Quitting journalism for movie production, my best decision –Darlington Abuda

The success story of Darlington Abuda, who is now one of the most sought after Movie Producers in Nollywood is very inspiring. In this interview with IFEOMA ONONYE, Abuda, who started his career as a journalist shares details of how he moved from writing critical movie reviews to being behind the scenes of top movies in Nigeria. And as a movie producer, he answers the ultimate ( Sex for roles) question he often asked other producers when he was a reporter

 

Your career evolved from a reporter to a movie critic and from there to Public Relations and now you are behind the scene of many top movies in the cinemas. Tell us how you did it.

 

When I was young, I wanted to do sciences. Then the Nigerian system dealt with me and JAMB jammed me very well. I now moved from Sciences to social sciences. Then from Social sciences, I moved to Arts.

 

I studied Mass Communication at Federal Polytechnic, Auchi. From there, I went to Delta State University, where I read Theater Arts. When I got to Delta State University, they said that Mass Communication department was full; that the closest to Mass Communication in the arts department was Theater Arts and Music.

 

And I said God forbid, I cannot do music! So, that was how I did Theater Arts. So Theatre Arts kind of increased my appetite for drama because when I was little, I loved reading novels and books. While in Theatre Arts, I started reading plays. I started reading about producing and directing plays because I cannot act.

 

But did you try acting?

 

I did try acting but I was not just good. They laughed at me. Our class was not that big. So, there were plays that we would do that would need everybody to act, even if I was directing. In our third year, I directed our play but I still had to act in it because we were not many. When I finished school, I worked with New Age newspapers. A friend of mine was working at New Age then. He invited me and I joined him. They were not paying salaries. For the many months I stayed there, they never paid any kobo to anyone. Not even weekly transport allowance. After New Age newspapers, I worked with one guy that I would not like to mention.

 

It’s a part of my life that I will not like to remember. In 2007, I was interviewed at Daily Independent Newspaper and was drafted into the Arts department. I started writing about fine arts. I was covering art exhibitions, stage plays reviews and as we progressed, movie reviews. I quickly became the person that covers the creative arts section at Independent Newspaper. I worked there for two years.

 

In January 2010, I left to join a PR firm called Chain Reactions. I worked there for 10 months and decided to do something to cover the gap in the content creative sector. I left Chain Reactions to start organizing a show called ‘Ijoka’ at Terra Kulture. We were bringing contestants to perform and win prizes on a monthly basis.

For few months, we were putting the content on the Hi Nolly Channel of HiTV at the time. In between 2010 and 2012, I joined to produce AY show, some of his skits and some of the annual AY Lives. In 2012, I produced popular comedian, Ayo Makun’s AY’s Crib. We licensed it to African Magic and it did very well. In 2013, the season 2 of AY’s Crib was on.

 

Towards the end of 2012, we went on a business trip to Ghana and I was introduced to Yvonne Nelson. She was trying to release her film then titled ‘Single and Married’ to the Nigerian Cinema space. I was pitched to her as a publicist and her film was the first film I promoted in the cinema. I started working on movies from then on. The year that followed, we did ‘Single and Married and Complicated’. I was promoting many films and I thought to myself that there must be money in this business.

 

Because prior to that, I only knew about making content for TV. Making content for TV was difficult because after creating the content, you will still go and pay TV stations to air it, and then start looking for adverts that you can use to make your money back.

 

If you cannot get adverts, you are On Your Own. But in promoting movies in the cinemas, you don’t pay anything. You make movies and put them in the cinemas and make your money back. AY bought the idea and that was what gave birth to the movie ’30 Days in Atlanta’.

 

I believe that was the first movie you produced?

 

Yes. It was a very good project. It happened that the first movie that my name was associated with was that big. It did not allow me as a beginner in the movie producing career to start from the bottom. Rather, I started from the top. I have no option than to move higher. ’30 Days in Atlanta’ was the first Nigerian film to enter the Guinness Book of World record.

 

The first Nigerian film, I also believe, to hit a million dollars, using the exchange rate of that time. The next year, we did ‘A Trip to Jamaica’, ’10 Days in Sun City’ that starred Richard Mofe Damijo and Adesuwa Etomi. Then, I dabbled into producing my own film also, aside from producing for corporate world. I did the ‘Accidental Spy’. For the corporate world, we did ‘Made in Heaven’, ‘Merry Men 1’, ‘Merry Men 2’. We also grew into making TV Films.

 

So, in 2018, I made my first TV film that was showing on African Magic called ‘Swapped’. It was about two couples who decided to swap partners to see how it would be, and at the end, it did not end well. ‘Swapped’ did well on African Magic.

 

In fact, they were asking me if I had more movies with that quality. Before I went into cinema films, it was difficult for me to make TV films the way others make films. I was using cinema mindset to create TV films and it was difficult to meet with the budget. I consulted a lady I called my TV mentor, Chinny Love Eze, who explained the details for me. TV film market is different. Since then, I have been making TV films.

