Wedding Party Review

Story by Mo Abudu, Tosin Otudeko, Kemi Adetiba & One other person I can't remember
Screenplay by Tosin Otudeko and Kemi Adetiba
Box office: N200,000,000 and counting (In 16 days)
Budget: N60,000,000


Strongest Feature: Effortlessly hilarious, great picture quality, fantastic acting, appropriate sound tracks and sound.

Screenplay review: Almost flawless, whatever flaw it has has been swamped by the humor and great acting. I even had to shed a little tear at some point... yeah it got me. Interestingly the story is pretty much about forgiveness than it is about a wedding party. If it were a core christian movie, I'm sure the title would have been coined, 'forgiveness'.

The opening hook was fantastic. We started and ended with the zealous wedding planner. The epiphany Dozie's mum had while at gun point was subtly created without verbalizing it... That's another definition of awesome.

So, this is how the scorecard stands...

A story structure has the beginning, middle and end.

1st act/The beginning/set up must haves:	Wedding Party
Begin with a memorable image/hook	Present
1.       Find the catalyst/motivation e.g information about the situation, where are we? What’s going on here? Or something or an event to start the story. It could be a gun shot, an explosion or a letter arrives.	Absent
1.       Raise the central question	Absent
2.       Establish the conflict.	Present
3.       Establish the antagonist.	Present
4.       Ends with the 1st turning point. It is a twist and turn that changes the story’s direction as new event unfold and new decisions are made.	Present
The 2nd act/middle/development must haves: 1.       Begins with the 1st turning point.	Present
2.       Momentum (a cause and effect/action and reaction scenes)/Action points/dramatic event that causes a reaction.	Present
3.       Barriers stop the action for a moment, and then the character goes around it and continues.	Present
4.       Complication is an action point that doesn’t pay off immediately but we wait for it and anticipate the inevitable response. And it gets in the way of the character’s intention.	Present
5.       Reversals change the direction of the story 180 degrees/ moving it from positive to negative.	Present
6.       Puts the central character in jeopardy.	Present
The 3rd act/resolution/end must haves:
1.       Begins with the 2nd turning point and speeds up the action here, makes it intense, and gives a sense of urgency like a ticking clock.	Present
2.       The big finish/climax/ The question is answered/not answered.	Present
3.       Resolution.	Present

The only missing plot are the inciting incidence and central question. I wonder why that plot was omitted. It's something one scene could fix but a lame man wouldn't know any plot was missing. It was too much fun.

I love wedding party for many reasons; top of which is that the film vindicated me. Most people I have been in conversations with, tend to believe global best practice for screenplay is for the West... the oyinbos, that it doesn't apply to us, Nigerians. I have always argued without proof that the Nigerian audience is not averse to the classical 3-act structure for screenplay.

And there you have it, wedding party is trumping at the box office, beating 30days in Atlanta, Jenifa and other erstwhile box office hits with skewed storyteller style.

My Verdict

Kemi and Tosin are discharged and acquitted for 'slaying' the screenplay and given a
copy each of Linder Seger's 'making a good script great' 

It's her Day Review

Story by Bovi Ugboma
Screenplay by Bovi Ugboma
Box Office: Unknown

Strongest feature of the piece is the good picture quality, great acting and sprinkle of humor.

I unfortunately entered the cinema hall late for this one so I missed out on the first crucial minutes of the film, probably ten minutes or so. So, I met the film at the stage where Bovi and his girlfriend were planning this fairy tale wedding.

Bovi's fiance is so vain, it will leave a sour taste in your mouth (but there are people like that). 
Still on the script, the story doesn't have any apparent antagonist. Bovi's motivation was not strong enough and the rich girlfriend's persona is unbelievable... talk about unbelievable character. Why do I say that? 

She is the rich daughter of a very rich man (of  Otedola's status) but she is a leech on Bovi who is not one tenth as rich as her dad. And so is her mother that is so keen on draining Bovi's purse. I mean, this people are so rich and yet they don't want to spend their money on their daughter's wedding but prefer to task salary-earning Bovi for the wedding expenses.

