The development of the Creative Economy is hinged on the development of the Digital Economy in the 21st century.
The creative industry in the 21st century is driven by digital technology from the street to the internet.
Monetization of every format of intellectual property (IP) is mostly generated by digital applications of production, acquisition, distribution, collection and exhibition of which the transactions for the revenues are through fintech applications and services.
We cannot have a robust creative
economy without the support of the digital economy. Both economies have become interlocked as can be seen in Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, X and the new developments by the MultiChoice Group in Africa.
The largest revenues of the entertainment industry are online.
Where else can we have billions of downloads and views of content?
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THE ROLE OF DIGITAL ECONOMY IN ADVANCING CREATIVE INDUSTRIES-CREATIVITY 2030 SEMINAR
Photo: Minister of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa- Musawa.
I read a report by The Punch newspaper of Nigeria, that "Nigeria’s entertainment industry is set to receive a boost with the recent appointment of Hannatu Musawa as the Special Adviser on Culture and Entertainment Economy to President Bola Tinubu."
The Punch did not tell us how Hannatu Musa-Musawa will boost the culture and creative industry, except quoting her academic and professional qualifications as a lawyer like Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the former Minister of Information and Culture under former President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari,retd.
President of the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria, Bolaji Amusan, aka Mr Latin commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for her appointment.
Why?
I don't know.
Has she been an outstanding administrator before her appointment?
I am more concerned with Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry,
The past Ministers for Information and Culture did not know about the administration of the film industry and were more focused on being spokespersons for the President; like Alhaji Lai Mohammed and his predecessors.
Nigeria does not have a film policy, no single film commission and only recently talking about film treaties with France, Canada and South Africa.
Nollywood does not have any insurance policy and no structure in the Nigerian film industry.
There is more opportunism than professionalism in Nollywood and Kannywood.
The National Film and Videos Censors Board (NFVCB) sometimes crosses the line to do the work of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC).
Have you noticed that many Nigerian movies don't have classifications for the restrictions of children under the ages of 13, 16 and 18.
They just approve movies once you pay them the fees.
I have been to their office for the approval of "Changing Faces" of Faruk Lasaki in 2012. They just approved it without any classification. Most likely, they didn't know how to classify the film.
The office had no library.
The qualifications of the staff are dubious. Are they trained and certified for their jobs?
The Nigerian Film Corporation is meant to produce films.
But have you seen films produced by the corporation since 1999 to date? And when you tell them to do their duties, they become angry and attack you.
Civil servants and political appointees should not be given appointments which they will not know what to do, except having events, news media interviews and traveling to International conferences to make speeches. They will keep on wasting precious quality time and budgets without achievements.
What did Alhaji Lai Mohammed achieve for the Nigerian film industry?
What did he achieve for the music industry?
Show me the milestones of his office in the administration of former President Buhari.
In 2013, I launched the Screen Naija Outdoor Cinema project of my Screen Outdoor Open Air Cinema (SOOAC) cosponsored by the Bank of Industry (BoI) of Nigeria at the Freedom Park on Lagos Island and attracted the IMAX Corporation of Canada to come to Nigeria to meet with me the BoI and the Amuwo Odofin Local Government with the choice of having the first IMAX Cinema in West Africa. I organized the first United Nations' International Day of the Girl Child celebrated in Nigeria with the premiere of the acclaimed documentary film, "Girl Rising" at the Silverbird Cinemas in the Silverbird Galleria on Victoria Island, Lagos. I published the first edition of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry printed in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA..And I started the development of the iPost mobile video app with developers in Asia which was one of the 10 finalists of the annualu Fundfor Internet Research and Development – FIRE Africa Awards in 2014 for outstanding tech innovation.
https://www.fireafrica.org/2014-fire-awards
I am satisfied with the app, but I want it to offer more than news and entertainment to include eCommerce and fintech and also include a channel for blockchain.
iPost will be more advanced than Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. It has attracted angel investors in Silicon Valley in southern San Francisco Bay Area of California, the home of Apple, Facebook and Google and recently top NIgerian unicorn Flutterwave. iPost is already among the new most anticipated startups on AngelList which raised a $100 million Series B led by Tiger and Accomplice at a $4 billion valuation.
The preseed fundraising round of iPost Nigeria will be done by an Asian equity firm that has done successful fundraising rounds for many startups, including two Nigerian startups.
Nigeria is the capital of startups in Africa with more unicorns than in any other country on the continent. And iPost Nigeria will become one of them one fine day.
