Nollywood Will Get Better When Nigeria Changes- Big Sam

From being a newspaper reporter who covered Nollywood to becoming manager to some front line practitioners, public relations practitioner, Samuel Olatunji aka Big Sam is now a full-blown filmmaker. In this interview with eelive.ng, Olatunji speaks about his trajectory and the pains of filmmakers in Nigeria.

eelive.ng: You started as a journalist, became an artistes’ manager, now you are a filmmaker. What influenced these transitions?

I would say growth, purpose and passion. Everybody wants to experience growth at a certain time. When you look at life sometimes, you’ll realise that there are things you wanted to do that you never got to do because you were afraid to grow up. I believe the entertainment industry is my purpose. I still manage artistes, I’m into public relations, I write and direct movies, and everything has to do with the media. So I believe it is my destiny and I want to explore as much as I can.

eelive.ng: How has it been so far?

It has been challenging coupled with the elements of humanity, fear, success, setbacks, growth, conflicts and victories. So far, it’s been quite an experience. I’m grateful to God even though COVID-19 has given us a hard pill to swallow.

eelive.ng: Can you share a bit of your story with us, your background and how you got here?

I grew up in Lagos, around Agege, Agbado-Ijaye.  I Attended Agege Primary School and had my Secondary school in Agbado-Ijaye after which I started working as a Nursery and Primary school teacher. That was the only available job at the time. From there I attended College of Journalism, COJ by the News Magazine where I obtained a Diploma in Journalism. While I was in college, I secured an internship with Treasure Paper online magazine. After a year, I moved to Independent Newspaper with my diploma and registered for a part time course in History and Strategic Studies at the University of Lagos.

During that period, I moved from Independent Newspaper to The Sun Newspaper where I became the head of department, so I was very busy. I had to skip second semester in 300L, thinking I was going to go back to retake my courses but I didn’t return until after two years. I was told by the university that I couldn’t resume with them because they assumed that I wasn’t coming back. Then I left for Covenant University where I did a part time programme in Human Resources and Personnel Management. That was how I got my degree. 

eelive.ng: Why did you choose to become a director?

My film production is from an Executive Producer point of view. I invest in movies and let people do their work. Before now, I had always known that I was going to be a movie producer. My former Editor who is the Commissioner of Information in Osun state used to tell me that I was going to be involved in so many things regarding communications and media.

When I was a child, I used to tell stories and people started noticing my talent. I knew I was going into the film industry. I also wrote a movie titled The Eunuch but I’m yet to develop it. In 2016, I attended Tunde Kelani’s film school, MFMI which also helped to put me on track. After a while, I started managing Toyin Abraham and one day she wanted to do a film, so she asked that we do it together, that was The Ghost and the Tout. We put our resources together and it became a success. But I felt since I was already producing movies, why I can’t I produce mine exclusively, that was how Seven and a Half Dates was birthed. Since I also went to film school, that was how I directed Dear Affy and everybody liked it.

Dear Affy cost a lot of money, we spent about N40 Million. Afterwards, I decided to do a small budget film titled Honey Moon Nightmare.

eelive.ng: Having your movies on streaming platforms means more people get to see your work. Do you have plans to put your movies on these platforms?

Definitely, we are supposed to have our movies on Netflix anytime from September, these are the other ways I’m hoping we get to recoup the money we have spent on our movies.

eelive.ng: Can you tell us about your upcoming movie Honey Moon Nightmare?

It is a one location movie and it tells the story of a couple who checked into a hotel for their honeymoon, on getting there, so many things happened. The wife realised that she could see ghosts. In that hotel, we have a promiscuous manager, a deceptive staff with hilarious law enforcement officers. The movie stars Jide Kosoko as the man who died, however, the police officers will have to unravel the mystery behind his death. We are also hoping to premiere it on Netflix.

eelive.ng: A lot of people say Nollywood is not where it should be in terms of development, what do you think the problem is and what can be done to fix the problem?

Where do people expect Nollywood to be? The major problem we have is distribution. I do not think in any way that Nollywood is doing badly and I do not like it when people but a lot of blame on the industry. Is Nigeria where it is supposed to be? We are being affected by bad leadership. So you do not expect Nollywood to be ahead of Nigeria. If the government can do better, Nollywood will be better. As a filmmaker I use generator to shoot my movies, let’s fix the country first.

eelive.ng: What can be done to solve the distribution problem in Nollywood?

