How a Nollywood Film Gets Made: Here’s what a writer does

There have been tons of interviews about what attracts actors to the roles they accept, their salaries on projects making front page news in the most prestigious dailies. But it takes more than an actor to make a film.

As Nollywood has grown further towards profitability, longtime behind-the-scenes operators are beginning to take part in the limelight. The likes of Kemi Adetiba, Jade Osiberu, rising maestros of the industry, have cultivated a cult following. But what really happens behind the scenes? How does a Nollywood film come together?

It starts with the development of the idea and the production of the script or screenplay. We spoke with Chiemeka Osuagwu, screenwriter to the stars, with writing credits on The Blood Covenant, Far From Home and MTV Base Shuga, on how he gets it done.

The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Sometimes we get called in to pitch based on reputation or contact or from previous collaborations. But most times it’s by referrals. Some gigs come from collaboration with peers, be it directors or producers. But for the most part, it’s the work that you’ve done that gets you referrals.

Sometimes it’s just you. Sometimes it’s a group of people and it becomes a development workshop or retreat. The job is to come up with ideas or develop ideas you already have.

The writers’ room is focused on developing the story and characters. The work is split among everyone in the room; writing bios, writing storylines. Each storyline is assigned to writers. Then we come together and scrutinise, give notes, go back and develop some more until we feel like we’re done with the story. Then the head writer determines who will write what script.

The hierarchy is staff writers, invited writers, story editors and head writers The editors create cohesion in the script. Every writer has their own voice, so they help with alignment. Head writer is as much an administrative role as it is a creative one because you are the last line. You get to decide who writes what script based on the writer’s strength.

It depends on the project. Sometimes the director or producer has the story and they need someone to develop it. Sometimes they want something in a genre, if you have a prewritten story then it’s better. Sometimes they don’t know what they want so you pitch to them.

After the schedule, budget, and financial terms are settled, the writing starts. The main thing that holds up the writing process is the money. For a series where you need a writing team, you need that money to pay the writers. Sometimes, it starts immediately. There are times when it takes months.

It’s less rigid and more fluid. Most times you’re the solo writer for films, but sometimes you do need a small team of writers, sitting and discussing with the director for two or three days to just spitball before developing the story. In that case, the story credit will be shared by everyone who was involved in coming up with it.

Casting is going on. Scouting for location. Costume. Everything. But even when the filming starts, the work doesn’t end there. There might be a need to change things and you get commissioned for rewrites. Many times the script that the actor first reads is not what gets made. Sometimes the writer is on standby on set when shooting starts.

The script is the film from top to bottom. It contains everything that will be seen and said in a film. It contains the dialogue and the action. The location and time are written on the slug line.

There’s also the character bible which is a separate document. It contains the characters in the story and the details you want people to know about the characters; name, age, backstory, psychological issues, desires, needs, weaknesses and flaws.

For series, we call it the show bible and it includes the inspiration for the show, the themes, references to other TV shows that inspire it, short summaries of every episode, the tone, how the score is going to be, the genre and how the character should look and feel like. The character bible is within the show bible.

You can also have a pitch deck which is a summary of the entire story told through a visual medium. It’s mostly concise.

That’s based mostly on how much of the story is available and the content of writing it. If you’re writing on your own, the first draft can take as long as you need it to take. If you’re writing on commission, then you are on a deadline. It could take a week or two to a month.

It’s measured by pages. One page is equal to a minute of runtime. There is no standard page number. Some films are 70 pages long, others can be 140 pages. It depends on what the story needs. For a series, a half-hour show can be 20 pages and you can be asked to turn it over in days.

Finding more opportunities for writers to cut their teeth is a major problem. There aren’t enough good opportunities for writers to improve and learn on the job, while also earning a living. I also don’t think we have enough education for writers. We need more structure in Nollywood in general because that will help with earnings and the quantity of work. It will reduce situations where people are overworked and underpaid.

The stereotype of the struggling writer in Nigeria is very very real. If we don’t change that, it will be difficult to turn writing from a gig to a job. It’s just not something at the moment that most people can do full-time.

The main way is just by reaching out to someone who’s currently doing it. A lot of people go through academies, like Ebony Life, MultiChoice, etc., and they do a lot of training. People in the industry come in to teach. So that’s a networking opportunity. Networking is very important. Go to festivals. Also, write stuff and put it out there. Collaborate with your peers who also want to break in to make something.

My first paid writing job was ₦40,000 and free lunch, and I wrote it for a friend of a friend. We collaborated. We had just finished university.

It boils down to negotiations before you start putting pen to paper. You say what you’re worth. If the producer agrees, he pays or he counters. I’ve gotten calls from people and they said they will pay me ₦100,000 per episode and I said no. A lot of newer writers get paid maybe ₦40,000 per script and that is when the producer wants to pay the new person. In films, there is no real range. Some people get paid in millions, some get less. But people get paid between ₦500,000 to ₦1 million. It depends on your reputation and how much they want you.

It’s in the feeling and the desire to keep reading. When a script isn’t good, it gets very difficult to read. I hate every first draft I ever write.

I use Fade In Pro and Final Draft. They’re easier than writing on word processing programmes.