It has been a busy August for me communicating with some of the biggest film and TV production, acquisition and distribution companies in America, Europe, Australia and India. I have a large catalog of movies, series and documentaries for international theatrical release, TV channels and OTT platforms.
VISION FILMS, INC and Vuulr have premium content. Vuulr has new buyers and sellers for international film and TV rights of enchanting dramas, comedies, documentaries and animes.
The first MIP Africa held last week from August 24-26, 2022 at the International Convention Center (CTICC) in Cape Town, South Africa.
MIP Africa had special overviews on South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania with United States of America as the first guest country.
85 exhibitors met with 60 hosted (all expenses paid) buyers, as well as some of 240 “member” buyers.
The Alpha Man, Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima meeting with Mark Zuckerberg, the Cofounder and CEO of Facebook on August 31, 2016 at the Afrinolly Space in Oreggun, Lagos Mainland, Lagos, Nigeria.
My second meeting with Mark will be coming up after the release of my mobile video app, the next big thing for social media networking, news, entertainment, e-commerce and fintech which will begin the total decentralization of financial transactions and all from an app.
Our target is to reach over 1 million pageviews monthly without buying fake Views, fake Likes and fake Followers like others on the internet.
The most advanced NIgerian owned digital news blog published by International Digital Post Network Limited currently in the advanced stage of launching the OTT streaming news, entertainment and eCommerce mobile video platform.
View it on https://angel.co/u/michael-chima-ekenyerengozi
Target is reach over 200 million users of GSM phones within 12 months.
This is the future of NIgerian news media and entertainment industry.
- By Ekenyerengoz Michael Chima, The CEO, International Digital Post Network Limited, Lagos, Nigeria. Publisher/Editor NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi
I stopped working for salaries in 2000 and registered my own company, King of Kings Books International .
After working as the youngest professional script writer.in Africa for the NIgerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 10 at 18.
Art and Features Editor for Kiddies World magazine of Hon. Babatunde Ereola at 24-25;
National Program Consultant for the UNICEF in Nigeria at 25;
IEC Field Officer for the Center for Education, Population, AIDS and Drug Abuse (CEPADA) at 32;
Production Manager of "Money Wise" on DBN TV in Lagos at 35 and left after two years to start my indie publishing company at 37.
Already a national celebrity at 13 when I won the first prize in the national essay competition on "What I Like Best About NIgeria".
Represented Nigeria at two international book fairs for children's books in Japan for my illustrations on traditional farming tools in Nigeria when I was 20 and the youngest participant and ten years later, I curated one of the most successful and sold out group art exhibitions in Nigeria on Arts against AIDS for the celebration of the World AIDS Day in 1993 organized by NNNGO of Nigeria at the National Museum in Onikan and National Arts Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos. My oil paintings, "Eruption of the Love Virus" and "Metamorphosis of the HIV in the T-Cell" were the first artworks to be sold.
Then I directed my second stage drama, "Sleepless Night" on the June 12 political crisis at the French Cultural Centre in Ikoyi in 2002 cosponsored by my United Artists for Human Development (UAHD), French Cultural Centre and Otunba Dele Momodu, Founder and Publisher of the popular OVATION lifestyle and high society magazine. Then later founded and incorporated my second company, International Digital Post Network Limited, Publisher of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry since 2013. This digital media company is developing the most advanced mobile video app in Africa that will be for news, entertainment, eCommerce and fintech combined. My ultimate goal is for the mobile video app to be used for wealth creation and distribution for the reduction of poverty by 80 percent.
My iPost, the revolution of the news and entertainment industry in Nigeria to be launched soon.
News by the people for the people.
iPost mobile video app was one of the 10 finalists of the annual Fund for Internet Research and Development – FIRE Africa Awards in 2014 for outstanding tech innovation.
"Eagle Wings", The Best War Film in the History of Filmmaking in Nigeria
"Eagle Wings’, a Nollywood and the Nigerian Airforce film collaboration is the best war film in the history of filmmaking in Nigeria since "Palaver", the first film shot in NIgeria by the Academy Award winning English filmmaker, Geoffrey Barkas in 1926.
Other notable NIgerian war films include "Ija Ominira" (Fight For Freedom) of 1979 directed by Dr. Ola Balogun and produced by Adeyemi Afolayan, aka "Ade Love", classified as one of the classics of the Cinema;
"Cry Freedom" (1981) by Dr. Ola Balogun, "Battle of Love" (2003), "Across the Niger" (2004), "Laviva" (2007) and "76" (2016) by Izu Ojukwu.