You can’t blame Iroko TV and others for buying movies the way they do; because you can only buy what you can afford. They cannot buy because they want to solve the problems in Nollywood, they can only buy according to the market.

eelive.ng: How have you been dealing with the menace of piracy in the industry? How can Nollywood’s growing piracy problem be eradicated?

I don’t think we can do much to eradicate piracy. One of my movies was pirated and I had to go and look for the person to beg them to take it down because I had not made any money. Piracy can make a filmmaker commit suicide because you are either spending your own money or other people’s money and they would need to get their money back. How do you expect filmmakers to survive? Piracy has become a norm in Nigeria and it has put too many things at stake.

The government needs to do more for the industry. They have the power to arrest. When people blame associations and guilds for not doing their jobs, although I do not belong to any but these associations are not the ones controlling the law enforcement agencies, they do not have the power to arrest; only the government can do that. There is a website that pirates new Nollywood movies. Even after reporting these sites, they are still operating. Does the government have the power to shut down their operations? Yes. Have they done anything about it? No. There needs to be commitment from the Minister of Information and Communication to shut down piracy but there is no willingness from their end. You can’t expect Nollywood to fix a problem in a country that is not fixing its own problems.

eelive.ng: You mentioned that you are not part of any association or guild, why is that so?

I do not think these associations are looking for members. There must be willingness from both parties. Since I started making films, nobody has reached out to me, how do you expect me to look for Association of Producers in Nigeria? You can’t truly practice some professions in Nigeria without being a part of an association. The truth is the bodies running these organisations do not try to make it attractive. So what are these associations doing to attract members especially in the industry where you do not need the blessing of associations to practice? They need to market to us, they are not doing enough to attract people outside the associations.

eelive.ng: Do you think we tell better stories compared to the early days of Nollywood?

Our stories are the same. Are they better developed? Yes, but you can’t compare the story of Isakaba to what we have now. They had to write stories based on what was happening and trending at that time. We are not telling that kind of stories now. What we need to do is to improve our craft.

eelive.ng: What is your biggest fear as a movie maker?

My biggest fear is that the economic situation of Nigeria will limit my craft. I have a short film, The Eunuch which would cost about N50m or N60m. The movie is about slave trade and how slaves were treated, it’s not something that I can shoot here, and I would need to shut down a whole village. So my biggest fear is that the economic situation of the country will make me limit my dreams and ambitions.

eelive.ng: In 2019, you shared on social media that you almost committed suicide. What led to that decision?

I was used to having money and being broke for me back then meant having about 100k in my account. When I was at The Sun Newspaper, money was never an issue for me, but I became more ambitious and I wanted to grow. So, I went to rent an office for N1.8m, that was nine years ago. I furnished it and employed people.  

But we didn’t make as much as before in one of those years. I had to sack some of my staff and all of a sudden, I became broke to the point where I did not have 1k. It was so bad that I used to imagine I would see money on the floor. On a particular Sunday, I was preparing for church and the thought of suicide crossed my mind because death would mean I would be free from debts and troubles. But I was able to come out of it and I found a way out. The first thing I did was to move out of that office despite the money I had spent. After I did, things started improving. I feel it was God’s way of telling me that office was out of place for me.

eelive.ng: What would you say makes a good director?

I would say attention to detail. Sometimes, I still watch my movies and point out something that I should have done better. So attention to details is the difference between a good director and a bad director.

eelive.ng: Have you had any of your projects disrupted due to the pandemic?

Yes. There are movies that I’m supposed to work on but I can’t. There is a movie we want to shoot titled The Ultimate Wedding but we can’t because it will involve people and movements. I’m also directing some movies for some people.

eelive.ng: Can you recall who gave you your first opportunity in the film industry?

I have been in the film industry since 2002, so I already had relationships with actors so I wouldn’t say anybody gave me a role or an opportunity. I just took what was waiting for me.

eelive.ng: Do you have plans to collaborate with other filmmakers?

I am open to opportunities. I believe that with collaborations, we can tell better stories. As Nigerians, we are wired to do things alone and the burden is killing, so I want to work with different people. After I released Dear Affy, I had the opportunity to screen it in Sierra Leone but I couldn’t go. These are the things I want to do this year.

eelive.ng: Any advice for young people interested in this path?

Review the company you keep and move with people of like minds. I strongly believe that you also need to follow and watch the leaders in your craft.