Initiated by the Co-founder of Inkblot Productions Zulumoke Oyibo, the IWIF was created to advocate for women’s inclusiveness and unbiased entry into the Nigerian Film Industry.
With the purpose of handling societal, professional and ethical issues surrounding women in Nollywood, IWIF aims at creating a working environment that’s safe and free.
One of the problems discussed in the lunch was intellectual property rights and the way Nigerian creatives are not well protected and do not receive the essential credit for their own work. It had been noted that writing is one of those undervalued divisions in Nollywood, as authors don’t get credited in the publicity of films and are usually not mentioned.
“We need to get to a level of professionalism by which individuals are valued and can be easily credited for the job that they do.
A major challenge that has been brought to the fore was the insufficient data and lack of construction in the business.
In accordance with award-winning celebrity Kehinde Bankole, “The very first solution to the significant challenges being first in the sector is access to information. There should be a ready place where people are able to get advice and be educated concerning the goings-on of the business and the various resources available to filmmakers and celebrities.
Nevertheless, in the vein of accessibility to information, IWIF convener Zulumoke Oyibo added it is hard for investors to put money into the industry because there is not any structure. “Oftentimes, investors don’t have data and cannot see the numbers to tell if a film project will be a viable investment or not. This makes it hard for filmmakers to get financing”.
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Actor, producer and series host Eku Edewor considers that a lack of transparency is a major offender,” unlike Hollywood for example where the movie’s budget is printed and how much the film makes is also published for all to see. So people are able to tell whether the movie is successful or a flop. Talents’ fees will also be known for the most part and also this way, creatives are compensated well for their job.” She shared.
It was revealed that a good way for Nollywood to mitigate this would be to welcome a standard/union degree fee structure as can be practised in some other movie industries in different areas of the world. The belief is that when there’s not any secrecy about the fees which people are compensated in the industry, people will not be rapidly changed as everyone has an idea just how much ought to be paid and how much manufacturing makes or doesn’t make. A construction that caters to what everybody ought to be eligible for based on experience and experience, regardless of sex, considering that women have often been paid less than their male counterparts.