I believe Bovi wanted the story to be hilarious but I find what should somewhat be funny, troubling. Like for instance I can't understand why rich girls from a wealthy man would be dragging Bovi by his tie, literally compelling him to buy them things from a luxury shop. I could be wrong but I felt they could afford it. It is just unbelievable for me. 

Because the story doesn't have a motivation per-se for Bovi, neither does it have an antagonist, nor does it contain story plot points must-haves like inciting incidence, 1st turning points, etc, (global best practice) coupled with characters that are not authentic it comes short of the screenplay test and therefore finds Bovi GUILTY of screenplay massacre.

My Verdict

Bovi is hereby sentenced to 11 months to behind 'write better villa'

30 days in Atlanta film Review

Story by Looking Suave

Screenplay by Patrick ‘Coinage’ Nnmani

₦137,200,000 (domestic gross)

Running time: 108 minutes

Strongest feature: One of the good things about the film is the picture quality, good acting and humor. So let’s get to other essentials of a great story. Since Screenplay is my forte, I will analyze the story and leave technical scrutiny to those who knows best. 

A story structure must haves.(Global best practices)

1st act/The beginning/set up must haves:	30 days in Atlanta
Begin with a memorable image.	Absent
Find the catalyst/motivation/Inciting Incidence e.g information about the situation, where are we? What’s going on here? Or something or an event to start the story. It could be a gun shot, an explosion or a letter arrives.	Present
Raise the central question	Absent
Establish the conflict.	Absent
Establish the antagonist.	Absent
Ends with the 1st turning point. It is a twist and turn that changes the story’s direction as new event unfold and new decisions are made.	Present
The 2nd act/middle/development must haves:	30 days in Atlanta
Begins with the 1st turning point.	Present
Momentum (a cause and effect/action and reaction scenes)/Action points/dramatic event that causes a reaction.	Absent
Barriers stop the action for a moment, and then the character goes around it and continues.	Absent
Complication is an action point that doesn’t pay off immediately but we wait for it and anticipate the inevitable response. And it gets in the way of the character’s intention.	Present mildly
Reversals change the direction of the story 180 degrees/ moving it from positive to negative.	Absent
Puts the central character in jeopardy.	Present mildly
The 3rd act/resolution/end must haves:	30 days in Atlanta
Begins with the 2nd turning point and speeds up the action here, makes it intense, and gives a sense of urgency like a ticking clock.	Absent
The big finish/climax   The question is answered	Absent
Resolution	Present

 Verdict 

Patrick ‘Coinage’ Nnmani is found guilty of  error of plot deficiency
 and hereby sentenced to 'write better villa' for 9 months without parole 

It doesn’t really have the classical 3 act structure that we are taught in film school. It is a 108 minutes film and at the 6^th minute we got our inciting incidence, which is a good thing. A little conflict was established also at the 6^th minute via the break up issue with Richard’s girlfriend, ESE.

By the 16^th minute, we got our 1^st Turning point. The story is about Akpors and Richard and at this stage, all we know is that they want to travel to Atlanta because they got a free visa/ticket. No major conflict in the 1^st act. By the way, 16^th -19^th minute was used to establish 1^st turning point (which is way too much time to establish a plot point).

Since we entered 2^nd act at the 19^th minute, we began following Richard and Akpors in different series of events of culture shocks for Akpors then at the 35^th minute, Richard spotted a girl, Kimberly who he wanted badly and it was until the 48^th minute that Richard begins to timidly approach his love interest, Kimberly. At the 54^th minute, Akpors gets a job offer he didn’t apply for and which he isn’t supposed to do because he has a visiting visa. 

