Posted by Samuel on Sun 12th Sep, 2021 - tori.ng
Fondly called ‘Mr BON’, the filmmaker stated that his book was meant for all stakeholders in the movie industry.
Seun Oloketuyi, a filmmaker and the founder of Best of Nollywood Awards, has said that the days of veteran actors begging the public for funds for medical treatment and other things, would soon be a thing of the past.
In an interview with Sunday Scoop, he said, “The issue of Nollywood veterans becoming helpless in their old age is being taken care of. I am a member of the Association of Movie Producers. With the new AMP, a producer cannot sell their movies to any outlet in Nigeria if they don’t belong to the association.
"They wouldn’t even be able to get the movie censored. A certain percentage of producers’ yearly income is remitted to AMP to be used as insurance for filmmakers.”
Oloketuyi who recently wrote a book titled, This is Nollywood, stated that he was inspired to do that because he noticed a dearth of critical information, such as a database, in the industry.
Speaking on some of the things Nollywood had lost due to the lack of a database, he said, “I remember that in 2016, when Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State hosted BON Awards, I gave him an idea of having a film grant for Abia indigenes and one of the reasons it didn’t happen was because of the lack of a database. Also, a lot of people have lost businesses both inside and outside the industry. Because of the lack of a proper database, sometimes, government agencies mean well and they want to do something but end up with the wrong people. It is easier in Lagos because Lagos is the entertainment capital of the country. But, for example, if the governor of a state in another part of the country wants to do something with Nollywood, he probably would have to do it with someone close to him. But, if there is a proper information database management, things like that would not happen.”
Fondly called ‘Mr BON’, the filmmaker stated that the book was meant for all stakeholders in the movie industry.
He said, “It is particularly written for practitioners. A lot of the agencies in Nigeria will need the book because from time to time, they try to do business with actors and filmmakers and they don’t know how to get their data. It will also be useful for people in advertising and public relations agencies.”