Nadia Denton has been working in the UK film industry in exhibition, marketing and distribution for over 10 years. She curated bfm (Black Filmmaker) Film Club, a monthly platform for Black World Cinema at the Institute of Contemporary Arts between 2003 – 2010. She later went on to direct two editions of the bfm International Film Festival at the British Film Institute. She has worked on the release of multi-award winning films such as Otelo Burning and Viva Riva! She has also acted as a consultant for London Film School, Film London, iFeatures, The London Brazilian Film Festival, The Royal African Society’s Film Africa and Islington Black History Month.
Nadia Denton
She wrote and self-published her first book The Black British Filmmaker’s Guide to Success: Finance Market and Distribute Your Film in 2011.
She has presented at events which include Cannes International Film Festival, Sheffield Documentary Film Festival, Cambridge Watersprite Student Festival, the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival; as well as appearing on CNN inside Africa, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio London.
She has partnered with other film festivals which include the UK Jewish Film Festival, Birds Eye View Film Festival, East End Film Festival, Portobello Film Festival and Images of Black Women Film Festival.
She has completed extensive film related training which includes Social Media Masterclass, Creative Digital Marketing, Think Outside the Box Office-A Distribution Masterclass with Jon Reiss, Creating Your Own Web Series, The Producer’s Masterclass, Selling, Marketing and Distributing Film, Seize the Future: Funding, Marketing and Distributing Independent Films and Festival PR and Develop Your Festival.
Nadia grew up in a Jamaican household in the UK. She studied Modern History at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford graduating in 2000. She also holds qualifications in Black and White Photography and Life Coaching. She is a member of BAFTA.
The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success: Beyond Nollywood is her second book.
The Nigerian film industry is on the verge of a renaissance. A new class of content creator has emerged, challenging previously established preconceptions about the industry popularly known as Nollywood. The creative content beyond Nollywood – documentary, indie films, animation, experimental, music videos and Nigerian diaspora films – is fast becoming the most dynamic element of the Nigerian Film Industry and is poised to supersede Nollywood. The time has come for a new conversation about Nigerian popular culture.
The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success reads as an A-Z of the key business elements of the film industry from a Nigerian cultural perspective. It is the first book to take an overview of the Nigerian film industry looking beyond Nollywood. It reflects what is happening in the Nigerian cultural space presently pulling together industry guidance and best practice for independent filmmakers. At its heart, the guide is formed of narratives from filmmakers and professionals known and unknown in the industry. These contributors lay out the framework for the future of the Nigerian film industry and cultural sector as a whole. The guide acts as a historical record of one of the most vibrant film cultures globally.
The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success has been principally written for a new generation of Nigerian filmmaker. This rapidly emerging new class of content creator in Nigeria and the diaspora are currently transforming the industry: making documentaries, animation, music videos, experimental and high concept Nollywood films. They are receiving unprecedented international acclaim acting as the unspoken ambassadors of Nigerian culture and in turn generating genuine, positive PR about Nigeria, its people and culture.
These progressive filmmakers want to have theatrical runs of their films, compete on an international level, tour festival circuits, secure favourable distribution deals and win academy nominations. They want the world’s imagination of Africa to be different. They are not content with mere straight to DVD releases and are largely leaving Nollywood models of filmmaking behind. The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success serves to enable this generation of filmmaker to increase their ability to compete internationally and to go beyond what currently exists. The contents have been formed to inspire visual content makers to better activate their hidden genius and create works of living art that interrogate society.
The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success will have a broad appeal to those in Nigeria and the diaspora, as well as experienced filmmakers and novices alike. It is for individuals that want to better understand what is happening in the Nigerian landscape, whether professionals working in the film industry, individuals who consume Nigerian films or those who are curious about African cinema. It will additionally appeal to Nigerians who want to revel in cultural pride and better understand developments in the creative sector. Though The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success has been rooted in the Nigerian cultural space, its contents are relevant to the international film marketplace. It will be enjoyed by anyone who is excited by developments in world cinema.
The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success is intended to act as a bridge between filmmakers and the public, enabling content creators to bring additional value to society as a whole. Audiences ‘want in’ on what happens behind the scenes of the film industry and as such this guide has been written with them in mind as much as filmmakers. Running parallel to the rapid pace of filmmaker development is the desire amongst African audiences both at home and in the diaspora to have more immersive experiences with their culture as projected on screen. These audiences – who also have the potential to be converted into collaborators and sponsors – want hook-ins such as games, graphic novels and merchandise that allow them to extend the experience of their favourite films. They desire relationships with content creators, beyond the ‘hard sell’ and want to better understand their creative practice and experience.
