Vivian Adeyemo recently chatted exclusively to filmmaker and star actress Bolu Essien to discuss her inspiration for the Becoming Abi series and how she combines motherhood with her busy career working in the corporate world and movie industry.
If you are a fan of Nigerian TV, you would have most likely binge watched Season 1 of Becoming Abi, a six-part Nigerian sitcom created by Nollywood actress and producer Bolu Essien.
Globally released on Netflix on 28 October 2022. Becoming Abi is inspired loosely by the true life events of Essien in the Nigerian advertising industry. It tells the story of Abi (played by Essien). A young, smart, ambitious creative as she embarks on a role at a top advertising agency in Lagos. Journaling her rise to promotion.
The series is funny and relatable. Explores life as a young professional navigating a new place of work, office politics, difficult bosses, friendships, love and faith.
Multi-talented Bolu Essien co-directs and co-produces the series; which was produced by Essien’s Nigerian-based production company Evolving Lights Studios. Founded alongside her husband Emmanuel Essien, and distributed by Nigerian distributor FilmOne.
Bolu has appeared in numerous projects including Dying with the King (2010), Broken Bridges (2012), and Things That Broke Us (2021). She also directed and produced the documentary Scars of Honour (2022) which aimed to destigmatise childbirth via caesarean section.
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The effervescent and articulate star discussed at length why she quit the corporate world for acting. Her inspirations, destigmatising caesarean section births, her faith and more. The interview comes in two parts, with part one below.
Inspiration behind Becoming Abi
Becoming Abi is funny and relatable, what was the inspiration for doing it?
The last time I acted in a movie was 2012. I was on hiatus from acting due to pursing my corporate career in an advertising agency before moving on to brand management. Knowing that I was always going to come back to films, as this is what gives me joy. I knew writing and acting was my thing. In 2021, it was whilst asleep that the title “Becoming Abi” came to me and then everything came to me as a flash: “to chronicle my journey as a working professional in Nigeria”.
A lot of people create films in Nigeria which portrays the corporate world. However, there is a lack of proper representation due to maybe the writers having not actually experienced that world. I have had over nine years of experience working in the corporate and adverting space. I felt qualified to write the series. In terms of the style and tone of writing, I am a big fan of Issa Rae (American actress and producer) and Michaela Coel (British actress and screenwriter) – you can definitely see their influence on the project. Whether its writing in the third person or creating the conscious character Abi always talks to in the series; which was inspired by Issa Rae. I was inspired by Michaela Coel who creates quirky movies and relatable characters which are funny and are based on the experiences they go through without being caricatures of themselves.
Fact or Fiction?
How much of Becoming Abi is fact considering that it was inspired by your true life experience in the Nigerian advertising industry?
It’s a balance of both fact and fiction. It’s not autobiographical, but it’s loosely inspired by events in my life. The experiences are similar, but I have moulded the stories to convey the story I want to tell.
My Family is my Backbone
You are a producer, writer, actor, founder of a production company with your husband Emmanuel and a mother to your three year old son Enoch. How do you balance these multiple roles?
There is a chair I am sitting on which is giving me the balance. If you check the film credits for Becoming Abi, my mother-in-law’s name is there in terms of appreciation. She has been the backbone for some of the things we do as a couple, she has been there to take care of my son. My son was just one year old when we shot Becoming Abi and I was on set for 15 days and throughout that time, he was being looked after by my mother-in-law. Every two to three days my husband would bring him on set to spend time with me. I would definitely call my mother-in-law a tremendous source of support.
Husband and Wife Duo
My husband is also a huge source of support. We work together and were friends first. I find this makes working together easier. He has always known I wanted to do films and has supported me throughout. When I was working in corporate, he knew my heart was really into film making. He always kept encouraging me and telling me you will know when you are ready to go into it. At the end of 2020, I said I was ready to go into film making and in 2021 we set up the production company Evolving lights Studios.
I can’t take away the role of God. God has been a strong force in our family, we really believe in praying and getting guidance from God. When we shot Becoming Abi we knew God wanted us to do it at that time and we didn’t know it will go to Netflix – but here we are. God is good!
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Faith is Important
You are a committed Christian, how much does faith play a part in the sort of roles or projects you embark on?
It does play a very huge role, although we are not a faith based company, it is run by faith based believers. That means that we can talk about anything that is important. We do have a documentary coming out soon called Scars of Honour which documents women who have had caesarean sections (CS) and how the Nigerian society stigmatises them and makes them feel like they’re weak or not spiritual enough. We also interviewed women who had undergone a CS.
I myself went through a CS. There are different reasons for having CS from health and medical reasons to breech babies. So, this not a faith issue but a topical issue. However, there is never a vacuum in story-telling and so for our company, faith does comes into play in the sort of stories we want to portray.
Scars of Honour
You mentioned your documentary – Scars of Honour which addresses the stigma of caesarean section (CS) birth within some African communities. How important was it to you to tell this story?
We filmed the project before Becoming Abi. But we strongly believe that a project has their time and season. Last March, I released the first cut of the trailer for Scars of Honour. At the time, I had something like 200 followers on social media but the trailer gained over 38,000 views because people were sharing it with friends and family. There were people who reached out to me to thank me for telling this story and the experiences of their wives, friends and family members. There were even people who contacted me from different countries wanting to interview me, but I wasn’t ready to go through that process as I wasn’t sure which platform the documentary was going to be released on.
Destigmatising Caesarean Section Births
It was important to tell this story, my experiences of working in the corporate space and a professional environment has built my confidence and courage. Having undergone CS it was easy for me to talk about it. I noticed that other women didn’t want other women to know they had undergone a CS birth as they didn’t want to be judged as weak and not being able to pray. It was important for me to let these women know that it had nothing to do with a women’s ability to pray or not, it was about the life of the mother and her unborn child.
In my case, I had a dream that my unborn son was not breathing. My husband and I started praying. At 38 weeks, I did not have one single contraction. The consultant asked whether I wanted to be induced so that I can push. I had refused and reminded my husband of the dream. We felt it was God speaking to us and we decided to go for a CS – a decision that was made three or four days before the operation. When my son was delivered, his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck three times, which meant that if I had been induced, the cord would have kept strangling him, if I pushed during labour.
In the documentary, we also recorded a live CS, so that people can literally watch it. However, it was edited to conceal the graphic nature. It was important for me to tell this story in order to educate people and spread awareness.
Watch out for Part 2 of the Exclusive Interview with Bolu Essien
In part two of this exclusive interview with Bolu Essien, she discusses the challenges she faced making Becoming Abi, her future goals, and why she’s a fan of Viola Davis. She also shares advice for young women wanting to break into the TV and film industry and many more. Make sure to check out part two which is coming soon. You don’t want to miss it! Sign up to NRTC Newsletter below to be notified.
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