 

Currently, I am producing TV film for The Rock platform. It’s a reality show about Nollywood for them, titled ‘Being In Nollywood.’ They have done two seasons previously. I have been commissioned to do the new season. This would be bigger than the previous seasons because they are bringing people from other countries like Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, UK and someone from Francophone Africa.

 

At the time you were a journalist, did you feel that there was a part of you that you were not exploring? Like there was passion inside that was pushing to get out? Did you feel that way?

 

Not really because when I was a journalist, I didn’t know about anything else. I didn’t know about content creation at the time. I was only doing critiquing. All I can do then was write. It involved watching a lot of movies. I was the favorite of SilverBird Galleria.

 

Even though I lived on the mainland, I was always on the Island. I knew all their promo ticket times. I have always been a fan of films. I was a fan of watching TV because I have to watch and review various TV programs. But now, I hardly have time to watch a program on TV. In the past two years, I can’t remember the last time I sat down to watch TV.

 

There was a time AY was talking about your hairstyle on social media. You actually braided your hair. Have you always had that funky fashion side of you or was it midlife crisis as many may say?

 

Not really. I am more of a conservative person when it comes to my dressing. Before the time I made my hair, I went through a health scare. I had an issue with my lungs and was brought back from the brink of death by God. During the period, I wasn’t well, my hair was not my focus. So, my hair was all over the place and my wife decided to weave it for me. At that point where live was more important, I told myself I would actually make the hair when I got better.

 

Do you miss being a journalist?

 

Yes! I have missed it a lot. There are times I would love to write but I don’t have the time. I was event drafted to be an entertainment editor of a newspaper around the time I was shooting a movie. But after one year, the paper started having problems. Once in a while, I entertain the thought of having a blog to air my views but the work I am doing now is too time consuming.

 

In terms of financial level, if you are asked to choose between journalism and movie producer, which would you choose?

 

That is very relative. If I am asked to take journalism with the kind of pay, I was being paid before, never oo.

 

Do you direct movies as well?

 

I am primarily a producer. There are people who like to do everything but I decided to play to my strengths. My strength is putting things together which is essentially what a producer is.

 

I call myself a creative producer because I don’t just handle the business side of production, I also handle the creative side.

 

So, I study my script. I know what a good story is all about. I know what a good story entails and what sells out there. I know what my story needs to be good. I am not a director because I am not trained in that field and I don’t want to enter into a space where I have not trained. At

what stage would you get and you would beat your chest that you have reached the peak of your career?

 

Mine will be when I have a major studio. When I am not just a producer for hire. I want to have a team of producers working with me. Then we will be bringing out good quality content that will project Nigeria to the world. At the point where I would have producers that I have trained that are doing well, is when I will say that I have arrived. It will mean that this industry that has given so much to me, I have contributed my quota to ensure that the industry survives.

 

To lay men that still don’t understand the job of a movie producer, what does their primary job entail?

 

If I am using a company for example, a Producer is the Managing Director of the company.

 

The company may have the Chairman, Board of Directors which in Movie set is the Executive producer. The producer is the person who sees that the company is running and making profit.

 

The hiring and firing is the in the hands of the Managing Director, which in this case is the producer. At the end of the production, the producer will say if they made profit or loss. Essentially, you look for the good story; look for the right crew; look for the right cast, look for the best deals and the right location to film.

 

As a journalist, I know you must have asked many movie producers if they ask for sex for roles. Now that you are a producer, have you asked sex for roles and is it true it happens in the industry?

 

We have heard about it but I have not seen it. In the movie set I am in now, the casting was an open door affair. There were no hanky panky. I will say that some of the casts, sometimes put themselves in a compromising situation.

 

I was in a production recently where the Executive Producer and co-producer were telling me that people were reaching out to her, offering to pay her, so that she can give them roles. And my question is, if you are offering to pay so much to get a role that you won’t be paid as much as what you paid to get the role, then there is something else you are looking for.

 

Yes, there may be some producers who ask for such things but it boils down to people who have become very desperate or greedy to succeed at any cost. But if the actor knows his or her worth, the person would not give in and go to another audition where she would be respected.

 

Also, I think we hear about sex for roles when the person does not get the role promised. Because if you were given the role after paying with whatever, and you became a star from that role, I am not sure, we would ever hear about it.

Are you one of the producers that look up to awards as their success mantra?

 

I cannot be bothered. I am making movies to make money and not to win awards. A few of the films I produced have won some awards, but that is not a yardstick for me to say a movie was successful. For example, an American movie called ‘Hot Locker’ that was produced by Cameron’s wife, won a lot of Oscars awards.

 

But Cameron’s film, Avatar did not win any Oscar award. But it grossed over $2billion and it took a while for ‘Avengers’ sequel to unseat it as number 1 in the worldwide movie box office. The film that won all the awards is not even in the number 100. He didn’t win award but he made all the money. I am not pursuing awards at the expense of profit.