This is the best time to be a Nollywood filmmaker - Tolu Lord Tanner
The world is coming here soon, and you might be the next best thing since Kayode Kasum.
In this exclusive interview with Tolu Awobiyi popularly known as Tolu Lord-Tanner, the writer, director and producer gets into the nitty-gritty of filmmaking, his career as a filmmaker, upcoming projects and the future of Nollywood. Enjoy.
How long have you been in this business?
I started in film in 2014 when I made my first short film - Click Now. I had spent seven years working with Standard Chartered Bank before I resigned and decided to set out to do something that felt more fulfilling. I found film, and film found me.
Describe your most challenging part of being a filmmaker in Nigeria?
My greatest challenge has been finding funding to tell the stories I want to tell. I dream of making epic stories like the just-released Amina on Netflix. Not the dream picture - yeah, but kudos to our industry boss Izu Ojukwu for attempting to tell a great story. I will find so much fulfilment if I ever get around to making stories like Oluronbi, Emotan, Jaja of Opobo, The Seven Kingdoms of Yariba. The dream is to get the chance to tell our true African folklore stories, retold for the world to appreciate our culture as we have appreciated theirs. Something tells me we are almost there.
Let us talk about your new movie, Hide’N’Seek; why was it crucial to tell that story?
Hide ‘N’ Seek was shared with me by Bode Asiyanbi, a renowned scriptwriter, playwright, novelist and writer. Bode loves whodunits the way I love epics. He wrote the story and had our EP, Yomi Bello willing to bankroll the project. It started as a political drama, but to create some appeal, we added a bit of romance, some dash of action, a lot of comedy and drama to spice it up. This story mirrors all of us and the role we play in the contraption we call Nigeria. It is a must-see, and by the time this interview is out, we will have completed our run in cinemas, but I am confident it will be a massive hit with the audiences on either Netflix or Amazon prime when it is released sometime next year.
What was the experience like filming out of Lagos?
I have always loved shooting films outside Lagos. Abeokuta (the set for Hide ‘N’ Seek) was one set too close to home. Lagos is home, and if you ask me, I have seen everything Lagos has got to offer when it comes to film. My first film "Couple of Days" was shot in Ibadan Oyo state. I want to shoot in Abuja, Jos, Kano, Calabar, Obudu, Kebbi, Sambisa; the more remote and pristine, the more excited I get. I almost shot in Kaduna a few years back. I have shot in Enugu, Nnewi, Onitsha, Ilesa, Bayelsa, Ogun, Mauritius. I love to travel and it is why I love documentary films. I will gladly go everywhere else to film. Lagos is the usual location for Nollywood. Everywhere has been used and overused. The world outside is my dream film set.
As a director, how do you select stories you work on? At what moment do you know or feel that “this is it”, “this story has to be told”?
I do not think I am yet at the stage where I can pick and drop films, but I have turned down several opportunities to be on several projects though in my time. I know it sounds contradictory, but it is the truth. I am still a working director and producer who dreams of being an auteur. I am excited when projects come to me, but sometimes, when I think someone else might be better suited to telling the story, I redirect the stories to them. One story that excited me when I read it was Tatu. A project I co-produced in 2017. Sadly, it wasn’t executed the way it was scripted, and when it was released, it received mixed reactions. But I love the script so much. I could have worked on that project for free. Ajuwaya was another baby I loved so much. If I had money, I would reshoot it because we made it on a mini-micro budget. So only a fraction of the dream got made.
I like to think I am proficient enough to work on any film project with enough juice to tickle my fancy, but I am sure you can tell that my “this is it” happens around Epics and Sci-FIs. Did I say Sci-fi? Scratch that!
You have a couple of projects currently in post-production; would you like to tell us a bit about them?
Yes, We have “Love in a Showroom”, a story about a delivery guy (played by Shaggi) who falls in love with a beautiful lady (Nancy Isime) whom he meets in a showroom all in one night! It is a romantic comedy. You can imagine how in the world those two characters on the extreme scale would ever get together. Wait for it. We are also working on a project, "Cashing Out" in the post-production stage. It is another whodunit story and we have a couple of docudramas in the works.
What new projects are you working on?
I have several epics lying around waiting for that Executive producer bold enough to embark on real adventures. However, coming up next is a stage play we have developed into a film tentatively titled “A Young time Ago” slated for January 2022. We have a couple of documentaries we are also working on for a couple of clients, which is keeping us pretty busy for now.
How do you raise money for your movies?
Part of filmmaking is finding Executive Producers who are interested in the craft. I go out there and tell people what I do. I share the investment opportunities and the potential to earn returns on their investments with potential investors. The potential is no longer potent alone. This week I got an offer from a platform that told me we are only a few years away from making dream money on our film, and this is only the beginning. It is an exciting time for investors. Want to know more. Call me. It helps that I speak the language of finance because of my experience in banking, and I know what investors look for when they think of investments. I am glad we are arriving at a time like this in the industry. There is so much more interest in what we do, especially, because of the entrance of global players like Netflix and Amazon, who have come into the industry to create viable windows for investors to make good returns on their investments.
Can you take us through a quick process of making movies in Nigeria – from ideation/pre-production to production, post-production, marketing and distribution?
You have said it all. Yet I could speak about this for three hours and not take a break. But it all starts with you creating a story. Next, you find someone interested in bankrolling it. You get the money in. (critical! Do not start until you are sure the money is in the bank. Many film projects never get released because of this). You call your team together; you all break the story down and begin to gather the resources to make it happen together. You share the plan with the Executive Producer who approves it, and you go into principal photography, usually between 1 – 4 weeks, depending on the budget for the film. Three key elements of any film project, though are the scope which is defined by the script, the time defined by the schedule and the cost defined by the budget estimate. If you do not have those three documents locked, please do not start any film project. From the get-go, have a clear route to market plan. How do you plan to sell this film, how do you plan to make the capital back? Whom will it appeal to? What platforms are you targeting for distribution etc.? Get a good stronghold to this distribution, and you are good to go. These are the vital elements.
If you could change one thing in the Nigerian movie industry, what would it be?
Environmental Support. The business environment in Nollywood is hostile. We have nothing to work with. I call Nollywood a cottage industry for orphans. The government gives us nothing and takes so much indirect tax. They mouth off about what we contribute to the GDP, but give nothing to it in the way of investments. They claim they give us loans, but 98% of us cannot access them. We have no support infrastructure for a film. We have no designated location sites. We have no guilds that add any value. We have no unions that protect us. We get no rebates or tax cuts. We are basically on our own. We are vulnerable to everything - from Covid to film Pirates, and yet we are the second-largest film industry in the world. I say that the Nigerian filmmaker is definitely into African Magic, and most of us have never visited a Juju man before (I hope). Yet, we make magic daily. The industry desperately needs structure and support.
What else do you do asides from filmmaking?
I make films. All types of film. Documentary. Feature, Adverts, commercials. Just say 3, 2, 1… and I say Action!
Advice to young filmmakers
This is the best time to be a Nollywood filmmaker, the world is coming here soon, and you might be the next best thing since Kayode Kasum. I tell you, in the next couple of years a film director will start to earn N20million per 1 week, and we are already getting there. I am betting it will be me and a couple of others I know. Shout out to Filmboy, Niyi Akinmolayan, Biodun Stephen, Deola Osunkojo, Jay Franklin Jituboh, Tope Alake, Seyi Babatope, Jade Oshiberu, Tope Oshin, James Omokwe, and so many others I know and that’s if Kemi Adetiba ain’t already been there and done that. We are paying our dues now. So, mehn. Get a camera and go shoot something.