Our writing still has a long way to go – CJ Obasi on Nollywood

In a new interview with Pulse, the Ojuju director described the local film industry as one that still needs some work.

“I feel like there’s a lot we can do in terms of writing training; our writing still has a long way to go,” he stated.

According to him, this is why he focuses on projects that are written by him, adding that he has yet to read something good.

“I’ve only done stuff that I wrote myself, and that’s because of the writing challenges,” Obasi revealed. “I’ve never really read any script that I felt was good, as far as the ones that are sent to me.”

In his words, “I think what we think of as directing is being able to do nice shots and being able to just make it look good, but it’s more than that. Directing starts with understanding storytelling and craft. If you read a script, you should be able to approach it from several angles, detach it, and put it together in different ways. That, I think, is something that we should also start looking into. I don’t want us to be the kind of people who become big and don’t have a craft. It’s a slippery slope to become that, and we have to fight to avoid that.”

His wife and producer, Oge Obasi, also weighed in on the issue, noting that the industry needs to do better now that the world is paying attention.

“Because the rest of West Africa likes to copy Nigeria, we need to rescue the continent. Now we are in that space where everybody is curious about Nigerian and African stories, but the world will move on if we have nothing to offer,” she added.

These two have created several award-winning projects including Mami Wata. The latest project was the toast of Sundance and continues to garner positive reactions from all over the world.

The globe-trotting movie is currently showing in Nigerian cinemas since making its debut on September 8, 2023.