The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success is structured around the questions I am routinely asked by filmmakers in relation to raising film finance, marketing their films, making submissions to film festivals and securing distribution deals. The five chapters that follow include guidance on finance, development, marketing, exhibition and distribution; interspersed with interviewees as diverse as educators, marketing specialists and community activists. These interviews reflect the trans-Atlantic Nigerian experience and serve as cultural reference points. The contents are a checklist of activities and approaches that the discerning filmmaker should be considering in their overall plan. The practical tips included are intended to act as guidance and applied to varying degrees depending on the project being worked on. Whilst it is ideal that the guide’s contents be read cover-to-cover, it has been written in such a way as to allow skim reading for the more casual reader.
In the Finance Chapter advice on securing finance is offered, including the best ways to engage with investors; raising money through fundraising events and direct marketing. The Training Chapter offers suggestions about career planning, working in partnership with collaborators and networking. The Marketing Chapter provides extensive guidance about identifying audiences and successfully engaging them using social media, e-mail campaigns, word-of-mouth, trans-media and the traditional media. In the Exhibition Chapter, advice on working with film festivals, creating a festival strategy and organising one-off screenings as part of a wider distribution campaign. Some important considerations are highlighted for self-distributing and working with a distributor and sales agent in the Distribution Chapter. The Listings section includes comprehensive details of international funding bodies, international film festivals that accept African content work, Nigerian cultural websites and blogs listings and a suggested reading list.
The 78 contributors featured include: ‘father’ of Nollywood and Director of Living in Bondage Chris Obi-Rapu; industry favourite Kunle Afolayan; the Director of Nigeria’s most expensive film to date – Half of a Yellow Sun – Biyi Bandele as well as the Director of the largest grossing Nigerian film to date Ije, Chineze Anyaene; veteran Yoruba language filmmaker Tunde Kelani and documentarian Tam Fiofori; Popular Nollywood Directors Tchidi Chikere and Obi Emelonye; Hausa academics Prof. Dr. Abdalla Uba Adamu and Dr. Ladi Sandra Adamu; industry spokespersons Jahman Oladejo Anikulapo of iRepresent International Documentary Film Forum and Tony Abulu of the Filmmaker’s Association of Nigeria; Chioma Ude of Africa International Film Festival and Ugoma Adegoke of Lights, Camera, Africa! Michelle Bello Director of Flower Girl who won the Africa Magic Trailblazer Award; Adeyemi Micheal whose SODIQ won the Grierson prize for Best Student Film; Chika Anadu whose B For Boy won the American Film Institute Film Festival’s Breakthrough prize; Aina Abiodun disrupter in the transmedia space and dynamic video installation artist Adebukola Bodunrin; Jason Njoku of iROKO TV and Kene Mkparu of Filmhouse both of whom are taking the distribution of Nigerian films forward. They all present priceless knowledge about the complex inner workings of the film industry.
The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success is intended to build wholesale confidence in film culture and to increase interaction with the industry whether this comes from content creators, financiers, audiences or external collaborators. It aims to educate and inform, create new Ideas, stimulate debate and provoke new ways of thinking. It explores the way in which film can be increasingly used to solve some of Nigeria’s problems in ways that have not been previously considered. The substance of what has been amassed at the heart of this guide is intended to create the Nigerian film institutions of the future. A Nigerian film industry that encompasses practitioners both at home and in the diaspora, has all of the skills, resources and solutions it needs to revolutionise itself into a world class industry. Should it do so, it will become a force to be reckoned with. The chapters that follow present some of the brightest minds, many of whom are extraordinary and just happen to be Nigerian.
The film industry in Nigeria has massive potential for wholesale skills development and employment. The film sector with its modest barriers to entry compared with other professions, has the ability to address many issues of social inclusion and economic inequality that bedevil this resources rich nation. With intensive training and development programmes those who are unemployed and/or with low skills can enter and rise up the ranks. Filmmaking is the new literacy and there is an increasing need for the education system and curriculum to become more relevant to the film industry. The sector has all that is needed to support Nigeria’s rising youth population having the potential to give them skills for life. It is also gender neutral meaning more employment opportunities for women.
The Nigerian film industry is also ripe for a new type of producer who knows how to navigate the Nigerian and African market, as much as they know the international one, creating new opportunities both at home and abroad. A by-product of this book would be an increased number of young people destined for professions such as banking and the oil sector take up the mantle of the industry, filling currently under-resourced areas including entertainment law, audience development, film festival programming, exhibition and sales. The creative sector being as data poor as it is needs industry specialists who will create new methods to collate data about audiences, predict their behaviour and anticipate what their needs are. These bright individuals have the power to turn what currently exists in the Nigerian film industry on its head. The wider industry must trust in the future generation of filmmaker and enable them to be a part of the discourse now.