Akpors also develop love interest towards an older woman at the 60^th minute. Pretty much we started seeing serious conflict at the 80^th minute ( which is too late) with Ese lying to Kim that she is Richard’s wife and Akpors getting into trouble with the police and later having a misunderstanding with his woman. By the 105^th minute, we entered the 2^nd turning point and the resolution, reunion with the estranged love interest of both men takes place and the happy ending of a Romantic- Comedy occurred.

Now, here is the catch, the story doesn’t have major plot points expected of a screenplay as tabulated above. It is mostly a chronicle of the times of the two friends in Atlanta but hey people loved it. At least the cash register reflected it.

This is a movie you watch, sitting like this... but that's what we want right? 

Happy, relaxed and entertained. This is a movie you can watch and still keep up with social media chats while at it. It doesn’t keep you at the edge of the sit at all but gives you a good laugh nonetheless in some scenes. 

The film broke some of the rules in a screenplay textbook but who cares, people loved it and the Producer made money. If you are a sucker for great storytelling then you might not like the film much but if you are big fan of humor, AY, Ramsey Noah, RMD and good picture quality, then this is for you. It is no longer in the cinemas but you can buy a CD copy.

Nigerian film Reviews

Happy new year.

It's been awhile that I wrote something on my blog because motherhood took the better part of my time but now that the children are becoming independent, I can have my life back and start doing some of the things I love.

There are so many film review blogs, and writers already, so why do I want to join the train? Well, I guess I figured, I can do something different. The honest truth is there is nothing new under the sun but we can always spot the difference.

Since my core competence is screenplay, my film review will pretty much center around the story/script. I will leave out the technical analysis to those who knows best. So my reviews will probably look more academic than entertaining. But I promise not to bore you with it.

So watch out for the next post.

Nollywood stereotype

When you hear Nollywood, what comes to mind is cheap, low quality and distasteful films but... a very Big BUT, that is just one side of the story.

There are two types of Nollywood; One Nollywood is the 'just do it' despite little fund because we are passionate about telling our own stories, another Nollywood is Ambitious. One Nollywood says give me a camera and few thousands of dollars and I will make a film, another Nollywood says give me the right budget and then I'll make the blockbustermovie. One Nollywood says give me a chance and then I'll prove myself another Nollywood says prove yourself first and then you'll get a chance.

One Nollywood lives in the optimism of our hearts, another Nollywood thrives in the mediocrity of our minds. One Nollywood wants, the other Nollywood hopes. One Nollywood leads, the other Nollywood follows. One Nollywood is satisfied with local audience, another Nollywood craves global appeal.

These conversions are on the rise, with each passing day, more and more filmmakers from the other Nollywood are coming over to the other side though quietly while the world is not looking. A pulsating dynamic new Nollywood is emerging. A Nollywood whose faith in success is far greater than its fear of failure. A Nollywood that no longer gather half baked professionals as film crew but go the extra mile to hire crews who knows their onions.

History they say is a bad motorist, it rarely ever signals its intentions that its taking a turn. This is that rarely of a moment, history is turning a page. For over three decades, Nollywood has run, stumbled, rolled over, got up and dusted herself and continued but now in the wake of our fame as the 2nd largest movie producing country in the world, critics and observers see Nollywood as one thing and one thing only. And one Nollywood, a tiny little voice in back of the head, is looking  at the structures in place and wants to resume business as usual but the other Nollywood is looking up at the sky and saying, it is time to fly.

Felled by a Police

Born to a modest family, Fred, 24years old university graduate has always nursed the ambition of becoming a pilot but like some dreams; lack of money often truncate them. Fred was however tenacious, temping, saving money for over 6 years, until he got a terrestrial angel who added to his saved pilot school tuition fee. In a week, Fred will be flying out of the country to resume school, living his dream and there is no way to measure whose joy was greater between his or his mother. His siblings were all happy for him.

In the early hours of an Environmental Sanitation Saturday, Fred and his friends choose to play football on the deserted street after doing a little cleaning. Not long afterwards, a police van pulls to a stop, three police officers jumped out, backing at the boys; ‘why did you block the road? The boys stop playing, each trying to pick up the stones serving as goal post on the ground. Fred was closest to them and one police officer grabs him as he bends over to pick up the stones, barking out the same question.

