 |
 |
|
|
Search Fo r | |
ARCHIVES |
SUBSCRIPTION |
APRIL 9, 2007 VOL. 20. NO 26 |
| Preventing Pirates The National Film and Video Censors Board, NFVCB, launches a new distribution framework for the Nigerian movie industry, with an intent to providing a commercially-viable structure By Osamudiamen Ogbonmwan When the movie Osuofia in London, which featured comedian, Nkem Owoh, was released about three years ago, many viewers easily concluded that the producer, Kingsley Ogoro made a fortune from the movie which was shot in both Europe and Nigeria – mainly because of the extra-ordinary impact it had on the populace. But ironically, Ogoro in a recent interview told The Source that contrary to the believe, he made little or nothing from the movie. Ogoro: “I hardly made anything on that movie, even as popular as it was. Most painful in the issue was that after the release here in Nigeria, an unknown marketer took it abroad and repackaged it in a better format, I mean in a DVD, and sold it out there. When I saw it myself, I was shocked.” If Ogoro thought he was the only one caught in such quagmire then he would even be relieved when he hears what Zeb Ejiro, a pioneer home video producer / director told The Source. Ejiro: “I totally lost interest in making movies. For the past three and a half years, I have not made any movie because not only were my movies pirated and taken abroad to sell so much so that I even see them on shelves when I travel. I don’t make anything from them. I just had to do the right thing, which was to stay off.” Perhaps even more pathetic is Don Pedro Obaseki’s account, as he proclaimed that producer in the country is in debt the way he is. Pedro: “I owe the bank over N100 million and don’t even have an idea how to repay just because of what some faceless people have turned the industry into these past few years. You make a movie and before you know it, someone from the blues comes to reap from where he never sowed. It’s sickening.” The list goes on and on... about how practitioners in the industry lose their works to undeserving pirates. However, some succour may have come for the industry as recently the Director-General of the National Film Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Emeka Mba, rolled out the new National Film and Video Work distribution framework which he said would curb the menace of piracy in the industry. Mba: “This structure is certain to bring sanity to the downstream rental activities of movies, as well as plug all channels of drain and sabotage associated with piracy and illegal trade in Nigerian movie works beyond the national borders.” Describing the Nigerian movie industry as a treasury, Mba said: “The movie industry is considered a treasure not only because of its economic output, but also due to its immense ability to influence society and culture. Interestingly, only an efficient distribution system guarantees this. It determines the direction and strength of the contents as well. This explains why a movie industry is always a reflection of its distribution system.” He went further: “Economically, the industry turns over billions of dollars and generates millions of jobs annually worldwide. Price Waterhouse Cooper, PWC, the global entertainment industry journal, estimates that the industry will generate US $600 billion by 2010. In Nigeria, the Leke Alder Consulting estimates that the total market potential of the film industry, relative to the size of the economy, is over N522 billion. Sadly, these potentials in the Nigerian scene do not translate to any manifest, economic index in the national economy.” Contending that the success and strength of any film/movie industry are wholly dependent on its distribution system, the DG claimed that the Nigerian film/movie industry has not been subjected to any regulated distribution, exhibition and marketing system, partly because of the circumstances and peculiarity of its emergence. The result, he further said, is that the industry in its current state is unstructured, without auditable standards, and has no necessary alignment to the mainstream economic sectors. The Source gathered that these challenges obviously prompted the NFVCB to decide on an initiative of strategic intervention by implanting enforceable standards in the film/movie distribution system. The objective of this new policy, he said, includes “providing durable and commercially-viable structures, which will be acceptable both locally and internationally.” In support of the new framework, the Minister of Information and Communication, Frank Nweke Jnr., stressed that “the distribution segment of this industry is actually the engine house of the industry. There is no doubt that as this framework is implemented, a deeper level of integrity will be witnessed by the industry as nothing has been left to chance.” Furthermore, Mba disclosed that practitioners would have to go through the NFVCB to register their works. In essence, any registered movie would not be allowed outside the country without the permission of the rights owner. Likewise, the Nigerian Customs Service (ncs), is now mandated to work hand-in-hand with the board to actualise the framework by fishing out defaulters who are bent on smuggling movies out of the country. Concerning this, Nweke remarked that it represents the beginning of the due process of doing legitimate business especially with films and video, Nweke: “This is important because the culture of transparent transactions need to be driven by the regulator.” The duo of Ejiro and Obaseki, however, express fear over the workability of the framework, citing other instances when measures put in place to fight the scourge of piracy were thwarted. But Mba remains optimistic. According to him, given the present state of the industry, it will amount to an act of gross negligence and dereliction of duty if the NFVCB does not rise to the challenge through a decisive intervention to “correct all the identified anomalies and infuse the industry with a new lease of life.” |
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
Home Archives Subscription Advert Rates About Us Contact Us ©2006 The Source Magazine is published weekly by Summit Pulications Ltd. All Rights Reserved. |