Nollywood actor, Deyemi Okanlawon has disclosed why YouTube is being a chosen platform for Nigeria filmmakers.
Deyemi during an interview with Channels Television, he stated the difficulties of releasing films in cinemas, for independent producers.
He said; “Taking a film to the cinema, it’s really difficult for an independent filmmaker, especially if you’re starting out. There are so many things that you’ll find as obstacles. So, it’s not really to their advantage.”
“That’s the reason you find out there are a lot of people who are intentional filmmakers, but they are now moving towards YouTube.
“There is no question of, are you a popular producer? Are we giving you enough showtimes? Are you spending enough money on marketing, so we can consider if your film is worthy of the cinemas?”
His comments reflects a large trend among creative Nigerian who are bypassing the traditional cinema releases and major streaming platforms in favor of direct online distribution
Okanlawon revealed that despite his movie grossed over N130 million in cinemas, he said “The earnings barely covers production costs,” He explained that filmmakers gets only a fraction of total tickets sales.
“You are looking at how much I spent? How much did I make? And remember the N130 million cinema sales won’t come to just the producer,” he said.
“You are going to get about 40% of that amount, after it being splitted up between the cinema and the government who takes it taxes and for me that didn’t cover my costs.”
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The Nollywood actor, also weighed in on why streaming giants like Netflix have slowed down on commissioning Nigerian originals.
“They were looking for their Squid Game. They were looking for their Money Heist that would come out of Nigeria. And while we’ve had some big films produced in Nigeria, I don’t think that they got enough traction,” he said.
He concluded saying ” No matter where I find myself, whether it’s a Netflix original, a cinema film, or now on YouTube, I’m going to give my 100%.”
