40-year-old Clarence Abiodun Peters is a man, who was born into the world of entertainment with his parents being music and film stars. He struck gold working as a Nigerian music video director, filmmaker, and cinematographer. He is the Founder and CEO of Capital Dream Pictures, a production company that specializes in performing arts, film, and video. After many years, he has released his first full feature film and he opened up on his life, career, and working with his parents, Sir Shina Peters and Clarion Chukwurah in this interview with The Nation’s ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, GBENGA BADA.
Clarence studied film production at the City of Bristol School of Media and Creative Arts in Cape Town and before now he has done three short movies…
I did Hex in 2014 which came out in 2015. Before that, I’d done a bunch of short films but they never really came out because I did some of them while I was in school and I did some before school. But mostly it would be Hex and then after that a bunch of short films that were really for artistes. So from Soldier, Falz’s Soldier to Falz’s Kneel Down, even some I can’t remember. So those have been the ones before Inside Life now.
How do you feel knowing fully that quite several people will see for instance Falz’s Soldier as musical videos and not short stories?
Yeah, I get that. I mean that was the platform that it was mostly aimed for and so any people who watch it as short films is just a perk at the top of it. I added it to my discography because it was a collaboration between the label and my production house. So specifically saying I wanted it to have narrative content and you can watch them in isolation of the videos is one of the reasons why I added them. But whatever people, whichever way you decide to consume it is really up to them.
Now let’s come to Inside Life. First I’d like to say congratulations, beautiful work.
Thank you very much.
What brought about Inside Life? Was it a personal experience? Was it an experience of someone close to you or is it just a work of art?
It’s a collage of different personal experiences, some mine, some from the writers, some from just things that we’ve observed over a period of time, things that we’ve experienced from other people. But our process was very specific. We started off by creating characters and then when we created characters, we created the world. And then once we’re done with the world-building, we started arcing out plots from then on and so the plots are usually inspired by things that we know of. We try not to write what we don’t know.
I know that one of the problems that a lot of you have with the police is the way police profile people. You are spotting dreadlocks. Have you ever been profiled, have you been stopped and harassed because of your dreads?
It’s very weird. I haven’t been harassed because of my dreads. I was harassed a lot when I didn’t have dreads. A lot of the harassment that I experienced from profiling, I have been harassed since I’ve had my hair and all of that, but it wasn’t because of profiling. It’s production. You go and shoot in an area and normal things happen, but it hasn’t been because of profiling.
The way Inside Life finished, are we expecting a follow-up?
By the special grace of God.
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Is it done yet?
No, no, no. It’s not done. The chances of being able to have a season two would largely depend, at least 50% on Netflix themselves and on what the reception of this one is like because they have rights to it for the next five years, which means I can’t do spinoffs or anything without being on board with them. So it has to be a collaboration. Unlike the first one that was completely yours and then it’s licensed to them. With the next ones, they have to be in the picture one way or another, right? So it depends on that.
Okay. I’m curious. I mean, you have a potpourri of stories, and life experiences, including yours, to get into a series now. You need individuals, you know, to actually get you, give you that character, to bring that character to life. What was the casting process like? And when you cast it, did you have people in mind like, “Oh, I’ve seen this person do a couple of things. I feel this person should do this.” And were you directly involved?
First off, the casting was done by God because I don’t think I’m that smart. I keep saying that. I don’t think I’m that smart. I don’t think I’m that observant in being able to pick the people who finally meet the project. But I had worked with some of the actors before, especially the newer ones, I’ve worked with them before. And I had seen with music videos and I’d seen the fact that they have the ability of being able to pull the character off. Apart from them, the only person I had worked with before was Scarlett Gomez, who we had also worked together on Hex, which was my previous show, and a lot of music videos. So, that had mostly been how the casting went. One of the writers was also very active in the casting process. She was an asset in that area.
Now, in seeing the series, I saw some very unusual casting. I’m still curious, did you use a casting director or do you watch a lot of Nigerian movies?
I think if I watched a lot of Nigerian movies, it would have affected how I cast. I don’t watch as much as enough to be able to pick actors. So mostly, the casting seemed to be as transparent as possible, based on who can perform, who can give, and interpret the character. An interpretation of the character also comes from who’s ready to put in the work. So we will have the ability to do it, but on the day, they’re just not ready to put in the work. So the first thing I always look for with actors, even if you don’t seem like you’re perfect for the role, I know that you are committed enough and you believe in the project and me enough to be able to give me 150%. And then we would build up from there.
The world knows that your parents are entertainment inclined and it’s a fusion of music and film. And now you’ve done exceedingly well with music, without necessarily singing. I mean, you co-own a record label; you do music videos, several music videos, such that you’ve been able to stamp your name on the industry. And I keep wondering, would it have been right if you did any other thing outside entertainment?
I don’t know how to answer that question. I don’t know how to do anything else. So maybe that’s where the problem is. I wish I knew how to do other things. Maybe in the oil industry so I can be rich. I’m not being this atoro bara (beggar). I literally was born into it. I don’t know. I always say that if they ban it today, it’s cleaned up with that. I don’t know how to do anything else. But as I get older, I find that the beautiful thing about filmmaking is the only art form that combines every other art form. So I have picked up a lot of knowledge about other things, especially now that I’m starting to have conversations about how to pull other things and make them serve as what it is that I do. People think about entertainment as the music that you hear or radio and all of that. The business of film, let me be more specific, is an ecosystem that inculcates everything else. So there’s fashion in film, there is woodwork in film, there is hospitality in film, there is financing in film, there’s all of these. There is no business that you can think about that doesn’t exist in film. If the film doesn’t lend itself directly to it, it lends itself in PR, in marketing of those things. So if you’re a filmmaker, then you essentially can do every single kind of business that there is because of that.
