Veteran Nollywood actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has identified funding as the major factor limiting the growth of Nigeria’s film industry, Nollywood.
Speaking during a recent episode of the Afropolitan Podcast, the actress explained that financial constraints continue to slow the development of Nollywood, especially when compared with the rapid global success of Nigerian music.
According to her, the difference in production cost between the music industry and filmmaking is significant. She noted that creating music is generally cheaper and easier, while movie production often requires larger budgets and more personnel.
“What is holding Nollywood back is mostly funding. With music, it is not really as expensive to create. Except if you want to shoot lavish music videos which are rare these days.
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“Because easy viral ideas make more impact than packaged billion-dollar budget videos.
“So you notice that a lot of artists and now just having fun in their house or with friends and they record it and people like it because it is organic.
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“But you can’t do that with film, unfortunately. The cheapest movie would probably still have like 30 cast and crew,” she explained.
Jalade-Ekeinde, who has experience in both acting and music and once owned a record label, suggested that the high cost of film production remains a major challenge for Nollywood compared to the music industry, particularly Afrobeats, which has grown rapidly on the global stage.
