Dear filmmakers,
It has come to my understanding that many of you harbor the feeling that the Cameroonian public does not appreciate the amount of effort that goes into producing and distributing movies. I however do not think that is the case. It sounds like an insult to the intelligence of consumers to think that they don’t know that movie making is a daunting and resource intensive task.
As the producers of a product, you have to come to terms with the fact that the average consumer cares less about what you go through to make the product. He/She is only interested in having a final product that satisfies his/her entertainment needs -that is the way it is and should be. Most of your responses to criticisms reflect that you expect the consumers to do some of your work and I bet you have seen time without number that the results of such expectations tend to be counterproductive.
I just did a google search on ‘CAMIFF’ which I am assuming is one of the major platforms you have to showcase your movies. I was disappointed to see that blogs like e-Kwat and DcodedTV showed up on the first page of the google search results while the official CAMIFF website did not. That is one indication that the bloggers do more than you care to credit them for. Let me reserve my other comments on CAMIFF.
If you are a movie producer that is worth your salt you must know of IMDB. Why don’t you have something similar where you can list all the movies produced by year and by genre and provide other information like trailers and where to watch or buy where possible? Even if the movies are not available to be watched, it will at least be a resume that will show just how much work you have made and force people to address you with a little more respect.
I was very happy this year to hear about an APP like Yabadoo which I think removes one major jigga from your toes. For the first time in my life, I had nothing negative to say about MTN’s offerings. Unfortunately, I had since made the decision to leave MTN and I am not going back. That I can watch an entire movie for only 300 FCFA is more than a bargain and I don’t believe any consumer in his right mind will not find that a steal. The app however has a lot of shortcomings. It is only available to MTN users and people with Android telephones. I know how hard it is dealing with big corporations like MTN and Orange but if you managed to get in bed with MTN once, then I have no doubt that you can press them for more, unless you want to tell us you couldn’t get your manhood up that night. Get Yabadoo on the App Store and get Orange to host the app and provide similar offers to what MTN gives.
We all watched the Nigerian movie industry grow from ‘Jaguar’ to Genevieve’s ‘Lionheart.’ What I can say for sure is that the content has always mattered over the quality. I found myself watching Teco Benson’s ‘State of Emergency’ earlier this year and I still loved it. When we turn to the U.S, we realize that the shift has been towards visual effects based super hero and sci-fi movies. Most of the “based on real life” stories have already been told. In our case, given our cultural similarity with Nigerians, many of our stories have also been told. It is now more challenging than ever to come up with something very original. We however do have a few original stories to tell. Cameroon has one of the most outstanding boarding school cultures; with thousands of mind blowing stories. I am surprised that till date, I have not seen a movie based on the boarding school life. Most of our movies I find to be frail attempts at adapting foreign movies to our local context.
Another thing I find lacking in many Cameroonian movies is comedy. You can have the worst storyline and image quality but if you can make people laugh, your movies will travel far. You all need to work on incorporating more comedy into your movies. You need to create a system where you can identify the strengths of your writers and recruit new writers. I’m reminded here of the Indian movie ‘3 Idiots.’
I also find that you are so bent on becoming equals with Nigerian movie celebrities that you fail to recognize other opportunities to showcase your talents. Tyler Perry still does stage plays and tours many theaters with his plays. Have you ever thought of the market potential of something like an annual Christmas stage play that you take to all the major cities of the country? Have you even thought of making a deal with boarding schools to screen your movies and organize workshops for a fee? There are many of such opportunities but I find that they don’t have “FANCY” written all over it.
Finally, the glitz and glamour of the red carpet will not make up for a poor movie. Sometimes, it seems as though your principal motive for making movies is to ‘stunt’ on the red carpet. When you continue to disappear with your films after the premieres holding them for film festivals, all you are doing is creating a dependency that will end up killing you. The end consumer is your best friend. Any good business man dreams of cutting the middle man. How do you instead do so much to line up the number of middle men. The world is changing and it is becoming more friendly to direct to consumer channels. Think long term and build yours because, quoting from Jay-Z “till you own your own you can’t be free.”
I beg I still dey court palaver this wuna film dem. Wuna no go lock me again. I would say I am open to share more ideas with you guys in person but not right now. I still have a open wound. By the way, What do I know?
- Tino Foy