My plans for Kannywood – Kamal S. Alkali

Weekend Magazine: Kannywood is in a dire state which has led to a situation where most of the producers cannot produce films, what do you think is the cause?Kamal S. Alkali: Kannywood is in a difficult situation. We are facing enormous challenges but if we are united they are surmountable. As I speak with you, […]

Weekend Magazine: Kannywood is in a dire state which has led to a situation where most of the producers cannot produce films, what do you think is the cause?
Kamal S. Alkali: Kannywood is in a difficult situation. We are facing enormous challenges but if we are united they are surmountable. As I speak with you, I am in the market to assess the situation because I released my film recently. Due to lack of capital most of our marketers cannot distribute our films to the nooks and crannies, where our films ought to be distributed. Now I combine producing and marketing which are tedious to juggle. It’s not only me doing this. Most of the filmmakers do too because we find it difficult to balance the equation. You waste time producing the films and then you are the same person to market them. It cannot continue on this trend. Now when 17 films were release in a two-week, about 14 are returned unsold, because we keep repeating the same storyline. If you produce a particular film, even if you spent more money on advert and circulating its trailer, nobody will buy your film, because the film doesn’t have a new concept.
 Another problem we are facing is the fall in the price of our DVD plate. Our films sell for N100 per plate. There is nowhere in the world where you buy a film for less than N200.  But in Kannywood the story is entirely different. If you like do whatever you want to do to make your film the best nobody will add a Kobo to buy it. In India Salman Khan and Sharuk Khan’s films were more expensive compared to other Indian actors. But in Kannywood even if you are director Aminu Saira if you add N10 because it is a high budget film, nobody will even look at you.
Another challenge is delay of payment when you sell your film to marketers; they have to be pressurised before you get paid. In the end you are unable to produce another film. Another problem is we don’t take marketing, distribution and advert seriously. We are doing them without innovations. Like other countries, we are supposed to have marketing companies, but we don’t have it in Kannywood which is pity. After you produce your film, it’s you who calls people in different places to ask about the number of copies they want you to distribute to them.
Another huge challenge is endless piracy which persists like acacia specie in a desert. But if we had a single marketing company that handles marketing and distribution of our films; our films would have security because that company would fight pirates tooth and nail. The company would have staff to go the extra mile to ensure everything goes right, because their income depends on that.
The last but not the least challenge we face is the repetition casts. We keep casting  particular male actors. If we produce 100 films a year you will find out Ali Nuhu will be the lead actor in 40 films; Adam A Zango in 30 and the rest will share 30 between them.  The films are boring because the viewers keep on watching same actors acting on same storyline. Films like ‘Dakin Amarya,’ Dakin Uwargida’ and ‘Munafikin Mata’ have similar storyline and same male lead actor.
WM: What are the solutions to these numerous challenges you have outlined since you said they were surmountable?
Alkali: On the problem on fall of the price, director Aminu Saira and I spent one month on how to solve this problem. We had a meeting with the marketers and took a decision to increase the price by N20. But nothing has been done since the meeting. The secretary who will write and make the new price come into effect is yet to put it in writing. If he does so, we will take a positive step in changing the price.
WM: How to solve the marketing problems?
Alkali: I have plans for Kannywood on how to change the marketing of our films, I decided to stop producing films and focus on marketing, I will pull a resources of more than N40 million. The condition will be my company will be the only company to market and release Hausa films. No matter how a film is I will release it. This will solve the problem of payment delay, because if a distributor will not pay the money then I will stop supplying films to him, because now since the marketing was left in the hand of filmmakers they supply their films to different distributors, if one of them didn’t pay you your money and you threatened not to supply him films again, he will say even if you didn’t give me another filmmaker will give me. But if it is only one company that will supply films to all the distributors they will be cautious and they will abide by the guidelines and condition laid upon them. This plan will also stop piracy.
WM: Now that you plan to revamp marketing in Kannywood, have you consulted with other filmmakers? Will they cooperate?
Alkali: You know when anything new comes on board it is met by resistance and subjected to criticism. But as time goes on people will realize its importance or otherwise. But I believe as time goes on most of the filmmakers will understand that my plans will take Kannywood to greater heights. In August about 19 Kannywood filmmakers will travel to the USA to learn how to market our film.  
WM: What should viewers expect from you in the future?
Alkali: I will soon come with a new movie with a different storyline from the ones they are used to. I will shoot my next film in Ghana; viewers will wonder what kind of movie it is that requires my going to Ghana to shoot? They will be eager to watch the film.
WM: What advice do you have for your colleagues especially in the state that Kannywood is in?
Alkali: I would like filmmakers to change their storylines and be more creative and innovative. If we were to bring something new, our viewers would be eager to watch our films. I want our colleagues to understand that the world has changed. If you don’t advertise your product nobody will patronize it.
There was a time when most of the films produced by Hollywood were action films. Some of the filmmakers sat down and told themselves the truth that those films they were producing are boring and bring low patronage. They decided to shift the trend and they did that by producing seasonal cultural films such a ‘Merlin’, ‘Legend of the Seeker’, ‘Spartacus’. They later came with counter terrorism films such as ‘24 Hours’, ‘Strike Back’, ‘The Unit,’ etc.  If we want to move the industry forward we have to be innovative.