CHALLENGES OF PRODUCING LITERARY ADAPTATIONS IN NOLLYWOOD

Abstract

Much of the scholarship on Nollywood has focused on the films‘ preoccupation with the occult, negative representation of women, shoddy plots, as well as generic configurations. Also, there have been persistent propositions for Nollywood filmmakers to adopt Nigerian literature as source material to ameliorate the deficiencies noticeable in the contents of their films. The propositions, which remain largely unheeded, came on the heels of the observation that filmmakers have paid very little attention to literary texts in spite of Nigeria‘s enviable profile of written literature. Scholarly attempts at providing explanations for filmmakers‘ apathy to literary adaptations have rarely considered the production-related hurdles. This study was, therefore, designed to undertake a deeper production-focused investigation to provide industry-generated perspective to the often pondered question on the paucity of literary adaptations in Nollywood. Simon Murray‘s Adaptation Industry Theory was utilised while ethnography was adopted as design. The respondents were selected through the purposive sampling technique because they were stakeholders involved in film production in Nollywood. Primary data were collected through fifteen (15) key informant interviews with selected Nollywood filmmakers. Four in-depth interviews were conducted with literary authors and three focus group discussions were held with undergraduate students of Theatre and Film Studies at three federal universities in southern Nigeria, namely: University of Lagos, Akoka, University of Ibadan, Ibadan and University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The choice of the students for the discussions was informed by the understanding that they belong to departments directly related to the industry. Data were content-analysed. The evolution of the industry from the market, inadequate professional qualification of filmmakers, absence of a reading culture amongst filmmakers, commitment to individual creativity, audience preferences, the fear of negative reviews and budgetary constraints were identified as the reasons for Nollywood filmmakers‘ apathy towards literary adaptations. The cumbersome process of film rights acquisition, dearth of screenwriters, and financial implications of a longer production duration, research, and reconstruction of the setting of literary texts are the peculiar challenges of producing literary adaptations in Nollywood. Lack of a proper distribution structure, piracy, cinema infrastructural deficit and taxes are factors that deter filmmakers from venturing more readily into the production of literary adaptations in Nollywood. Undergraduates of cognate departments showed mixed impressions about Nollywood. While some saw remarkable improvement, others thought there is still a lot to be desired. They revealed their indisposition to reading literary texts outside the recommended materials and showed preference for regular films of the comedy, epic and thriller genres over literary adaptations. Creative storytelling, quality audio-visual output and originality of themes held more attraction for them than the adaptation of literary texts. The undergraduates‘ attitude confirmed filmmakers‘ assertion of audience preference as a significant factor that makes the production of literary adaptations unpopular in Nollywood. Producing literary adaptations, therefore, poses several challenges to filmmakers. Thus, they are rarely produced because they are commercially unprofitable within the Nollywood context of filmmaking.