In recent times, there has been an awakening about the importance of cultural goods in the development of Africa’s economy. In Nigeria, the former Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed recently identified the creative industry as the nation’s next oil wealth. If available statistics are to be relied upon, then he is quite right. For in 2012, the entertainment and media industry alone is believed to have added around $2.2 trillion to the world economy, while creative goods and services the world over generated the sum of $624 billion in revenues. But despite the pool of talent in Africa, its profit from these revenues are relatively small compared to other continents. Africa’s contribution to the world export of cultural goods as at 2010 is said to be sadly marginal at 1% compared to the rest of the world.
Once again, the continent’s lack of prominence on the global stage of creative goods is not for want of talent. Lack of intellectual property knowledge, obsolete policies, limited supply capacity, non-existent infrastructure and low investment have been the bane of the African creative industry. While the United States has a total of 40,000 theatres for the consumption of their creative goods, and India and China boast of 20,000 and 13,000 theatres respectively, Africa has barely 1000 cinemas. Experts have equated this to 1 cinema per one million Africans. These deficits have forced many creatives in Africa to seek greener pastures elsewhere, leaving the continent in more challenges of brain drain.
To stem the tide of Africa’s poor performance in the global creative industry, experts believe that there needs to be specialised education and training that includes entrepreneurial and business service skills, support for artistic development, modernising production, strengthening distribution networks and promoting consumption and branding. It is for some of these reasons, if not all, that the MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy (MTF) was established. The MTFis a multi-tiered training programme (Academies, Masterclasses & Portal) designed by MultiChoice Africa to focus on positively impacting the technical and professional value chain in the film and television industry across the continent. MTF is a shared-value initiative that provides a platform for the creative industries to develop their talent and engage with one another through their shared passions.
The Academies offer a 12-month educational programme aimed at furnishing deserving, young, talented people who want to innovate in film and television productionthrough accredited skills development in regional MTF Academies based in Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia.The academycurriculum provides an end-to-end solution for the entire industry covering all aspects of the value chain of filmmaking such as cinematography, editing, audio production and storytelling, whilst giving students the chance to produce content that will be aired on M-Net channels across MultiChoice platforms.
During the unveiling of the West Africa Academy, Director, Femi Odugbemi had this to say about the MTF, “Professional training is key to success in any occupation. We need interventions like the MTF so that emerging filmmakers are better equipped in the creative processes that have scholarship and technology at its foundation.” He adds: “We must consciously build capacity so that our next-generation filmmakers and producers can also create wealth and create employment by being entrepreneurs as well.”
The Masterclasses are industry ‘best in class’ workshops aimed at developing technical skills of established creatives in cinematography, audio and storytelling to improve the quality of local productions and are conducted by leading African and international industry experts including producers, scriptwriters, directors, audio experts, etc. To date major players in the television industry -which comprisesaudio technicians and independent production companies and Nollywood have taken part in these masterclasses. This initiative is aimed at providing useful information to industry participants about the latest practices in the industry in fast changing technological space.
While the Nigerian film industry may have been forged from the stones of experimentation, reaching the peak of our creative potential will certainly require more than trials and errors as improvements in the entertainment industry have shown. It will require thinking in new ways and adopting new strategies and techniques of the new age. Masterclasses acknowledge the roles of passion and experimenting, they teach proven methods and bring participants up to speed about global changes and opportunities in the industry, as it is only through constant vigilance that filmmakers can compete with their counterparts in Hollywood, Bollywood and the rest of the globe.
For many years, Nollywood has been sustained on passion. But this has not translated into the needed prosperity that the industry so desperately desires. Those who built the industry did it as a labour of love, but in a knowledge economy, cultural elements should be able to translate to more jobs and better standard of living for the general populace. For this passion to metamorphose into prosperity, it will require knowledge of best practices, to ensure that the huge efforts of this generation of film makers shine in all corners of the world. It will require skills that will ensure that Nigerians can make films of international quality, fit for screening on global platforms without much reconfiguration due to poor production quality. It is for things like these that the MTF was created.
The masterclasses also tackle technical issues such as sound recording that normally takes the shine off intricately written scripts. This is a vital part of film production that has turned many production efforts into ashes in the mouth. Poor sound recording has been the bane of many Nollywood movies for years. The masterclasses will empower participants with knowledge of achieving a cleaner and better sound, reducing the cost of film productions in the process, especially in the area of additional sound recording.
All in all, the MTF is also a haven for practitioners seeking to better their skills. As long as the creative industry continues to be a player in the global knowledge economy, the difference between the high-earning producer and those at the bottom rung of the ladder will continue to be the skills and the quality of information available to both. The masterclasses are for practitioners who are irrevocably committed to the pursuit of excellence in the film industry through better and newer ways of doing things. While the quality of information and skills to be learnt at the masterclasses could easily translate into higher earnings for each participant, the Director of the MTF West Africa Academy has loftier ideals for each participant. According to Femi Odugbemi, “I don’t want them to take over individually. I want them to form cells or teams to work together and transform their passion into something that is structurally strong, not to work as individual film makers but to establish production companies. We want them to be game changers in the economy of the creative industry and to expand opportunities for other people.” Indeed, no one captures it better than the Director, and herein lies the importance of the MTF academy.
In March 2019, the MTF launched a third touchpoint, the MTF Portal which is Africa’s hottest new creative network and to date, the portal has over 20 000 registered profiles which is testament that the MTF portal is filling an important niche in film and TV industry. The portal has a real-time messaging component that allows connected members to network and interact directly with each other. Visitors to the site can also tune in to the African Storyteller Podcast Series which narrates untold stories behind the content we love and showcases the storytellers behind Africa’s leading broadcast productions.
Are you signed-up to the MTF portal? Don’t wait! Join over 20 000 creatives right now on www.multichoicetalentfactory.com who are constantly informed about exciting new opportunities from the creative industry.
Femi Odugbemi
Odugbemi is Academy Director West Africa MultiChoice Talent Factory