"Eagle Wings" is one of the best NIgerian films in 2021 and the best in original screenplay, best cinematography, best casting, best visual effects and the best directing in combat choreography.
“The film explores the often tragic, yet thrilling business of fighting for life, peace, and the freedom to love in the face of great violence. An uplifting journey through a terror-filled landscape and the power of newly found love, faith, duty and sacrifice ," said the director Paul Apel Papel.
Eagle Wings’ follows the story of an Air Force Fighter pilot who must navigate his way to safety amid an insurgency. It highlights the sacrifices of the military in combating insecurity and keeping the peace of the nation. The movie also explores the often tragic, yet thrilling mission in battling for life, peace, and freedom to love, in the face of great danger.
Starring Nollywood stars Enyinna Nwigwe,Femi Jacobs, Yakubu Mohammed, Francis Duru, Sadiq Daba, Keppy Ekpeyong, Uzee Usman, Saeed Muhammed, Patience Ujah, Jamila Ibrahim and Abdul Zada.
The film is a poignant action war drama about an Airforce Fighter Pilot who is caught in the harrowing world of insurgency.
The director and producer, Paul Apel Papel, is a Colorado Film School-trained filmmaker.
“Overall, it is an uplifting journey through a terror-filled landscape and the power of newly found love, faith, duty and sacrifice,” he noted.
With this project, Papel said he will be able to successfully tell not just any story, but an original African story from a place of power and grace.
Papel said he has pushed all boundaries and taken new risks, not just with the storyline, but also with the quality of production he seeks to put out.
This first of it's kind to be shot using the Atlaslensco Orion 2x Anamorphic lenses on the ARRI Alexa Mini cameras, shooting OpenGate-the first to be ever done in West Africa and Nollywood.
Alexa Mini is the favourite of the best DPs in Hollywood. ALEXA Mini LF was used to shoot the British war film "1917" (2019) by Sir Roger Alexander Deakins CBE, winner of five BAFTA Awards for Best Cinematography, and has had fifteen nominations and two wins for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE, Academy Award winner for "American Beauty" (1999) directed "1917" and received ten nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, and three wins, for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Mixing.
*Eagle Wings" can be converted to an IMAX film by DMR (digital re-mastering). IMAX's 3D conversion technology enables live-action movies that were originally shot in 2D to be converted into stunning IMAX 3D.
The Scramble for Nollywood and The Status of Lagos State
Everyone wants to have a bite of a hot pizza.
I hope the current scramble for Nollywood by the major streaming video services from America is not like the scramble for Africa by European powers (between 1881 and 1914).
Entertainment is Power
I wonder if the Nigerian government knows the dynamics of the overwhelming power of our entertainment industry beyond the glitz and razzmatazz and surplus economic returns.
The internet has become the most powerful vehicle of the entertainment industry since the inventions of the cinema and television.
The sociocultural, socioeconomic and sociopolitical powers of entertainment can define and determine the future of a nation and the civilization of the people.
Entertainment generates more revenues for America than oil.
That is why California is the richest state in the United States.
The economy of California, with a gross state product of $3.2 trillion as of 2019, is the largest sub-national economy in the world.
California is the home of Hollywood, Silicon Valley and Mountain View, the headquarters of the entertainment industry and of the Big Techs, including Apple, Alphabet and Meta. And is home to five of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization and four of the world's ten richest people.
Without the internet, these Big Techs will not be Big and without entertainment, they will not become the biggest tech giants in the world.
Lagos is the powerhouse of the economy of Nigeria and the capital of the entertainment industry in Nigeria, the home of Nollywood and the home of Yabacon, the Silicon Valley of Nigeria where there are the first tech unicorns in Africa. And Lagos can become to Nigeria what California is to America.
As it has been noted that if California were a country, it would be the fifth largest economy in the world, likewise Lagos would be the fifth-largest economy in Africa if it were a country.
The realization of the awesome developments of tech startups connected to the entertainment industry in Lagos is what has attracted the biggest American streaming video services to Nollywood.
Disney already has a base in Nigeria with the long term partnership with Kugali Media.
But there is scarcity of content of premium quality."
- EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima.
Thousands of movies, series, documentaries, music videos and shows are produced every day. And majority are offered free to view online and offline. But millions of people are still willing to pay for the subscriptions to watch the best content for their entertainment 24/7.
What is the secret of the success of ABC, Disney, HBO, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other top content producers and distributors in the world?
UNiQUE CONTENT!
We are always anxious and curious to see what is unique and exciting.
Excitement is the joy of Entertainment.
Any content that does not excite us cannot attract us.
