Content Development Strategy and Content Marketing Strategy for Film Production, Acquisition and Distribution for Nollywood

 

Content Development Strategy and Content Marketing Strategy for Film Production, Acquisition and Distribution for Nollywood

There is no film production without preproduction of which the most important components are research and development of the film project, script development and recce.

For example, I spent four years on the location for the script development of "Naked Beauty". I have completed the research and development during the recce on Bonny Island in Rivers State before the accomplished multiple awards winning Nollywood filmmaker and film studies scholar, Dr. Chika Christian Onu came to visit me where I was staying in the Residential Area 1 of the Nigeria LNG Limited. And we coauthored the screenplay which I published the book as a case study for screenwriting for film production in Nigeria. It was printed in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America.

The content development included development of the principal characters in the drama based on the people in Agaja village on Bonny Island.

Naked Beauty is available on 

https://www.lulu.com/fr/shop/michael-chima-ekenyerengozi-and-christian-chika-onu/naked-beauty/paperback/product-453339.html

Research and development of the screenplay comes first in preproduction of a film for television or the cinema.

What is Content Development Strategy?

Research on the kind of content you want to produce; the genre and the target audience.

Whether it is a movie, documentary or music video.

What kind of content will attract your target audience.

Your target audience should decide the kind of content you want to produce.

Do surveys for the needs assessment of your target audience.

What kind of entertainment they want.

Your content must connect with the target audience.

You cannot communicate with someone you cannot connect to or with.

There is no communication without connection.

You have to speak to the target audience in their own means of communication; in their most common language.

This is when you have to use content localization for the best interests of your target audience wherever they are located.

The details of the rest are common knowledge of the culture and haute couture of the target audience.

Beware of tribal and religious taboos.

Appreciate and respect the peculiarities of the personalities of the target audience.

Don't provoke them with what you have written in the screenplay as shown on the screen.

Common sense is enough to know that you don't show people eating pork with relish to Muslims.

Avoid heresy. 

You have to produce what appeals to them.

Your story and the characters must have characteristics they are familiar with; people they can relate with in their society.

Your content must resonate with them on their lives and lifestyles in the events and incidents in the story.

A good filmmaker should be a good storyteller.

The success of storytelling depends on planning.

You must have a plan.

What's the subject on?

What is the purpose?

The conclusion and resolution of conflict in your story.

Planning is like weaving in cloth making. 

You must know how to spin your yarn so that you don't spin your wheels in the long run.

Content Marketing Strategy

You must have a content marketing strategy.

The most successful filmmaker in Nollywood, Funke Akindele is the best case study in both content development strategy and content marketing strategy in the Nigerian film industry.

Funke Akindele

Funke's comic character of "Jenifa" was based on research and development of the personality of the semi literate Yoruba village girl who speaks her own peculiar form of Pidgin English in both coherent and incoherent speech. She is an impressionable and vulnerable naive young woman who is desperate to improve her life no matter the odds against her in the boisterous city of Lagos in order to get a proper education to fulfill her ambition in the highly competitive Nigerian society.

From the making of the iconic comic character of "Jenifa" for the cinema to the TV series of "Jenifa's Diary" and to the making of her Nollywood Blockbuster, "A Tribe Called Judah" (partly based on the true life experiences of her mother), Funke Akindele has shown the successful route of content development strategy and content marketing strategy. 

She is currently the highest grossing filmmaker in the Nigerian film industry with a total Gross of over ₦2.9 billion from the box office.

I told my younger sister who is one of the millions of her fans, that I can commission Funke Akindele to produce my proposed romantic comedy, "Omo Naija in London" and be rest assured of the box office success. 

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

The Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,

The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

Giving Africa a Creative Voice in the Digital Era

 MultiChoice Group

OPINION PIECE

Giving Africa a Creative Voice in the Digital Era (By Georginah Machiridza)

A modern media company would likely use a combination of broadcast media, social media, written content, video clips, as well as animation and physical activations to share content and market their brand.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 25, 2022/ -- By Georginah Machiridza, Executive Head Content Strategy and 3rd Party Channels, MultiChoice Group (www.MultiChoice.com)

It’s crucial that the content, art and creative output of Africa’s content creators remains authentically African, even while we embrace the opportunities of the digital era, writes Georginah Machiridza, Executive Head Content Strategy and 3rd Party Channels, MultiChoice Group.

We’re all aware of how rapidly the media landscape is changing. Audiences have been migrating to digital and online channels for more than a decade, and even established media such as broadcast, film, and radio are using hybrid platforms that reach audiences across multiple channels.

