Nollywood till November

‘You are directing? He asked in a subdued surprised tone. I nodded in the affirmative. ‘Then you will pay me double because I am going to do most of the work interpreting the shots!’ he said in a matter-of-fact voice. I was incensed. Coming straight from over four years of working and learning the ropes at the nation’s national network station, the Nigerian Television Authority and having over eighteen years experience on stage and acting on television including a revered Bachelors degree in Dramatic Arts from the University of Nigeria Nsukka where I graduated from in 1993, made no impression on Mr Nwoko. He just had a mindset and it was left for me to either do away with his services or prove him wrong. I chose the latter. And so, that sunny day in April 2000, on the busy Adeniran Ogunsanya street in Surulere, I called my first Nollywood shot after giving the blockings to the actors. The script was originally titled ‘One cut too deep’, a family thriller I had first written in 1996. I guess the script waited for the right time to be produced. It was a story I loved. I daresay the script was intellectually different, compared to what obtained largely at that time. I wanted my very first movie to make a statement in three areas; scripting, acting and directing and I spared no pains within my limited resources in ensuring that I achieved my vision.