Introduction
My name is Okechukwu Ogunjiofor. I am from Amaebo Ebenato, Osu local government area of Imo state. I am married with four children. I am a film maker, the pioneer producer of Nigerian Nollywood. I schooled in Jos, Plateau state.
The making of Living in Bondage
Before the making of the Living in Bondage, I had left Jos in 1987. I worked with Power Mike Promotions as a general manager in Mike Independent Television. But when Power Mike retired and relocated to Neni, Anambra state, where he comes from, his outfit closed down.
So, I was thrown out of job. It became difficult to find work and I desired to work on films. So, for almost four years, I was on the streets looking for how to actualize my dream.
At that time, if you go to the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, there were so many theatre artists, who also were graduates but nobody could practice what we learnt in school. There was no avenue to make films. The only thing our colleagues could do then at the theatre was to go on stage production.
So, I said to myself there must be a way out of this. One day, I remembered that one of the courses we read was News Gathering. And if you want to gather news with an electronic news gathering camera (ENG), then one can actually use that to tell a story.
I then decided to turn that around and use it to tell a story. So, I began to look for sponsors to do that. As it wasn't coming, I began to lose faith in my ability to do what I wanted to do. Then I decided to do any menial job that I can do to raise money, if I can't get a sponsor. So, from 1989 to 1992, I was on the streets of Lagos, hawking.
Then, I was going to the National Theatre to keep myself abreast with what was happening in the industry. One day, I saw Ruth Osu, I made some corrections on their scripts and she discovered that I was good.
After listening to my story, she decided to assist me. I believed I could take the film to the people, instead of taking the people to the theatre since an average Igbo man then didn't have a cinema culture. And since an average Igbo man had a VCR, these were theatres waiting to be explored. If I could just take these movies to these home theatres, then as many people as can buy my film, I would be making money.
How did the idea of film making come to you?I can't say this is what I was thinking. Film making then was like an elitist cult, where you have big budget, and technical know-how. There were so many laws guiding film making that if I had to wait for when I could make a film on the big page that we were trained for, it would be so impossible.
So, I started thinking "how can we evolve a new form of film-making that can still tell the story, even if the quality is not the same thing as what is accepted globally. Then I remembered that ENG cameras are used to gather stories. VHS cameras can also be used to record weddings and document stories.
If the same camera can capture images and sound, then we can apply the rules of cinema into it and turn out a near perfect picture, which may not be hip, according to the rule of thumb in film making. I was determined. I was desperate. It was actually survival that triggered the idea of trying to make a film with an ordinary VHS camera. And that's what we did in Living in Bondage.
How did you come about the story line?
When I was with Power Mike Promotions, the first external job I did was to record a cultural group. Their PRO, one Emeka, told me that the group was to perform at the National Stadium. When we got to that place on the appointed date, we saw who-is-who in this country - every car that you could imagine, men and women, both old and young arrayed in black, white, yellow and red colours from their torso down.
Then dance started. It wasn't a dance per se but one of those nuances that you find in esoteric gatherings. From their discussions, I gathered that they were about to honour a young lady, who was so powerful that she brought down a reverend gentleman and initiated him.
As the lady emerged from one end of the stadium striding towards the gathering, all her arms and ankles were adorned with elephant tusks, big and heavy. She was in white. As she was coming, they were hailing her. After the event, Emeka came to me and said "Have you seen where I belong?
He said in their group, they love each other and help each other; that if I belong there with him, it was a matter of time; I would become rich and influential. And moreover, I would become untouchable by law enforcement agencies.
Here was a young man (referring to himself), who just came out of school and wanted to be successful. So, I was so fascinated. Then I asked him the name of the cultural group. He said "Reformed Ogboni Fraternity, I was shocked. He said there was nothing wrong with it. Just the same way I was talking to Andy (in the film) because that was the same picture that he presented to me.
So, you could understand it wasn't a coincidence that the story came up. So, when I met Kenneth Nnebue, he said I should develop the story, that is, in line with how young boys then crave for quick money while he traveled to Japan to buy a JVC camera.
He gave me N150, 000 to produce the film with an agreement to share the profit 50-50. With a target of only hundred thousand homes and at N300 per copy of the film, I was sure we won't lose money.
After about three weeks of release, we sold N20 million worth of goods. But Kenneth reneged on our agreement because at the time I didn't have courage to ask him to put everything in writing.
By then, it was impossible for me to go anywhere because the fans were becoming too many. They didn't understand it was just an act. People thought it was actually that somebody took a camera to where we were holding meeting and exposed us.
So, anywhere I went, I found people wanting to stone me. And here I was living in a high density area of Ajegunle, where these people saw me last three or four months as a hawker on the street of Lagos and this week, my name was every where across the nation.
After sometime, I took ill. But for a N1, 500 I.O.U.and another N1, 500 he gave while I was working on the project that was all I got from that film till today as a producer, a director and an actor.
