The story of how Uchenna Mbunabo, the CEO of One & Two Film, got into making films is as intriguing as a Nollywood movie. The filmmaker, who is about to go to location with stars like Emeka Ike, Rita Edochie, Calista Okoronkwo and a host of others told TERH AGBEDEH and DANIEL KANU the compelling story in this interview.
What are you currently working on?
Currently, I am about to go on the location of ‘Today’s Love’ starring Emeka Ike, Rita Edochie, Calista Okoronkwo and Bismarck from Ghana, among so many others.
Before now, Idumota used to be very popular; but that has changed. What really happened?
The game has changed; it is no longer Idumota or Alaba. I think since March last year, I have shot 13 movies but I have not released any in the market, and I am not worried because we have other platforms on which you can sell films. So, Alaba and Idumota are secondary. The politics there is not favourable as well.
You are one filmmaker that uses a lot of Ghanaians in your productions; why?
I started Ghana/Nigeria film. That was when I shot The Love Doctor with Emeka Ike, I think in 2005/2006. I saw a movie in which Jackie (Appiah) appeared in four scenes and something told me that she could do better. That was how I invited her to Nigeria to shoot. I paid her $1,000 and when she was leaving, she gave me back half the money and said it was too much. That was how I started building that working relationship. One thing about Ghanaians is that when you are shooting with them, they are not in a hurry to leave your set, unlike Nigerians who don’t care about the job. What Nigerians are after is the money, and the moment you pay them they start counting the time. They would come late, some of them would even tell you that they can’t shoot when it is night (forgetting) that there were night scenes before accepting the script.
Ghanaians are not like that. Even when you are shooting with Ghanaians and are running out of cash and have to speed up shoot to complete the movie, they would tell you that you don’t need to rush. They are even ready to add money to make sure that the film comes out (well).
Ghanaians are ready to stay a whole month on a job. But not the Nigerians, who sometimes would be involved in shooting five movies at the same time; they would shoot in the morning and not tell you they are leaving and in the afternoon will switch off their phones and move to another set. In the evening, another location; one person playing different characters at the same time and that is why I like Ghanaians better.
But you don’t shoot in Ghana.
I am always in Ghana. I had to relocate to Ghana to shoot most of my movies from 2010 to 2014. I went there for a visit and discovered that they had constant electricity, thereby giving you a noiseless environment and good sound. But it is no longer like that because they are having serious challenge with electricity. That is why I had to come back.
It has been said that the Ghanaian government makes you pay extra to work if you are not from there?
It is not the government, and it is as a result of envy. When I got to Ghana, I dominated the whole place; every week I was on set and people were trying to bring me down. Sometimes when you shoot, they would say that you can’t release the film with your name; you have to remove your name as executive producer and put the name of a Ghanaian. At a point, I had to pay $5,000 as fine to be able to release my movie into the market in Ghana. I paid $5,000 to Ghana Movie Distribution when I shot No More Love before they allowed me to release it.
In Ghana, they pay peanuts to artistes, and when Nigerians started paying well, they could not get access to the big stars to shoot; so they started fighting us.
How do you raise money for your productions; do you have a money bag behind you?
At the onset around 2005, 2006 and 2007, yes; but now I thank God I can do any movie I want to shoot.
Why did you choose Emeka Ike for your current project?
Emeka Ike is a very good actor. A lot of unprofessionalism is going on in Nollywood, and these days one can shoot a movie with N1 million. So anybody can wake up in the morning to shoot a movie. You can shoot a movie and put yourself on the poster and start seeing yourself as a star. I don’t believe in that name ‘star’, but I know that Emeka Ike is a very good actor. While casting, I was thinking about who could do this film very well. I tried to call Majid (Michel), but he was in America. The only other person I know who can do it is Emeka Ike. But he told me categorically that he is not ready for movie now. I had to talk to him and he finally agreed.
Talking to him includes paying him extra, right?