Beyond Nollywood, new institutional relationships need to be imagined where financial economics are better realised and more evenly distributed across a sector which at present is largely individualistic. The industry needs a fair division of labour amongst film production roles and the development of a network of skills that constitute an industry. There needs to be a realistic investment in creativity and an understanding that the creation of ideas and new concepts take time. The building of the industry will take longterm commitment. The Nigerian government will have a role to play as enablers in the development of this industry.
The Nigerian film industry needs the private sector to step into the industry space and open their eyes to its commercial potential. Nigeria has a phenomenal amount of millionaires who have made their money through businesses such as construction, manufacturing, agriculture and import/export. The film industry could be an important part of the diversification portfolios of such high net worth individuals. Nigerian big business interests have the power to be the game changers. They can invest in infrastructure and reap the benefits.
Internationally, independent film culture is facing many challenges. All over the world filmmakers are struggling to sustain themselves financially, irrespective of how good their work is. Plenty of good movies just don’t get seen. Audiences, given a choice will try to find ways to access content for free rather than paying for it. The Nigerian film industry needs to move on from merely celebrating the mere theatrical release of a film as a success, and instead become transparent with risks and failures. A filmmaker today must be aware of the financing, legal, production, marketing and distribution elements of their film projects and be able to put these to use. Those filmmakers not utilizing best practice risk obliteration. The industry must bring audiences along the journey of development, converting those who have less than savoury views about Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry into vocal advocates. The public at large are not aware of some of the more subtle changes in the industry, but they must be included so that they can be harnessed not just as fee paying fans, but also collaborators and contributors. It is in this context that Nigerian filmmakers must consider their position and find their solutions.
The Africa of tomorrow is very different to today. In tandem with industry standards breaking down in the Western film market, African content creators are bringing to life models that suit their own methods of filmmaking and distribution in an African context. Storytelling is being explored across multiple platforms. Local premiers are having a national impact and global reach simultaneously. Anticipated increases in broadband speeds will change the way Africans interact digitally with mobile phones featuring strongly in content creation. There will be increased exciting mixed media projects, where filmmakers merge archive footage, animation and music into their films like never before. In addition to the current cross engagement with music and fashion, the film industry will start to engage with other industries such as science and technology. The result of these collaborations will be audio-visual content that is so much more powerful than what we have seen so far, crossing languages, cultures and continents. Diaspora filmmakers, with increased resources have a central role to play in the emergence of a new Nigerian filmic re-visioning and this will be key to further developing a thriving film sector.
100 years on from her creation, Nigeria is rapidly on the way to establishing herself as the filmic powerhouse of Africa – with her population of 170 million as her greatest asset. Nigeria is now a global player and cannot be ignored. Nigeria’s economy has surpassed that of South Africa’s as Africa’s No. 1 economy. By 2015, Lagos – the hub of the Nigerian film industry – will be the world’s 3rd largest city in the world with 25 million inhabitants. Lagos State alone is already the 4th largest economy in Africa – greater than that of Kenya. Eko Atlantic City the ‘new gateway to Africa’ will enhance the status of the historic capital and create more boom opportunities across West Africa.
It is in this context that I predict in 10 years’ time a Nigerian film will be nominated for an academy award; a Nigerian actor is cast as a lead in a Hollywood blockbuster film; Lagos based tech hubs join forces with filmmakers to create apps and video games to complement their films; Lagos hosts the biggest film expo that the continent has ever seen; scenes from a movie franchise such as James Bond are shot in Lagos; and a Nigerian sci-fi film is made in 3D.
With ever larger parts of the world moving into the ‘knowledge’ industry, mind power and ideas will be the future resources more than the creation of physical goods. Creativity lies at the heart of Nigeria’s future and is its salvation in the post oil era. The creative and cultural industries are amongst the fastest growing sectors.
For filmmakers, the accepted social critics, political commentators and advocates of the people there could be no better time; particularly, as Nigeria now finds itself at a critical crossroad. The opportunity beckons for film, the most powerful of all art forms to be harnessed in a way that will bring about transformation and create new possibilities. Nigeria’s history and culture is its fundamental wealth. Through film, the ills of society can be addressed and healed. That which has been forgotten can be brought back to life, bringing magic to those who have lost their way.
Filmmakers, the alchemists of our age, the historians and change makers in society are encouraged to honour their creative light and go back to their cultural source with integrity, not simply to seek profit. The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success is a call for Nigerian filmmakers to challenge themselves and give audiences what they did not think was possible; to look beyond what is on the surface to find the beauty and essence of their work making that which is local, international. Bold content creators must use their abilities so that their work accurately and constructively reflects society and brings about societal change. Those that do will be richly rewarded in birthing stories of the future that inspire and unleash a new creative force, becoming the heroes of Nigerian nationhood.
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