He published the story of Living in Bondage in a book and avoided even putting my own picture and my own story as a key member of that film. Every other person who played on that film had a chapter, had a story to tell on that book.
What happened in Part 2 of Living in Bondage? Did you still play any key role?
When I finished writing Part 2 and I saw that he wasn't ready to pay me anything, I went to the locker he gave me in his office, locked my file and left for home. I told him that if he didn't pay me, I would not come back to produce Part 2, not thinking that he would have spare key to the safe. He just simply went to that locker, took all the files, called all the artists and told them I was blackmailing him. You know, it was a new thing and the euphoria was so much that nobody bothered to cross check. All of them did the job. It was only Kanayo O. Kanayo and Ngozi Nwosu that left with me in anger.
They turned around; in order to make sure that Paulo was still part of it, kept a pillow somewhere and said Andy went to squeeze it to kill Paulo. They enlarged one of the pictures I snapped on set with them and put in my room on the film and said Paulo was that pillow. That was what happened. I didn't do the Part 2.
How did you assemble the cast?
These were the same people I used to watch each time I went to the theatre. That was where I saw Frank Vaughan, Wale Macauley, Bob Manuel Udokwu, Nnenna Nwabueze and a host of others like Ruth Osu on set.
The moment Kenneth told me that we could work together, I went back to the National Theatre and assembled them. Then Andy (Kenneth Okonkwo) was working with Osiquip at Apapa. By recommendation, they all came. Most of them couldn't even speak Igbo very well. I was the only person who could build everybody's dialogue. We needed to get their idioms, vocabularies and mannerisms right. And we rehearsed it for so many months and we blended well.
When you started, did you expect the industry (Nollywood) would be this huge?
No, I wasn't doing it for the industry because there was no industry then. All, I wanted was to survive, to do something with what I learnt in school that was new. I knew that people would copy but I didn't know it was going to be this globally visible.
I didn't also know that it was going to become a voice that would speak for Africa and place Nigeria as a third film making nations of the world. I didn't even know it was going to be so big in terms of creating an alternative format for film making that will soon take over celluloid.
I didn't also know it was going to be so interesting that the whole world will be interested in Africa and that it would throw up this vista of employment for so many millions of unemployed graduates in Africa. I didn't also know that it was going to be a very vibrant avenue to counter cultural imperialism.
Then foreign films like Chinese and India were every where and they have alien culture and our people were enjoying them. So, I didn't know that they would enjoy our own to the extent of pushing away all these foreign films. To be candid with you, I didn't know it was going to be this big.
But I guess God, who in His infinite mercy, chose us to begin the industry, knew where we were going, because it took over four years of my doing that film before others started coming into movies.
Now that the industry is so big and so vibrant, do you feel fairly and adequately rewarded?
I would say yes and no. Reward in terms of physical cash, no. But when you look at the number of people who are playing in the industry, who are feeding from Nollywood, then you will know that I am fulfilled.
If Nollywood has become the third film making nation of the world and God used one person to start it, the whole reference comes back to me, it means that you have built a global brand that is bigger than you, that will outlive you.
It means that you have a legacy that thousands of generations unborn will practice and the reference will still be there. So, that is a very strong argument and I will say I am adequately rewarded by God for doing so. But, when you look at my bank account, you will know that I have not made it but I am not grumbling. It is because of what God has done for me or what He is doing that you are interviewing me today.
But God knew and God saved me from all these hardships and problems and brought me to a place where whenever my name is mentioned, somebody will say 'I know him! But, look at it this way, if I didn't do that, maybe God would have used another person to do it.
So, why should I be talking about whether I am adequately rewarded or not when God has given me such a very big name? Another thing I want to say is that the industry is not big yet. You won't imagine what the industry will be when other ways of film making collapses and the only format of making film will be Nollywood style, the home video style.
Very soon it is going to happen. And when it happens, there won't be any other story anywhere but Nollywood. And when that happens, it will still be traced back to that same place. So whether I make money or not, it is immaterial. What matters is that the father of Nollywood is what God has bestowed on me.
After Living in Bondage, you disappeared. What happened after and what you have been doing?
Now, when I finished Living in Bondage Part 1, when Kenneth Nnebue did not give me what we agreed and he had gone ahead to produce the Part 2, I was pained but it wasn't for long.
Then, a friend of his who was selling the film for us in Onitsha, who had paid for supplies but couldn't receive, heard that I had problem with Kenneth. He persuaded to sponsor a film for me. When the man came to Lagos, I went to him with Kanayo O. Kanayo. He gave me N100, 000, rented a house for me. And then, we signed an agreement to do Circle of Doom.
Let me tell you, the man cheated me after a very long time but the first batch of 50,000 films we did, he gave me N800, 000. That was a lot of money. Instead of me to use that same money to sponsor films, I bought a brand new Mercedes Benz and a Toyota Corolla. Before long, I was broke again. God brought Gabosky Ventures to sponsor Nneka, The Pretty Serpent. Again Gabosky seized my money. But in all these films, I played roles though it may not be as prominent as in Living in Bondage.
