Inside Nollywood 2022 Roundup: For The Love Of Film And Nollywood’s Growth

Our work has only just begun. In 2023, expect more outpouring of love for nollywood.

In December 2021, we were setting up what would eventually become our most challenging project yet — Inside Nollywood — with very little clue about what impact our small corner of the internet would have on the industry, but filled with faith that the goals we were determined to reach were important for us, Nigerian media and Nollywood in particular. 

On December 19, our first story dropped and we officially announced to the world that we had launched a small publication committed to improving the quality of conversations around and about the Nigerian film industry. That day, our debut report titled ‘Making Money in Nollywood: Women Hold the Formula’, a detailed and data-backed introspection on women's power moves in Nollywood, went live. 

Nobody really talks about how hard it is to pick your first article for a new publication and the thought that goes into it, knowing it can have long-lasting effects. We decided to begin by highlighting the key contributions of women to the industry because they never really get a great spotlight. 

The easiest would have been a list, but that wouldn’t show much of what we are about — depth. With the article, not only were we able to show that women are the cornerstones of the Nigerian film industry, but we explained how, brought the numbers and gave solid examples. It laid the foundation and set the tone for the kind of work we set out to do and a solid base for our primary goal which is to improve the quality of conversations in Nollywood. 

Throughout the year, we have provided deep perspectives on the industry, its business practices and ethics (through our famous horrible bosses series), its growth and opportunities. 

We published 34 articles that were read over 70, 000 times, started conversations and offered deep perspectives on subjects that were previously taboo and often devoid of nuances.

Here are top Inside Nollywood stories in 2022: 

• ‘For Maria’: The Damilola Orimogunje Led Team Has Scored A Netflix Hit
  Damilola Orimogunje entered 2022 with a bang as For Maria made it to Netflix, staying on the top spot and reaffirming the audience’s appreciation for well-made Nollywood films. Read our analysis here.

• Is The Cinema Audience Avoiding Nollywood?
  Nollywood’s market share in cinemas dropped to 25.8 per cent in the first half of 2022, down from the 39.3 per cent it held in the first half of 2021. The lead story in our journal can be found here.
  

• Kayode Kasum Wants To Hug You With Film
  The filmmaker talked about his love for film and music, his latest, Obara'm and everything in between. This marked our foray into our profiling portfolio as we set out to tell the nuanced stories of Nollywood industry players. Read here. 

• The Set Up Sequel Failed But Were The Expectations Ever High?

  Naz Onuzo as director, writer and producer in a sole production is a formula yet to prove artistic or commercial viability. We took a look at Inkblot Production’s output creatively and commercially using The Set Up 2 as a focal point. Read here.
  

• Oscars Drama: Nollywood Is The Weapon Fashioned Against Itself

  For weeks, the messy activities of the Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee (NOSC) put the industry in a quagmire. But there was nothing new about the drama. Is Nollywood ready to do better? Find out here.
  
  

• ​​Ema Edosio Has A Message For Young Filmmakers

  Ema Edosio is passionate about showing the other paths to building a Nollywood career. The talented filmmaker talked about her new film Otiti and navigating Nollywood here.
  

Our biggest moments in the last year: 

• Horrible bosses Twitter series: For the first time in recent history, film people displayed a high level of vulnerability as they talked openly about malpractices in the industry, structural problems and other issues. Inside Nollywood provided a safe space for people to vent, followed on issues and ensured that the right actions were taken as much as possible.  

• The Industry journal went live: On July 15, the debut edition of our journal, The Industry, launched. It is a first of its kind in Nollywood with clear analyses about doing business in this industry. You can find it here. 

• Inside Nollywood Film Fellowship: We realized that a key part of improving the quality of conversation in a space is improving talents through training. On this note, we launched the fellowship on September 5. You can read all about the first cohort here.
  

• Our external features: We are forever grateful to the people who shone the light on us in 2022, writing about the work we do and its impacts. We are honoured publications like the Guardian and many others find our data analysis useful. Particularly, we love that we could support our friends at Akoroko by talking about our work for their campaign. No one has captured the goals of Inside Nollywood and why it matters as Adedimeji Quayyim Abdul-Hafeez did in this article or the heart of our film fellowship like Kikachi Memeh in this heartfelt piece. Of course, we are honoured that we made the list of events that shaped Nollywood in 2022 by What Kept Me Up.

What’s next? 

Our work has only just begun and we will continue to focus on sifting through the noise by doing more impactful work through excellent coverage, analysis and media experiments. Thank you for your support.