FVPMA ban is needless distraction, say filmmakersIF the leadership of the Film, Video Producers and Marketers Association (FVPMA) thinks that because it sneezed two weeks ago, its decision to place a ban on further assigning of rights of Nollywood movies to broadcast stations, then practitioners would catch cold, it has mistaken.If some of its previous decisions like the ban placed, a few years back, on some notable actors in Nollywood got the industry feeling giddy, the recent pronouncement, which was endorsed by leaders of some guilds and associations in the industry, including the still evolving umbrella body ' Nollywood Guilds and Associations (CONGA), has left practitioners wondering what the marketers' real intention is and how that pronouncement will help an already chaotic distribution situation.At a well attended media briefing held recently in Lagos, the marketers, through their Chairman, Norbert Ajaegbu, announced that to address the menace associated with indiscriminate broadcast of Nollywood films by numerous cable and terrestrial television stations in Nigeria and in the continent, the FVPMAN and the entire control structure in Nollywood would enforce a ban on further broadcast of films capable of being released through the conventional distribution channels in Nollywood as from May 1.Ajaegbu stressed, 'no such films capable of being released through the conventional distribution channel' would be assigned to any broadcast station from that date.Similarly, he said that any movie up for broadcast on television and on any of the cable networks in Nigeria would not be distributed through channels controlled by FVPMAN.He said the indiscriminate broadcast of Nollywood films had eroded the usual value attributable to films by Nigerians, and that had caused the show inherent in the business to be totally lost.He lamented that some practitioners have 'lived and died in penury' while the broadcast stations that acquire the works at very ridiculous amount smile to the bank.According to him, 'many practitioners hardly meet up with their basic needs. Some shine like stars and wither like ashes while the broadcast stations continue to expand in their operations. We are all living witnesses to the incessant cases of strokes and other ailments owing to the fact that we don't get back as much as we invest. This cannot be allowed to continue.'The marketers' head insisted that by ordering the ban, filmmakers were only acting 'in accordance with the immutable law of nature ' an economic liberation and the principle of self defence.'He explained further, 'we are neither prejudiced by this hell of fortune made from us by these stations nor the peanut they pay to producers in the purported acquisition contract. But we believe that time has come for our distribution system to undergo a complete overhaul starting with the broadcast reform. We shall further progress with other essential reforms and expansion of our distribution network and hope in no distant time to regain our lost bliss.'MINUTES after the briefing, reactions mostly from those opposed to the decision of the marketers and some of the industry leaders came in torrents. Only the veteran filmmaker, Chief Eddie Ugbomah supported the move. The decision, he declared, came seven years late.'They would have taken this decision a long time ago. It is one of the reasons Nollywood is currently on its knees. I was preaching that it was going to lead to the death of Nollywood and that is exactly what we have today. People no longer buy movies or even stock them at home because they can easily see the films on television and cable stations. I told them this, several years ago, when they rushed to take their films there either for peanuts or that thing they call barter, but they didn't listen. I told them that they will come back bruised and crying and that is what has exactly played out,' Ugbomah said.Although aware that assigning of rights to broadcast and cable stations constitute one of the revenue streams open to a filmmaker, the Septuagenarian filmmaker lamented that what filmmakers get in return for assigning such rights is nothing compared to what their counterparts in 'far less developed movie societies' like Kenya and South Africa are paid.He explained, 'What some of these stations pay here is ridiculous. Some are offering as a little as N35, 000.00 for an episode and as little as N15,000.00 for documentaries. I shot a documentary recently and they were offering me $500 to air it. That's nonsense. How much did I rent the camera and how much did I spend in actual production' Even the films that you see on all these wonder, high and magic stations how much do you think they pay for them' Peanuts! We pressed for them to pay us something higher like in the region of $2000 to $5000 when they started but we had hardly returned home from the meeting when they started offering our boys $500 to $1000. Today, I hear they pay as a little as $200 per episode, while they pay as much as $2500 to filmmakers in East Africa and South Africa. That's slavery.'Reminded that, like in all commercial ventures, the power of negotiation lies with the seller, in this case, the content owner, Ugbomah reasoned that the situation was different in Nigeria as the filmmakers are not even given any room for negotiation.'It is just that we don't have a united industry. If we had, we would not be complaining today. If we had, we would