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| Mary Njoku |
So,
ROK on DStv was one a few weeks ago. I thought it important to tell the story
of how it came to be. How a new approach to movie making fundamentally returned
Nollywood to its roots as a medium to tell our stories.
In
2011, when Mrs Njoku was still Miss Remmy, she told me that she would prefer,
by 40, to end up behind the camera rather than in front of it. That was her
dream. She always loved storytelling and felt that Alaba-led filmmaking was
disconnected from the storytelling core which had popularised Nollywood. She
had all these ideas but no-one would really listen. I was her boyfriend so I
was obliged to. Everyone who knows me knows I am pretty much wrapped up in
myself and I rarely bother about anyone else. So it pretty much went in one ear
and out the next. Even though she had been in arguably the biggest hit of 2011,
Blackberry Babes, the year was a dry period for movie making for Miss Remmy.
For
whatever reason, she just wasn’t getting scripts or roles. With the way
Nollywood churns out starlets, it was super worrying. She implored me to lobby
producers, after-all I was spending millions of dollars acquiring content from
them. I asked a couple of dozen. Only two agreed. The rest, in someway or form,
told me I should not spoil their job or that they required me to pay for the
entire film budget for her to feature in. See I believe in meritocracy so that
wasn’t even an option. Not to mention those who point blank told me to mind my
own business. So I let it be. Miss Remmy wasn’t satisfied and I remember we
argued when I told her I ‘was too busy’ to run around, too busy to be making
these phone calls and jeopardising the relationship with my producers. Jeez, sometimes I wonder why she married me.
I could be pretty brutal in those days. The frustrations of wealth creation.
See, Miss Remmy was considered a wakapass. So she was always given random supporting or
very small roles. And if you think Harvey in Hollywood is bad. What happens in
Nollywood? Blood of Jesus. But we will come to that another time.
2011
wandered into 2012 and Miss Remmy became Mrs Njoku. Mid-year, we took our first
gamble at financing original content. Let’s say out of five producers, we
commissioned 10 movies (2-each), four were satisfactory, five were okay and one
movie-budget was converted into a container-of-goods which never ended up
reaching Nigeria from the high seas of China. Acting roles were here or there.
So Mrs Njoku still had time on her hands (post honeymoon) so ended up going to
London to attend the London Film Academy.
It
actually had gotten worse post our wedding. Being pregnant and all. Every
single marketer / producer / fellow actor etc. advised her to stop working.
They literally couldn’t understand why she still wanted to work. What was she
chasing? Abi her
journey had ended. She had married a rich man (when we married everyone called
her a gold digger). If you look very carefully across Nollywood, most actresses
who marry, the first thing their new husband does is attempt to stop them from
acting. Well, if they can afford to. For the life of me, I
don’t understand this. Miss Remmy had me promise a thousand different ways that
I wouldn’t force her to stop. But because ‘she had married a rich man and gave
him a son,’ producers literally didn’t think of her as a candidate for acting. She was out
of the industry. No
matter how many times she or I told them to the contrary. They assumed she was
gone.
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| Njoku on the set of Festac Town |
So,
now that Mrs Njoku had some time, she started storytelling. Developing a script
which became Festac Town. See, Mrs Njoku grew up in Amuwo-Odofin (it’s part if
not adjacent to Festac in Lagos) so it was easy for her to tell this story.
Except this wasn’t glamorous Island living schleck. This was a pidgin-led,
gritty 126-cast monster. And she was 5–7 months pregnant throughout the entire
set. It almost broke her and was definitely the most ambitious thing she has
done to date. For all those who are still waiting for Festac Town season 2.
There it is. She is scared to do it. Youthful enthusiasm created the first 13
episodes. With wisdom, she dare not try again.
Fast
forward late 2013. We were in the fight of our lives. The venture financing had not gone
unnoticed, the use of capital to realign the entire Nollywood windowing had not
gone unnoticed. We had awoken the bear, AfricaMagic (MNET) began waging a
content war to price (read force) us out of
the market. The price of content had, for no other reason than some distant
strategy change somewhere in Randburg, exploded from $2.5k/movie license to
$25k, within the space of six months. It was stupid. I was stupid and desperate
so just kept on increasing the pricing until someone folded. Mrs Njoku had just
returned from London with our first child, O. So she was surprised to walk into
my office to see one of the biggest female Nollywood producers shouting. Not
necessarily at me, but in disgust at the $25k we were paying her for a movie. A
hit. A blockbuster blah blah bloody blah. And the fact that we structured it
that she was still able to also sell to AfricaMagic. Mrs Njoku looked at her.
Looked at who was in the movie. Did some quick mental arithmetic and decided
the movie couldn’t have been made for more than $20k. No way. See, Mrs Njoku
knew the talent. Being in front of the camera and around marketers, she kinda
knew the prices. She called the BS.
After
said producer left, she turned around to Bastian and I. Simply. Give me $25k
for a few titles. Let me see if I can shoot this kind of movie. Bastian was
sceptical. I was sceptical, the board were nonchalant.
Nonchalant
ˈnɒnʃ(ə)l(ə)nt/
adjective
(of a person or
manner) feeling or appearing casually calm and relaxed; not displaying anxiety,
interest, or enthusiasm.
“she gave a
nonchalant shrug”
Right
there and then, ROK was born. To be honest, I was as supportive as a husband
has to be. But I wasn’t that interested. We
were desperate and pressed against the wall. I had learned the hard way. Content is
King. And now Mrs
Njoku and ROK = leads content at IROKO. Does that make me Queen?
Content
is King. How I ended up Working for Mrs. Njoku - Part 2
Mar 26,
2018
IROKO, IROKO.
IROKO, IROKO (in a typical hailing loud Nigerian accent).