There’s a question I’m curious to ask you. You have such a big series with a lot of cast and you have a very talented mom. Why didn’t we see her in that movie? Apart from that, have you ever directed her in anything you’ve done?
Once. I ran away from it for a very long time so that we wouldn’t fight. I shot something that was also narrative work for Yemi Alade. That’s the only time I’ve worked with her. It was a good experience. Normally, artistically, it seems to remind me what it means to be a professional. Because when they come on set, I am the director and they deal with me as the director. The way they lend themselves to the job really makes me understand that they are really pros at what it is that they do. There’s no ego there. This is for the sake of the characters, for the sake of the stories, for the sake of the set. My mom not being in Inside Life is… You need two hours for us to have that conversation. I don’t think we can have… Because it’s complicated. That’s all I can say. She was. She actually cast Zack Orji for the role. She specifically said she had someone else in mind and she was like, “No. Zack Orji is probably the person.” That would be able to play the role based on what she knows that I was trying to achieve, that Uncle Zack would be the best person.
You’ve never directed a musical video by your dad.
This one is easy to answer. Maybe we should write a petition to him. It’s not me.
So it means he hasn’t approached you yet to create a music video for him.
We’ve spoken about it but it’s one of those things that we talk about and it just won’t happen because I also think that working with my dad isn’t going to be like working with every other artist.
My father has very talented kids who you guys don’t even know are in the arts and just don’t make a lot of noise about it. My father’s work ethic is a lot higher than what most people are used to because remember he plays almost every instrument. And so his ears vary. And so things need to be properly aligned for him to actually be himself 100%. And I don’t want to work with him if it’s not 100%. So, it hasn’t balanced or aligned out yet. So, it, probably, would happen one of these days. By the special grace of God. God should give him a long life. And we are doing it very soon.
I knew that about 3-4 years ago, you had an issue with the police. Did that inspire this work? I’m sure you sat down. Said “I’ve had a problem with the police before and I sat down in the police station. And during that period of time, seeing people come in and say a lot of things inspired a lot of things.” Was that part of the inspiration?
Yes it is. I can’t explain. I can’t talk about why or how. But it definitely is.
It seems one of your biggest rivals, when you were making musical videos, was Kemi Adetiba.
Rival?
When you mention musical directors, and you are busy, one of the few people that would come to my head at that period is Kemi Adetiba.
I didn’t know that. I’m telling you now. Because most people usually say Sesan, Aje etc. Sesan was before Kemi or around the same time. Kemi’s clientele and my clientele never really fused because of Kemi’s style especially when it comes to music videos. It was very poignant. But it had its unique style. Back in the day when you had a particular type of sound, there were people that you would call. That you know specifically because this is what they did. Like the Geckos with VFX and all of that. Now it’s all intertwined. So every director is seen as being able to do everything. Even though I don’t agree with that. So maybe that’s why I didn’t think about Kemi. I guess this is the place you’re going with the question.
You know, after a while she went into movie production. And she’s been quite successful there with King of Boys. Was that part of an inspiration to try to also go into the movies? After you’ve seen and broken all that is supposed to be seen in music video production.
Yes but. Here’s the thing. You need to take into consideration the fact that I started working around narrative work way before 93. So that’s what I started doing. I’d worked on series like Everyday People, and worked on Family Circle as a child actor. Before that if you guys would remember Dudu. Not Dudu Heritage. There’s a Dudu before Dudu Heritage. Dudu Productions who used to also shoot music videos. He started making films too. His first film, I was a child actor on that. Then Shola Shobowale’s first film as a producer. The first one she produced. I think that was in 96, 97. I was a child actor in that too. But apart from that, I was always working on sets. So that’s where I came from. The whole idea of doing music videos, I was supposed to do music videos for 2-3 years. And build some sort of momentum. That would make me go into films. And it just didn’t make sense. It just kept on being pushed. Because I didn’t think that the space was ready.
Did you in any way have a conversation about this movie or Kemi’s movie with her? When you saw the King of Boys? Did you ever talk about it with her? Because for someone like me, if I want to do something, I try to talk to people who have done similar things. Coming from where you’re coming from, making musical videos is different from making movies especially in Nigeria. Did you?
Two-prong. That’s a two-pronged question. First off, I think the first time I heard of Kemi wanting to do anything. I even think it was King of Boys in 2013 at The Hennessy. I can’t remember which one it was but it was that and we had met at the party that they’d held for it. And we’re having the conversation about making the transition into films. So we had that conversation. With me it’s different. I’m around film people 24/7. So, all of the guys that are around me are not music video guys. I have some music videos guys. But the guys that are my guys are working in African Magic. Working in Showmax Productions. Working in cinema films. So, they were always the guys that were around me. I was always very abreast of what was going on in the film industry. And I’ve been aware of that for about twenty years. I have consulted for a lot of films but I won’t mention them because of NDA and stuff. But I’ve consulted for a lot of films without my name being there, So, I actually even created a lot of systems In terms of how people should go about it. I know the numbers. So I’ve always known all of these things. So, the people I spoke to about going into this shooting for Inside Life. Where people are, you probably wouldn’t even know. So I had that support already.
Why should people watch Inside Life? And what should we expect next from you?
You should watch Inside Life because Inside Life is essentially a story about everybody, about you. If it’s not about you, it’s going to be about your friend. Or your sister, or about someone that you know. The show was designed to be very relatable. However, if you watch it the first time and you don’t seem to understand, it’s confusing. Watch it again. A lot of the answers to the questions that people are asking are actually inside the show. You just have to sit down and watch it properly. And what’s next? What’s next is working on season 2. But as of now in June I shot another show that is a very urban version of Inside Life. It’s called Scratch. It’s already shot. We’re in post. And hopefully, we should find a home for it soon.
