmakers proved how scandalous they can be when it comes to how they select the artistes they later turn into stars and known actors and actresses for the Nollywood industry.
The play opened with the producers and the secretary waiting in the office to welcome the potential artistes. Then all kinds of characters began to stream into the room to be auditioned. Some were frenzy, hippie and snobbish, while others just appeared to show-off, thinking it was just fun to be made into stars overnight. The approach was indeed bizarre, as all the characters with the exception of one or two who did not know exactly what it was like to be on stage to act and demonstrate.
But a star must be discovered in this instance, the producer insisted. He therefore charged both his secretary and his other allies to be more strict. “This is not funny at all. We need to look for the best in order to make big stars out of some of you”, he insisted. To some who were not sure of what they wanted, he would shout; “you are here to prove yourself. Stop being stupid! Act, show yourself that you can act”. To another, he would scream: “is that the way to act? Didn’t you read the advertisement well before coming here? If you go on like this, then how do we make a star out of you?”
It was the way to make a big break. That is usually the routine, the practice in the sector. Whether it was up to the normal standard or not, that did not worry the two filmmakers. Their concern, primarily, was to keep themselves in business, after all as business men they have the money to throw around. And so they were wont to produce the blockbuster film. But first, they must arrange a special audition to find the star, thereby using him or her to get the desired funds.
Instead of meeting serious minded artistes, they came across all sorts of characters – drunken people, mental people, and half-baked individuals from all sorts of quarters who paraded themselves as actors. One who called himself a professor of philosophy who claimed he taught in the UK used all kinds of confusing words to compound the situation the more. It was all the more disturbing because at a certain stage in the process, the producers got made. They could not find what they wanted. All they got were people of questionable mien and undesirable disposition. “You guys look ridiculous”, one of the producers shouted, when he could no longer stand the mess.
However, in the end, they were able to discover one, a subtle, effeminate and reliable actress who showed deep and concerted concern for the job. This was the moment the filmmakers were waiting for. There was suddenly a big roar of exclamation: “Oh, this is another Rita in the making. Oh, this is Onyeka, the big star. We will pick you, we will package you to go places”, they both screamed as soothing music played in the background. The music was part of the razzmatazz.
It all showed how unserious the process of film production in Nigeria can be. It also showed how people who do not understand what the business should be like just gatecrash into it, in order to make money. It is not a regulated process, strictly followed and supervised by those in charge to ensure the necessary standard as required elsewhere in the world. Here everyone who has the money can produce a film. People who can say or pronounce one or two clear English words are thus made into stars. But how good or sound are they on the job? So what they really do to enhance the standard of acting in the society? What of the quality of delivery; of all the issues involved?
Even the contents of the stories somewhat taunt the production of these films. Story lines do not project their subject matters prudently. Scriptwriters sit down somewhere and conjure stories. No one goes out to conduct any research to reflect the true nature of the people in question. This attitude also shows in the whole process of filmmaking from auditioning to the characters involved and so on.
Nollywood Scoundrels throws open these salient issues. When it mounted the stage during the Lagos Theatre Festival, it was clear the play stole the show. People laughed at the follies of not just the filmmakers but the approach they use to get their results. People saw at very close range the funny issues involved. It was an apt and ample moment to see why and how the films or home videos have continued to lose flavour and taste. It was not difficult to see why stories and ideas are recycled while the same characters continue to predominate in the industry. Other plays equally showed at different venues at Freedom Park, Lagos, but the amphitheatre where the Nollywood Scoundrels took place was packed to the full.
Adebayo, the scriptwriter, took his time to script a true life story, detailing salient points that helped to define the Nollywood industry. The play seems to be a modifier, a big mirror through which this sector can be viewed and corrected. Indeed the Nollywood Scoundrels was not only hilarious, full of comic moments, but fully indicative of a people who need to rethink on how to refocus their trade.