Before Fred could respond, he has been kicked and pushed to the ground by another police officer. Fred’s friends watch from a safe distance as Fred protests on ground, wondering what his offence was. Fred’s outburst further infuriated the police officers, kicking and stripping him naked. Fred is now screaming, all bruises and blood. On a final note, one police officer, pulled the trigger, shot Fred dead, they all entered the van and zoom off.

The mother wailed, the family mourned, friends tweet, media flashed the news mildly, IG of Police claimed, Fred assaulted his men and the suspected police officer claimed it was a stray bullet in court. The killer police was later discharged and acquitted for lack of inadequate evidence.

There are so many Freds whose life has been cut short and their killers are walking free. To stop this menace, share your story and send pictures of the deceased to info@stellarmoviesng.org or upload photos and share a Fred’s story here.

You can never be that

Too often great people have been told by someone, a class teacher, a friend, a parent or a neighbor that 'you can never be this or that'. Check it, almost all great people have had that vote of doubt cast over their life.

I've had my share. It was the winter of 2005, in the outskirt of Lagos, somewhere in a secluded guest house, close to the beach. It was a gathering of screenwriters and directors; it was a script conference of international magnitude. I was green and optimistic about the vast opportunities this will portend for me.

How wrong could I be, after the head writer went through my first draft, after breakfast with every writer present and seated, he took time to comment on everyone's screenplay. When it got to my turn, he bluntly said I just didn't get it at all. I took it in well though feeling quite embarrassed in front of other writers; I sunk deeper into my seat with an air of injured dignity.

I cried a lot beside the beach that night and was unable to do a rewrite because I didn't even know where to start. In screenwriting parlance, a head writer could find fault with either your dialogue, or structure, or plot, or character authenticity, redundant scenes or combination of two or three that could be fixed but to be told that your full screenplay sucks is disheartening. So after drying my tears the next day, and having been evicted anyway, I summoned courage to ask the almighty Head writer what aspect of my screenplay sucks. And his response dazed me, he said, 'your dialogues were on the nose'!

I made a silent scream and protested, 'just that, of course it can be fixed, why didn't you just say the problem was with the dialogue? And then he launched into a depressing speech to tell me 'how I could never make it as a screenwriter; the best that could happen to me was to be a Government propaganda writer'. I swallowed hard, silently entered the bus that was waiting to convey me back to town.

It's 7years since that incidence and I have done well for myself as a screenwriter, teaching and writing screenplays within and outside the country. I'm yet to do anything propaganda in nature for the Government and I don't see that happening any time soon. I'm no huge fan of Government.

To everyone out  there who have been told you can't and you did, please share your story.

Money-Matters

I couldn't help thinking all day the previous day about perspectives, the word, paradigm shift, world view and POV. I figure it could be interesting how one thing could mean different things to two people. I love movies/films. I love writing it initially and I was satisfied with just writing it but my longing to produce one of my own now is intense. And someday...not too far from today it will happen but before it does happen, I have deep appreciation for film makers anywhere in the world. Some are in it just for the money, some in it for the love of it and others are in it for both.

For that ambitious film maker who has been daydreaming of one day becoming a Steven Spielberg or a Kunle Afolayan or a Chris Roland, when he finally gets that first chance to turn that age-long script into a motion picture, it's a dream come true. He has fantasized about the posters, the box office reviews and cinema audience.

Now for someone to reduce that whole process to 'money matters' is to stifle the joy and satisfaction the act of creation brings. No sir, it is not money matters, it is one man's aspiration to make his dream come true even if his script is not so high up there but somebody loved it enough to be willing to sponsor it.

It hurts for someone to tag another man's dream as mere 'money matters', no. That is not what it is. Money may come as a result of it but for that young man; it's a dream come true. That is what it is.

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.