Following the release of a trailer for a film starring him and well-known actress Peju Ogunmola, Nollywood actor Kolawole Ajeyemi has sparked comments among his admirers.
In the suspense film, Kolawole Ajeyemi’s mother-in-law Peju Ogunmola keeps pleading with Kolawole Gbola to look at her, but Kolawole refuses to do so. His supporters’ reactions to this brief film have been varied.
Why I Paid Over N10 Million Just to Get Crowd for My Movie – Toyin Abraham Reveals
Gossipinfo news recall that In reality, we don’t talk about funding in Nollywood enough. People criticize Nollywood producers without taking into account the amount of money needed to truly produce a quality film. You pay for things you didn’t even anticipate having to. Working in Nigeria also has its own own set of challenges and difficulties that you must overcome.
Toyin Abraham, a Nigerian actress and film producer, is one woman who is well-versed in this. Toyin is now making the rounds in the media promoting her upcoming film, “Ijakumo,” which will be released in theaters soon.
she’s been very open about the financial implications of this film as well as the financial rewards she’s been getting. Here’s what Toyin had to say about the money she’s been spending and the money she’s been making in Nollywood.
Speaking about the financial implications of her new movie ‘Ijakumo’ and how much one has to spend on movies, Toyin Abraham said:
You see, number 1 thing [in movie making business] is funds. If you have funds. The person that wrote my story is like the biggest, or one of the biggest scriptwriter. I can afford to pay him. I have a good story. I can give you a story, give him the same story, and if you write the story, it might not be the same. But if you can pay for that service, yes, the story will come out well. Okay, I’m to shoot a church scene. In the church, the guy has like one of the biggest crowds and I need over one thousand, five hundred people. Okay, you now see the church, you see only ten people because I cannot pay. I paid almost six million naira just for crowd [for Ijakumo]. Yes, after feeding them. So most importantly I think funds. I know yes, some people when you look at their storyline [it may not be good] but I think when you have intellectuals, when you can pay people for their talent, for their brain. Most importantly. Yes, I know there are some people that will have funds and even when you look at the movie, you yourself you will know that ah the story is not it. But the costume, the locations, are nice. You will see that there is something that will attract you to the movie even if the storyline of the movie you don’t like it.
Speaking about the financial rewards and making money from film, Toyin Abraham said:
I started making money in entertainment maybe 5 years ago when I started working with FilmOne. That was when I started making money. I can even remember, my first movie, when Mr. Moses called me and told me they’ve paid the money into your account. I saw my account, that was the first time, I saw forty something million. I’m not joking. I could not sleep. I called my god mom that see, these film people it’s like they will come and kill me and collect the money [laughs]. That was the first time making such money and it’s my money. I started making money like five years ago but I’m a go-getter. I love this job, it’s passion for me, and I want to do more and more.
Wow! This film business of a thing, it cannot be easy. Especially because after all this money spent, there are still so many Nigerians that will not go to cinema to support the movie making it harder for them to fund their next project. I cut cap for every Nollywood producer and I for one will be going to check out ‘Ijakumo’ when it hits theatres. What do you think about what Toyin Abraham said?