have set a benchmark and we would have insisted that no new movie should be shown on that channel except the movie has exploited other distribution channels including cinema release and even when a new movie is to be shown, it should be under an exclusive arrangement and the pay must be good. Not all these pay-peanuts-and-show-for-two-years deal that we have all over the place.'In fact, recently on a channel, I watched the same movie thrice in a day. Who will ever go to the market and buy that kind of movie especially now that we even have decoders that can record films while you are at work. No one, except you need the film for research. So, I support the move and I think it is coming years late.'HOWEVER, two notable filmmakers, Mahmood Ali-Balogun and Yinka Ogundaisi do not subscribe to the position taken by the marketers. In fact, for Ali-Balogun, who is in Tribeca to seek marketing opportunities for his jubilee hit, Tango with Me, the decision by the marketers amounted to 'crying over spilt milk.'The former President of the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) noted that the marketers were in the first place responsible for the rot in the broadcast rights assigning regime and so he is amazed that all of a sudden they are the ones calling for a ban. 'Why are they all screaming now' Were they not the ones who made the direct to video release look as though it was the norm' Were they not the ones who carried bags filled with DVDs to these stations and were ready to accept any amount just for the films to be aired' When we were negotiating for a better deal for filmmakers were they not the ones who went behind us and started accepting peanuts' Were they not the ones who made releasing in parts look as if it is a crime not to do so' Check the films that are currently running on these stations unending, are they not by those FVMA members' So why are they crying now when they are responsible for the current state of the industry'' Ali-Balogun asked.Continuing, he said, 'I think those guys (the marketers) should just sit down and carryout a reform within them. They are the ones who negotiate the left when we in the industry are heading towards the right. How did we get to the stage of all these 10 in one DVDs if not the activities of some of the marketers' They need to first agree to abide to certain industry best practices. Once that is done, then, we can listen to them. Outside that I will wait to see how this can be enforceable,' he said.EVEN Ogundaisi doesn't see how their decision can be enforceable because as he argued, members of FVMA control only a segment of the market. He described as 'minute' the market they control. Besides, he doesn't think that the decision was a product of wide consultation.'I don't think key members of the industry particularly independent producers who are not part of these supposed umbrella bodies are part of the decision. I think it is just an initiative of a group of individuals who, most times, take advantage of problems in the industry to position themselves. And I ask what is the decision meant to achieve and what will be the level of compliance because there have been several of such pronouncement in the past even among the practitioners in the Yoruba movie industry and the compliance level there was zero.'So they can make any pronouncement they like but it is of no effect especially to licensed distributors who have been licensed by law to engage in distribution and marketing of movies,' Ogundaisi submitted.Rather than engage in schemes that are of 'no use to the industry', Ogundaisi counseled that the marketers should channel their energies towards ensuring the take-off of the national film and video distribution framework promoted by the National Film and Video Censors Board.Ogundaisi maintained that if well implemented the framework, which was launched nearly three years ago, was capable of eliminating all challenges impeding the economic viability of Nollywood films including piracy. 'We need to channel our energies towards activating the distribution system which will also be responsible for our operational funding, and effectively neutralise all inclinations to piracy and other illegal activities. That is what we need concentrate our energies on now and not engage in schemes or in making high sounding pronouncements that will not lead us anywhere,' remarked Ogundaisi, who in a previous interview, listed 'in-auditable processes, ceaseless proliferation and fragmentation, personalised standards and ethics and the lack of in-built challenges and incentives for the distributors to fully explore the marketing potentials of a movie to maximise returns on investment as the defects and limitations of the present distribution system in Nollywood which is mainly championed by the marketers who want movies on television and cable stations banned.THE leadership of ANCOP has since issued a short terse statement distancing the body from the decision to stop the assigning of broadcast rights to television and cable stations. Its president, Alex Enyegho clarified that the decision to oppose the ban was informed by the fact that members of the association were not consulted on the matter and that it would be wrong for such a decision to be forced on the industry when the industry is not 'owned by people who constitute only a small segment of the industry.
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