Ashamed then but not anymore

In the year, 1997, my matriculation day, I was very reluctant to do a ceremonious matriculation like most students do. especially those students studying prestigious courses. I had requested that my family need not come to school to celebrate with me, afterall I was only studying biology education; a thing of shame, not worth rejoicing over. Nobody will anyway or so I thought.

I had been avoiding familiar faces, lest i will be asked what I was studying. I made effort to make myself invisible to all and couldn't wait till 200L to change my course/faculty. Just for the record, I had sneaked to the matriculation venue to take a picture with the matric gown and there I saw a guy that fascinated me.

He was jubilantly matriculating, taking pictures with friends and family. He had his shoulders high and was merry making. I stood there admiring him and thinking to myself that he must be studying Medicine or Engineering and I wished I could be as happy as he was or at least be studying a much better course.

I spent the night wishing I was that happy and contented guy and dragged myself to class the next morning to receive an education course. And what did I see, sitting not too far from me was the guy I had admired so much. He wasn't studying engineering or medicine, he was studying maths education.

The shock stayed with me for a long time. I had never imagined anyone could be so happy studying education but I also realized how ungrateful I was. That guy was grateful for the same thing I was mournful about and for the 4year duration, the guy rocked our faculty and I sulked.

Oh Lord, may I always be grateful for even what I don't like. 13years later, I write and I teach screenwriting for a living and I am not ashamed of it. In fact, I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank God for everything, it's only with hindsight that I can connect the dots.

And the winner is....

That phrase is an all too familiar one when the winner is about to be named amongst  other contestants. We've seen it several times on TV but it is a different thing to experience it. And so it was my turn to experience it this year at the first Africa International film festival in Portharcourt.


In my case, it was a screenwriting competition, and there were twelve contestants and only three winners must emerge. The first winner was called and I nodded, cos I knew he deserved it, no panic. When the second winner was called, I said yes he deserved to win too cos I loved his screenplay but I also felt, 'is this guy not going to call my name?


Lastly my name was called, and I also said 'yeah, I deserved it too' in my heart. No drama, no, it was devoid of the tension we used to see in reality TV shows but nonetheless thrilling to be a winner.


So I won the monetary sum to produce my short that will be screened at the 2011 AFRIFF. That's one feather to my hat and my naughty friend has asked me to blow my trumpet. I just did.

What every film maker needs

A script doctor is indispensable for every film maker. Especially here in Nigeria that a film maker wears different hats, including the screenwriter’s hat. The original screenplay can be yours but you need the owl-like eye of a script doctor to chisel the screenplay into shape.

A Script Doctor always know for sure what is wrong with a screenplay and exactly how to fix it.

This skill comes with years of practice, experience and one other thing that is innate and special. It is a can-fix attitude. It is a leadership skill, a problem-solving skill, one that believes it can save the world if necessary.

Long years of writing screenplay is inadequate is to become a script doctor really. Because once a writer is judgmental and sentimental by nature it could get in the way of treating diseased screenplays even if the writer has been writing for years on end.

That said, then how do you find a good script doctor?

Two ways to go about it are; one, employ a recommended one. Two, test or interview the writer; the same way Donald Trump will do before hiring an apprentice.

As a film maker, wear all the hats you need to if necessary but get a script Doctor to give your screenplay the humph it deserves.

What is writing screenplay like?

The process is like a woman in different stages of child labor; with occasional sharp pains but in the brain this time. It is hard, painstaking, solitary and time-consuming. Sometimes you laugh, while at it. Sometimes you cry, sometimes you shout and sometimes you talk to someone. But once you PUSH out the last bit of the idea, and the BABY is born, you heave a sigh of relief and can’t wait to start the process all over again with another idea.

The joy is incomplete until you hear people’s comment about your life’s work, your screenplay, your film… your BABY. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is bad, people will give it different interpretation but at the end of the day, if your screenplay achieves what you set out to achieve, then your job is done. Your BABY turned out well.

The indispensable Script Doctor

A Script doctor is very similar to a medical doctor in many ways; their major difference is their patient. A script doctor can diagnose accurately the diseased areas in a screenplay just by reading through and that’s not all; she always has a cure.

All she does is look out for symptoms or weakness of the screenplay which could fall in any of the category below.

The symptoms are:

1.       Original idea and audience appeal.

2.       Character and character development

3.       Story structure and forward movement

4.       Plotting and change points

5.       Suspense and surprise

6.       Visual storytelling

7.       Dialogue (Is it too much?  Too little? On the nose? or Just right?)

8.       Scenes and style.

9.       Layout

Once that is done, she applies just the right treatment to correct the weaknesses and there before your eyes is a film to remember.

Professional Ethics

Most times after watching a very terrible movie, the natural instinct when asked by someone who hasn’t seen it is to blatantly admit it is a total wash out. Words of condemnation can stream out of your mouth unconsciously to express your disappointment and it is okay. 

But it ceases to be okay once you decide to take up the screenwriting profession.

The reason is very simple, very soon your work will come under the searchlight as well and you will come to understand how hard it is to write a blockbuster movie. So in screenwriter parlance, you are permitted to say the movie works for me… if you love it. Or it doesn’t work for me… if you dislike it.

The reason we play on words in critiquing other people’s works is this.

1.      Screenwriting takes a lot of effort to put together and it will be very demoralizing to outrightly pass a vote of no-confidence on another person’s work.

2.       Because it is a creative piece, it is very subjective. What doesn’t appeal to one may appeal to another.

3.       Experienced screenwriters always know that every bad screenplay can be fixed, so it isn’t out right rubbish.

So as a screenwriter, the next time you watch a movie that doesn’t work for you…think of possible ways the writer could have handle it better.