After that, I did Brotherhood of Darkness. Another big film that ignited trouble across the nation but I didn't get my money. In 1997, we did When flowers Turn Black. Kenneth Okonkwo was to market it but upon release, the sponsor ordered the film recalled from marketers, because the moment the film came into the market, the sponsor claimed somebody saw the film in the East and so we had made money but didn't want to pay him.
So, with all these troubles, I went into television production.
What programmes do you have on TV?
I have shot a programme called Rough Ages. I have another one called Winnis Hotel, a story about where Nigeria artistes gather in Surulere. I want to tell the story about how and what happens behind the scene. I have other productions, some of them looking for sponsorship now, and another which focuses on Nigerian health care.
What is your comment on professionalism in Nollywood, compared to what obtains in developed countries?
Africa is a nation of great endowment, especially natural endowment. Our stories are great stories. Nollywood has great stories and talents. We also have great professionals, who have artistry in what they do.
What we do not have is the ability to bring our technical quality at par with what obtains abroad like Bollywood and Hollywood. In Bollywood and Hollywood, before you make a film, you would have sponsorship. Government support plus private sponsorship produce films in these countries. What we have here is personal initiative and drive to survive.
So, when you have a film to make in Hollywood or Bollywood, you are given gestation period of years to make the film and recoup the money for the movie. Two, there is institutionalized channels of distribution that everybody knows so that you are sure your money is coming back.
But here, there are no set down distribution channel that you can use to make the movies and get your money. Then the little fund you are going to get from the bank, they give you 30 days, at most 90 days to return it. So, what time do you have to incubate that story, edit it properly, shoot it properly, and do your lighting properly, development and all that?
Now, when you have such big problem in your hand, there is no way you can tell a story, no matter how good it is and maintain a high standard that is obtainable in other countries.
So, there is no basis for comparison between Nollywood and Hollywood or Bollywood because the operational ethics in these two places are different. They are telling stories on computers, CGI (computer generated images). And they have huge budget and huge market to do it. We have huge market but not a structured market.
What should the industry expect from you now?
We are instituting African Audio Visual Award to take place in July, this year. The process will encourage practitioners through reward to make conscious efforts through training and retraining in the area of perfect pictures and perfect sound.
If we can get our pictures and sound very well, Nollywood would have come to a place where the world will stand up for it. All my life is now being given to the new cause for our people. We inaugurated recently at Sheraton Hotel advisory board members towards the award. And I believe that it is a matter of time the industry will not be the same again.
Major challenge and the way forward
Our major problem is distribution channel that would guarantee grassroot distribution of every producer's product, which my friend and director general of Film and Video Sponsorship Board, Mr. Emeka Mba, is already trying to put in place. Because it will take a lot of money to build a distribution framework across Nigeria, let alone other nations because we have a population that can patronize us.
But when they cannot find our products very close to their domain, that's when they copy films, borrow and do a lot of things. If distribution is taken care of, we can then focus on piracy. If we can stem piracy, at least by 60 per cent, then we can begin to talk about funding. Then, if someone brings his money, you can be sure to get it back and the producer and the crew can also be sure to smile to the bank.
What is the contribution of video clubs to the growth of Nollywood?
Video clubs are springing up because we don't have a cinema culture. But they are vital aspect of distribution for our industry and government should register them.
Assuming that there are a million registered video clubs and I release a film and give each club seven copies at N7,000, I would be making N7,000,000,000 (seven billion Naira).
So, they are doing legitimate business the wrong way. It is a new channel of distribution that we can harness if the government is aware of the type of money that would have been made for the producers, government, regulatory agencies and media houses.
But if you don't legitimize them and compel them to buy legitimately from the producers, then the producers will lose money. They will smile to the bank, individually but they won't have control of the market by themselves.
Can you comment on the allegation that marketers have taken over Nollywood?
It is the truth. Nigeria Nollywood has gone to three stages now. We are going to the fourth. The first stage was producers market when we produced everything and the viewer bought it without caring what was inside. And when the marketers discovered that producers don't have the money, they took over the market and turned it to the marketers market, where the marketer tells the producer what to do - right or wrong, so long as it will make him satisfied and his money will come out.
The market has crashed now into the viewers market. The viewers will be the king because they will now tell us what they want to see. The charlatans will now drop because they don't know how to make films. It is then the producers, and big time money bags will come in with their resources, corporate sponsorship will come in. Because, now it is no longer who is making the films but who has the content to give to the viewers.
Now, what you find out is that beyond that frontier, you now have the investors market. That is the final frontier. When we get to that point, you will earn your fee, he will earn his fee, and the film will be a success.
How soon can that be?
We are seeing that in 2013. The banks have all collapsed. Industry will go with it because oil will no longer be in existence. And when that happens, the only vibrant industry across the nations of the earth will be entertainment. And everybody in the world will be pursuing entertainment.
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