Nigerian filmmaker Niyi Akinmolayan says that having a good story is not enough to make a film commercially successful in Nollywood.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Akinmolayan said young, new filmmakers need large budgets to succeed in Nollywood.
He said some people are misleading new filmmakers by telling them they do not need big budgets to succeed in the industry.
“Nollywood!! If you are in this for the business, don’t let anyone tell you all you need is a good story o. You will need money as well if you want to survive the space… and lots of it,” he wrote.
“You are gaslighting young and new filmmakers into thinking that they don’t need high budgets to make commercially successful films, meanwhile, the top highest-grossing films all had high budgets.”
Akinmolayan has directed films such as The Wedding Party 2 (2017), Chief Daddy (2018), The Set Up (2019), Prophetess (2021), My Village People (2021), and Lisabi: The Uprising (2024).
He also founded Anthill Studios, a media production company.
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At the start of his career, Akinmolayan worked as a graphic and web designer. He later became an apprentice to Nollywood filmmakers and learned video editing, animation, After Effects, and visual effects.
His first film, Kajola, came out in 2010 and featured a lot of visual effects. However, it received negative reviews from both filmmakers and critics.
In January 2022, Anthill Studios signed a deal with Amazon Prime Video to stream its films worldwide after their theatrical release.