In fact, I don’t mind paying Emeka Ike N10 million to have him on my set, because he is one of the best actors we have in Nigeria.
How did you go into the movies?
It is a long story. I just thank God for Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of the Living Faith Church; he inspired me so much. During the early stage, I would look for sponsor but found none. However, his preaching and his books motivated me and made me believe that, no matter what, as long as this is what I have passion for, I can make it. I had uncles. Even our former vice president, Atiku (Abubakar), is married to my sister, Jennifer. That is to let you know the kind of people I have in my family. So I went to all of them, but they were like, ‘at your age, you are talking millions; are you now into 419 (advance fee fraud)?’
I remember writing to Oyedepo to sponsor one of my movies and he said it’s not foreseeable. I was discouraged, since I always looked up to him. The same letter I submitted, they called me to come, and when I received it, he wrote “not foreseeable” on it. I still have the letter. I told myself that I would not worship there again. But the following Sunday, because I was still living with my uncle, I went to church with him. A man gave testimony that Sunday, saying he lost his job, came to church and after service went to Papa (Oyedepo) to cry for help. He told Oyedepo he didn’t have food or transport to go back home. Oyedepo told him to trek home and gave him a book titled, Satan Get Lost, and after reading the book, the next chapter of his life was opened; he now has 20 people working for him.
Immediately, I went for that book and read it. That was how everything started for me. The fact that I want to be a producer does not mean that millions will come. In the book, you discover that if you want to start a bottle water company and you don’t have the funds, just align yourself to that business. Even if it is pure water, start selling pure water and you are on your way to where you are going. From there, I opened a video shop where people come to rent films.
What year was this?
It was 2005. As I was running the shop on my street, I had customers and decided to talk to one of them after praying. Everything was like a miracle. I told the man about the movie I wanted to shoot. He asked me how much it would cost and I said N3 million. Then I had not even seen N3 million in my life. He said he was travelling to the United States, that he would be back in two weeks and then give me the money. When he came back, he came to the shop and told me he would be travelling to the United Kingdom and that I should come to his house around 5am the next day. I decided to go to his house, although I didn’t know him from Adam.
I rang the bell and the security man asked me, “Are you Uche?” I was so scared, but I told the security man that I was Uche. He said I should enter. I entered the compound and the man came out to his balcony, and I was about to say good morning when he threw a bag of money at me. I caught the bag full of money and opened it. I wanted to say something and he said good luck, that he was leaving for the airport right away.
It feels like a Nollywood film.
I became restless. I didn’t have a bank account. I didn’t know where to go with the money or what to do with it. I had to go and hide it under the staircase where I was living with my brother. The money was there for one month. So, to the glory of God, I shot the movie after which I gave it to a marketer with the master copy and production pictures to release it. He released it and the movie did very well. He then moved away from his house and ran away with all the money. The man who gave me the money called me from America to say that he was watching the film from America and to thank me for putting his name in the credit as executive producer.
When he returned, he came to my shop and I was scared not knowing what to tell him.
What is his name?
Mr. Ikechukwu Elendu.
So he came to your shop?
Yes, he congratulated me. He was so happy I put his name on the movie. He asked me if it was selling, and I said it was doing well. Although he didn’t ask me for the money, I told him I was coming to his house the following week to give it back to him. When I went to his house to tell him what had happened, he didn’t allow me to say anything after I gave him the wine I had brought with me. He told me that he doesn’t want the money back, and that it is a gift for me to start business.
As I was leaving the house, he said, “You are a producer; you are not supposed to be trekking. This car, I bought it for my wife, but she is not using it; take the car.” It was a Mitsubishi Galant. Everything was just a miracle. So I went back to Winners Chapel for the Shiloh programme where I was crying to God. One good thing was that I put my phone number on the film and a lot of people called me from so many places abroad. I made so many friends and because the Bible says: I will bless the work of your hands and you will reap the fruit of your labour. That was what happened. People sent me money from all over the world to shoot another movie and that was how I was able to bounce back.