I have no idea if Nigerian musicians ever protested to disc jockeys and radio stations in the days when foreign music was the in-thing here. However, some Nigerian filmmakers whose films supposedly do not make box office hit have had reasons to believe something is wrong with the distribution system which seems to be more in favour of foreign movies.
I am of the opinion that no matter how derogatory we term the shrewdness of some entrepreneurs, we must understand they in business for one basic reason; profit. Therefore, to allege favoritism is to undermine the power of demand and supply as determinants of how the pendulum swings in the market space. Like someone opined, “In business, you have to earn your staying power as a product in the market.”
We have heard stories of how some Nigerian films are taken off the cinemas after a week of showcase. Emotions have led to arguments in this regard, with many calling for the heads of the cinema owners. But conspiracy against the exhibitors has not been successful because some Nigerian filmmakers have enjoyed robust exposure, to the extent of rivalling some foreign films in sales volume. Some have even blamed the seeming monopoly in the business as reason, but with the entrant of new cinemas in Nigeria, the situation still remains, therefore giving credence to the fact that the basic principles that governs business is universal.
Recently, former president of Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN), Femi Odugbemi, called for change in the current distribution system for Nigerian films in Nigeria, describing what obtains now as elitist.
Odugbemi who was speaking with TNS about how his new film, Gidi Blues performed in the cinemas decried what he called the absence of a level playing field between Nigerian and foreign films. He said the fact that there are very few cinemas in existence in Nigeria makes the distribution chain somewhat elitist. He therefore advocated for collaboration between filmmakers and distributors to bring about progress while also harping on the need for a conscious development agenda for our cinema.
While I agree with the need for a conscious development agenda for our cinema, I am of the view that this should be directed to our policy makers whose directives on local content consumption are the rule to be obeyed by the distributors.
I agree: “If you put a Nigerian film at 10am, in the morning on a weekday, how much publicity can you do to get people to leave their offices to go there? If you put only American films at prime time slots, of course, you cheat both your audience and the filmmaker.” Thus, we should take a cue from South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) which recently announced a 90% local content quota for TV. The management of the Corporation first announced a new language policy across the stations and then called a meeting with local film producers to find out how they can make the process of producing more local content a lot easier.
Credit must be given to the erstwhile DG of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Emeka Mba, who heeded the protest by independent producers over the then airing of Mexican soaps and other foreign contents during the family belt (peak) hours. The producers confessed that that reversal helped to boost their production of local series and soaps on terrestrial television.
Beyond this policy window which to me is in order, considering also that we need to encourage the banks doling out loans to filmmakers to recover their investment, it is important for commercial filmmakers to conduct market surveys at all times, and know what the audience wants in addition to upping the ante. They cannot continue to blame the distributors or exhibitors for the reason their films didn’t do well in the cinemas, as this case cannot be across board. Like a filmmaker, Chris Ekejimbe said, “Let’s stop reading conspiracy theories in failures, but analyze circumstances with a view to conquering.”
Usually, the cinema houses schedule movies for prime time in the first week. Depending on the returns or prospects of the movie that week, the next week may see the movie retaining prime slots or going to morning or early afternoon slots.
For Nollywood cinema movies which had great production values, good marketing and a good story and still didn’t do well at the cinemas, Moses Babatope of Filmhouse believes that wrong dating could be responsible. “Some filmmakers also undermine the importance of a well thought out ‘Dating Strategy’ when it comes to releases. You can have a well-made film, with good marketing and a popular story line but releasing it on a wrong date can hamper the film’s commercial chances.”
According to Babatope, “The cinema audience is still quite narrow especially because we are not able to open cinema locations fast enough. This means that most films are catering for/to essentially the same audience. When you then release your film on the same date or very close to a blockbuster, you take a huge risk of severely diluting your audience and compromising your film’s box office chances. There are of course exceptions to this theory but you will notice that those exceptions are the films that rank the highest on the box office charts.”