Mrs. Njoku glanced
nervously at me. This was the week ‘How I ended
up working for Mrs Njoku’ came out. 1,000% sure
this chap hadn’t read the article. Yet here he was. Confirming what I knew.
Hailing my wife, Mrs.
Njoku. Madam IROKO, IROKO.
She answered him
nervously, Noooooo, that’s my husband, he is the IROKO. He looked at me and
laughed.
‘I know him. We know him. Leave that thing, we know he is
in the background, supporting, you are at the front doing great job. IROKO,
IROKO. Madam IROKO’
That was 2018.
Back to 2014.
As we emerged from the
content wars of 2013, one thing became obvious. License costs going from
$2.5–5k to $20-25k per movie in 6 months, for the same content rights, was
unsustainable at best. Lethal to our long term ambitions at worst. See the
thing with content is that over the last 100 years, the price has only ever
gone in one direction. Up, up and up! Example; in 2008 Netflix paid Starz $30m/year for 1,000 movies. A decade later they will spend $5B/year content for a similar amount of content.
So in 2013/14, Mrs. Njoku
produced two movies. Hazeezat (rated 86%), Raging Passion (91%). That was a
very strong start. And even though it wasn’t widely supported at IROKO board
level, she slowly started to build out what would become a massive competitive
moat around IROKOtv. Content. This was way before it was in vogue. This was way
before we could even really afford it. It was primarily for IROKOtv, but she
always saw it being beyond just the internet. She felt it needed to reach into
the homes of the masses. It was a different kind of Nollywood.
See, 100% of the
producers in Nollywood are independent of a platform. Mrs. Njoku no doubt would
have been also. I guess I am fortunate to have married her into mine. A new
protective layer around IROKOtv.
But she was going to do
things her own way.
Whilst there was an
established star system in Nollywood, Mrs. Njoku never cared about that, she
honestly didn’t believe she could afford to. At the beginning, I attempted to
pressure her into using established stars, you know to help me drive
subscribers, for the most part, unless the prices were within budget. She
straight refused. As she struggled her way through Nollywood, she saw boatloads
of talent that was never given the opportunity by the ‘Men from Alaba’. So she
decided to try a different route. She would focus on talent first, second and third.
Can you write? Can you act? Can you produce? Can you direct? She would give a
new breath of fresh air to Nollywood. She would introduce true meritocracy in
Nollywood. Everyone gets a chance.
This became the DNA which
differentiated ROK. It became a sanctuary to talent whom many others wouldn’t
give a chance.
When established stars
attempted to over price her? She didn’t even flinch. She just respectfully
de-casted them. She wouldn’t even bother to negotiate. I have never in my
entire life seen a person who can be as cold / brutal as Mrs. Njoku when
needed, yet somehow in the most respectful and diplomatic way. I’m like a
cupcake compared to her. In fact, I am pretty soft when it comes to it.
I remember when she spent
time trying to convince established stars to feature in TV series, so many
refused claiming it would kill their movie careers. There is a reason one of
the biggest series of recent times, Husbands of Lagos, didn’t really have
stars. But yet it still performed. Talent is what talent does. Talent wins.
Ojukwu.
A new kind of epic series set in 1800s Nigeria.
Nobody saw this coming.
Especially not me. I’m a commercial guy. I didn’t realise the far reaching
impact this would have across Nollywood. She literally (and very quietly)
turned everything on its head. Everything. 16 months ago, the launch of ROK on
DStv ushered in a new era for Nollywood (in my humble opinion). Even though
AfricaMagic had a 10-year head start and everyone assumed (myself included) the
game was tied up. ROK became arguably one of the most successful channel
launches in recent DStv history. It crushed ratings from Month 1. Crushed them.
Not just in Nigeria. In the UK. I was genuinely shocked and surprised at how
well it performed. ROK won by focusing on new faces, new talents. This was the
time I started to lose my identity and become Mary Njoku’s husband.
Today everything
changes…
Today is a big fucking
deal in the Njoku household. Multichoice are giving her the opportunity to take
this ROK thing to a different level. 5th April, Mrs. Njoku will be launching
two more channels across Africa on DStv, but more importantly expanding to a
GOtv audience. Now the audience for ROK will be x10. Now I truly believe the
earth will shake.
ROK — Contemporary
New Nollywood DStv 168
ROK2 — Epic
Movies and Series — DStv 169 / GOtv 17
ROK3 — Ghanaian
Movies and Series — DStv 164 / GOtv 18
The meritocracy she
introduced will be amplified x10, as a new breed of actors are created and more
and more dreams can come true. When we first started dating, this was like
February 2011, I told her I was going to be the most important person in
Nollywood (leave me jor, I was young(ish), broke and boasting with sweet big words),
she didn’t care. I was wrong. Mrs. Njoku is arguably the most influential person in
Nollywood today. I am biased of course. But I can’t think of anyone who shapes
the creation (writers / producers / directors etc.) of so much content (1,000+
hours per year) and also whose content has the fans / distribution reach
globally, whether it’s via IROKOtv or DStv or GOtv or SKY. No one to mind comes
even close to that. She is increasingly becoming the prism through which the
masses who watch Nollywood around the world, are experiencing it. It’s happened.
So where does that leave
me?
See, I have finally come
to the simple conclusion. In the end, no one really cares about IROKOtv. Yes,
it’s a brand they have come to know and love. Yes we are making massive strides
on lowering the barrier to adoption and have some neat tech. But what they are
really interested and fall in love with is the content. ROK on DStv
demonstrated this fact, without a shadow of doubt. That they are in love with
what is cooking in the Njokus’ kitchen.
And I can’t cook.
So I will just have to
play my position as Mrs Njoku’s husband.
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