Today has been a bit of a non starter, bought myself a sim card which had to be registered.  Was told to wait 1 hour before activating, 10 hours later and I’m still waiting for service.  So have been available only on email, which hasn’t been great for setting up appointments.

I’ve been thinking about my Herculean task and what I really need are industry partners who know the business, and the ins and outs of film financing.  Although I’m having to learn really fast, film finance is not my greatest strength.  As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve little expectation of being able to raise the required capital, however I’m going to give it a darn good go and dazzle them with my projections and my story and hope that something resonates.

I want to make a film that is commercial and successful, but the feedback I’ve received so far is that anything subtitled isn’t commercial and won’t make a return on investment. But then I look at films like City of God, made for $3.3M and grossed $21.3 according to IMDB, on a smaller scale is the South African Oscar winner Tsotsi, made for $3M and grossed $5M.  Those figures are just box office and exclude DVD, Television etc. (Unfortunately those figures aren’t published) So do I give up on the idea, shelve this for now and do something else, build up my reputation as a writer/director before approaching potential funders?

The question that I ask myself over and over, is who is my target audience? If it’s Nigerians here and in the diaspora would they want to watch a subtitled film, or like someone said today, be dismissive of it?  Are we that shallow as a nation that it would matter that the first half of the film is in Yoruba? Would I lose the rest of the population as a result? Lola being dumped in the village and her not understanding the language and culture is integral to the story I’m telling.  So if I take that away, what am I left with? It sure wouldn’t be Imagine This?  This is where it would be great to have a crystal ball, a tool every producer would relish, because predicting what your audience wants to see, is key to the success we all seek.

Tomorrow is another day and I’m happy to report that between the time I started and finished this post, my phone is now working. YAY