Nollywood’s Technological Advances Key to Industry’s Success, Says Fred Amata

Veteran Nollywood filmmaker and actor, Fred Amata, has shared his insights on the evolution, challenges, and future prospects of Nollywood in Nigeria. 

Speaking in an interview with Radio Now’s Abiodun Adelowore, Mr. Amata described the growth of the industry as  ‘unique,’ highlighting both its achievements and its hurdles.

“The evolution of Nollywood and the challenge of hunger is a party pursuit. And so, a lot of times our filmmakers are not complete, are not baked, are not cooked yet before they start to cook. Therefore, it affects the quality of the production. Now, several areas have not been properly developed. For instance, sound. Sound has evolved tremendously today. In those days, sound was a major issue. The very availability of equipment itself made it such that you could take a camera, a camcorder, and it will have a built-in microphone. And it was almost an abomination for you to leave the camcorder with this built-in microphone that comes free to go and look for a sound unit that you spend almost one-tenth of your budget to achieve.”

He went on to discuss how technological advancements have transformed the industry, noting that while Nigeria once faced limitations in accessing the right technology, these barriers have largely been overcome. 

Mr. Amata stressed that the availability of better technology has been crucial to Nollywood’s growth. 

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“Another thing that had hampered us was the availability of technology. In the earlier days, in our days, technology, the best technology was not available to Nollywood. It’s a different situation today. Now the best cameras, the best sound equipment, were not available, but they were available to like advertisers, what do you call them, making commercials and all that. They were available through a commercial and then home video or as a music video at some point now got a lot, now decided that we could put our money and have the best technology available to us. So technology was also a hindering factor until today when a good producer would not spare any cost to get the proper equipment.”

On the role of government policies and regulations, he commended the government for its efforts to structure and support the industry, acknowledging the positive impact of recent initiatives aimed at enhancing Nollywood’s global standing. 

“Governments have always been interested and have shown tremendous interest in trying to help. But some of them pay upsetting monies to other people, you could achieve your own money. And in terms of policies, since Nigeria, the GDP of Nigeria was rebased, and Nollywood contributed, was it 2.3 or 3. something percent of the GDP. Governments have continually tried to set up and to restructure the industry. But the industry is evolving in fast pace.”