A modern media company would likely use a combination of broadcast media, social media, written content, video clips, as well as animation and physical activations to share content and market their brand.

Digital skills

This constantly evolving media terrain requires a diverse range of skills. Storytelling lies at the heart of most media messaging, but specific technical knowledge is required to translate compelling stories for every channel.

Writing, cinematography, video editing, TV, radio and online presenting, animation, coding and content management are just some of the specialised skills of the modern media landscape – many of which are evolving in real time as their respective media fields develop.

Africa is at the coalface of these developments. New media provides enormous opportunities to reach more of our people, with more compelling content, and to do it more efficiently and cost-effectively.

African authenticity

The challenge, though, is that we must continue to tell African stories, even while many technology innovations and Big Tech companies originate outside Africa. Digital media evolution comes with a very real threat of cultural imperialism.

The solution to avoiding this Western cultural hegemony is twofold. Firstly, we must empower African content creators with the skills to tell African stories. Secondly, we must create viable, profitable markets for African content, and grow demand for that content.

Fortunately, Africa has long been a hub of creativity and innovation. We have “found our voice” in the digital economy, and there are many creators telling African stories for African, as well as global audiences.

These include people like Kenyan comedienne Elsa Majimbo, Ghanaian internet personality Wode Maya, Ghanaian visual artist Prince Gyasi, Kenyan journalist Brian Otieno, South African illustrator and artist Slaying Goliath, SA comic Donovan Goliath and others. These innovators are  “Expressing Africa” through compelling content using digital and social-media platforms.

African media platforms such as DStv and Showmax are also enabling this trend, creating platforms across the continent tailor-made to showcase African stories for audiences hungry for stories about themselves and their culture.

In 2018, M-Net and MultiChoice spent R2,5bn developing local movies and series and bringing them to screens across Africa.

By investing in original productions of authentic stories and talent across the continent, M-Net is helping to launch acting, writing and filmmaking careers, both locally and internationally.

Hyperlocal platforms

In Ethiopia, MultiChoice channel Abol TV provides premium 100% Ethiopian general entertainment 24 hours a day. In Uganda, Pearl Magic provides a similar offering, telling stories by Ugandans for Ugandans. In Nigeria, Africa Magic provides channels in Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa. Customised hyperlocal MultiChoice offerings are also available in Ghana, Angola, Mozambique and Kenya and 3rd party channel launching in Zimbabwe recently.

The group reaches a total of 50 African countries. The Showmax streaming service has also emerged as a powerful platform for African content, through its movie and series offerings. Its Colours Of Africa series of homegrown African short films by MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) students celebrates African culture and the effects of modernisation on some cultural practices.

Skills pipeline

All of these emerging platforms – whether broadcast, streaming or digital – have created enormous opportunities for African media workers and content creators. Creating the skills that enable young creatives to grasp these opportunities is the other way Africa will find its voice in the digital era.

Helping to provide this, by building a pipeline of skilled African content professionals is the MultiChoice Talent Factory.

MTF plays a critical role in building and strengthening the TV & film industry across Africa, and was born out of a need to solve for representation, local content, and higher production quality and value. MTF is a shared-value platform and strives to be Africa’s leading training ground for content creators, by providing an enhanced training programme through partnering with local and global experts. The initiative takes a multi-tiered approach, incorporating the MTF Portal, the MTF Academies and MTF Industry Masterclasses.

Every year, the MTF academies select 74 talented African individuals to participate in a 12-month academic and practical immersion programme including both theory and hands-on experience in cinematography, editing, audio production and storytelling to name a few.

The year-long, fully sponsored programme is offered through regional MTF academies in Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and South Africa, in partnership with local tertiary education institutions. Students and interns learn filmmaking by making films – developing their film and TV production skills alongside industry greats.

In addition, MTF Masterclasses give working film and television professionals and those who aspire to be content creators exclusive access to practical, industry expert-led skills workshops, where they interact and learn from the best in Africa and the world. The online portal has more than 40 000 registered users who have access to a growing library of masterclass content.

The MTF Masterclasses, the Academies and the MTF Portal (a profiling and networking platform) – support MultiChoice’s commitment to enhancing accessibility, opportunity, and quality in local productions.

These initiatives are all part of Africa’s cultural and technological resurgence, creating opportunities and building capacity, allowing Africa’s creative output to stand proud on the world stage.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of MultiChoice Group.

SOURCE

MultiChoice Group